Prosecutor stands firm in vote fraud probe
Carter says past campaign contributions won't influence the investigation
NWI Times
Sep 9, 2003
nwitimes.com/news/state-and-regional/prosecutor-stands-firm-in-vote-fraud-probe/article_3707809b-8ecf-51d6-8951-73e12f26a2c8.html
CROWN POINT -- Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter said he has no intention of stepping down from an investigation into vote fraud just because some potential targets contributed in the past to his campaign fund.
"I don't see a need for it. There is no conflict I have whatsoever," Carter said Monday as preparations continued this week for a special grand jury probe into allegations that absentee ballots were illegally cast in East Chicago, Schererville and other municipal races in the spring primary election.
Carter reacted to a report he has received donations over the last several years from the East Chicago Democratic Central Committee led by Mayor Robert Pastrick, County Councilman Joel Markovich, East Chicago City Councilman Gus Kouros, Schererville Town Judge Deborah Riga, Robert Cantrell, former East Chicago Republican Chairman and Schererville Democratic Precinct Committeeman Bob "Bosko" Grkinich.
Pastrick was the beneficiary of 155 absentee ballots declared invalid last month by a special judge in a recount suit. The names of Markovich, Kouros and Cantrell figured prominently in the scandal.
Riga won the May 6 primary with a large number of absentee ballots, but her nomination was reversed Friday by a recount judge who threw out as invalid 23 absentee votes for her. Grkinich refused to answer questions about his alleged involvement in the casting of some of those votes.
In both cases, judges ruled that absentee votes were forged in the names of people who have moved or people who had received illegal assistance. Carter's office impaneled a grand jury last month to look into the allegations.
Carter said Monday, "I have never had a problem saying I have a relationship with this person so it wouldn't be fair for me to hear the case.
"But, I don't have a relationship with any of these people. Cantrell -- I've never been to his home. He's never been to my home. I've never been to dinner with him. I never went to a show with him."
Carter said the contributions are mostly from people who have purchased tickets to his fund-raisers.
"I bet a third of the people who come to my fund-raisers don't support me, but they want to be there because they know all the other politicians are going to be there, other people they campaign with," he said. "It's just a political gathering."
He said if anyone thinks they can contribute "$10,000 or $5,000 or $500, and they will get preferential treatment, they are wrong. They can't buy me."
There is case law permitting a member of the public to be heard in court on the question of whether political contributions have tainted a criminal investigation.
It arose from a 1997 case in Indianapolis where City Council members demanded a special prosecutor replace then-Marion County Prosecutor Scott Newman.
Newman had accepted contributions from people he was to investigate on questions of public corruption involving former Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith.
A trial judge dismissed that petition, but Senior Court of Appeals Judge J. Robertson said on appeal the council members had a right to a court hearing to prove their argument for a special prosecutor.
Concerns over Carter's vote fraud investigation have been raised in recent days by Secretary of State Todd Rokita. He wants to partner in Carter's vote fraud investigation and asked Carter last month to deputize secretary of state staff members to give them the power to force reluctant witnesses to talk.
Carter has refused, saying he is leaving the "investigative element of our criminal review totally within the ambit of (Indiana State Police Investigator) Mark Day for the purposes of objectivity and integrity of the investigative process and evidentiary material it will engender."
Cam Savage, a spokesman for Rokita, said Rokita isn't calling for a special prosecutor.
"We have just asked to be included in the investigation," Savage said.
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