Attorney general joins vote fraud investigation
No decision made on how many resources will be devoted
NWI Times
Sep 13, 2003
nwitimes.com/news/local/attorney-general-joins-vote-fraud-investigation/article_921a222c-91b2-5da2-8c3f-b68a7d8f0e87.html
CROWN POINT -- Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter announced Friday he will help a special Lake County grand jury investigate vote fraud.
"We are clearly going to find a way to help the prosecutor with the investigation. There is no question we are going to be able to contribute to that process," Carter said.
Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter requested the help Wednesday under pressure to show the public his probe into violations of election law in the Democratic primaries in East Chicago, Schererville and other municipalities last spring is untainted by any appearance of favoritism because of political contributions he has received in the past from possible targets of his investigation.
Steve Carter said no decision has yet been made on how many resources he will lend the prosecutor.
"It is going to take a little time to figure out just who in our office is best suited and what their availability is to be pulled off other cases," he said.
He said probably more than one person will help the prosecutor investigate and present evidence to the grand jury over the next six months.
"We are committed to participating as the prosecutor has invited us to. ... We won't be able to go into detail about the amount of resources and types of things people are doing. We will just have to do some things and hopefully someday the work product will be such people thought it was a worthwhile exercise," the attorney general said.
The Indiana State Police also have contributed an investigator to question witnesses and develop leads. Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita has offered his staff to educate the grand jury on election laws and assist the investigation in other ways.
Rokita has publicly expressed concern about the investigation and has asked the prosecutor to deputize some of Rokita's staff attorneys to take part in the investigation to assure the public it is being done on a bipartisan basis, independent of possible influences by Democrats.
Carter said he has invited Rokita's office to help in other ways, but has declined to deputize Rokita's staff to become part of the team of investigators. Carter said he preferred using the attorney general's staff because they are more familiar with criminal court litigation.
Sources close to the investigation indicate as many as 160 people, many of them politicians, could receive target letters from the special grand jury.
The prosecutor estimates he has received about $14,000 in recent 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, former East Chicago Republican Chairman Robert Cantrell and Schererville Democratic Precinct Committeeman Bob "Bosko" Grkinich and others who may be called for evidence.
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's names figured prominently in the scandal.
In Schererville, Riga won the May 6 primary with a large number of absentee ballots, but her nomination was reversed last week 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 absentee votes were forged in the names of people who have moved or people who had received illegal assistance.
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