Auksel: Didn't know about massages
North Township board member responds to stories in the Post-Tribune
Post-Tribune (IN)
January 31, 2004
Pete Auksel said he thought North Township taxpayers were paying for a much-needed, good service.
Counseling sessions on services such as drug and alcohol addiction, stress relief and sensitivity training -- mandated by Trustee Greg Cvitkovich -- seemed to be an appropriate perk for the township staff, Auksel said.
Until reading Friday's Post-Tribune, he said, he wasn't aware the sessions included taxpayer-funded massages for employees on taxpayer time. The massages were provided through Addiction and Family Care of Hammond.
Auksel responded Friday to several days' worth of Post-Tribune stories detailing a public corruption investigation hovering over the trustee's operations.
Calling from his Highland home, he took issue with calls made to his wife, staying at their St. Petersburg, Fla., home.
"You make it sound like we're separated -- we're not," he said.
He said political adversaries have made an issue of his residency for years, particularly since he has an Indiana driver's license and Florida ID card.
The property, he said, is an investment he made seven years ago, though he admits he spends more time there -- now that he's retired -- than he did when he first purchased it.
His wife, Carol, said he had been there with her, but that he left in December.
Auksel said Friday he's been back "oh, for five or six months now."
Told of his wife's statement, he said, "Well, we're almost to February. I guess it hasn't been quite that long."
He came back Dec. 5, he said, to care for his ailing mother and tend to personal issues, but never, he claimed, has he turned his back on voters in Whiting, Hammond, East Chicago, Munster and Highland.
Auksel acknowledged his wife told him about Post-Tribune calls to Florida, seeking comment from him, but denied he received one in Highland.
Records show three Pete Auksels in Highland and, he said, calls made by the Post-Tribune weren't to him, so he couldn't respond to them.
"No one can ever say I wasn't available," he said.
"I'm available for township matters. I've never missed one meeting because I was out of town."
Challenged on that, based upon board minutes and claims made by other board members, Auksel admitted, "I have missed meetings, but they were due to other circumstances and not because I was in Florida.
"Besides, the other two can make it," he said, referring to Cvitkovich and township board attorney Anthony DeBonis.
Auksel is the sole remaining board member loyal to Cvitkovich and Mayor Robert Pastrick's political machine.
For more than a year, township board members Frank Mrvan Jr. and Richard Novak have expressed concerns about the counseling services contract and other township expenses.
While records show township board members are paid more than $21,000, Auksel said, "We're only obligated to meet four times a year. The only other time we meet is when something comes up."
One of those reasons, he said, will be this latest controversy, involving investigators assigned to the public corruption task force led by U.S. Attorney Joseph Van Bokkelen.
The task force appears to be focusing on township employee and political player Robert Cantrell, also linked to Addiction and Family Care.
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