Democrats to pick Lake Station interim mayor after incumbent found guilty of wire fraud
Post-Tribune
September 15, 2015 - 7:58 AM
The Lake County Democratic Party will move to replace former Lake Station Mayor Keith Soderquist by the end of the month.
Lake County Sheriff John Buncich, who heads the county party, said he set the caucus election to replace Soderquist for Sept. 28.
"I want to do this as rapid as possible to get this thing over with to eliminate any confusion," Buncich said Monday.
A federal jury found the former mayor and his wife, Deborah Soderquist, guilty late Friday evening of using his campaign money and money meant for the Lake Station Food Pantry to pay for more than 50 gambling trips. Soderquist was automatically removed from office by state law once he was found guilty.
Buncich said that the head of the Lake Station City Council, John McDaniel, will act as mayor until Democratic precinct committee members can vote Sept. 28.
Buncich said one possible replacement could be former Lake Station Judge Christopher Anderson, who defeated Soderquist for the Democratic nomination for mayor in May and will go up against Republican Ed Peralta during the general election in November. However, Buncich said he has not spoken with Anderson yet or heard from any other possible candidates.
"Everything right now is up in the air," he said.
Whoever wins the election this month would remain mayor until January, when the winner in the November election will take office.
Soderquist is the latest in a long line of Lake County politicians to be convicted in a public corruption cases. Others include former Lake County surveyor George Van Til, former Gary City Councilwoman Marilyn Krusas and former East Chicago Mayor George Pabey.
"What can I say, it's just another black eye on politics in Lake County, and we're trying to overcome this nonsense," Buncich said.
Buncich added that he's made it a priority to stress ethics in his party since he took over as party chairman.
"If you want to play around, you're not going to be part of the party," he said.
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