MARC CHASE: Stop giving second chances at the expense of taxpayers
NWI Times
Feb 28, 2016
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/marc-chase/marc-chase-stop-giving-second-chances-at-the-expense-of/article_2aebc33d-d1e8-5a6f-a3c6-4e735e1f7265.html
Can it get any more embarrassing in East Chicago — or for Northwest Indiana?
Headlines seemed to test that premise earlier this month with the announcement Randall Artis, who had been working full time for the East Chicago city clerk, was being the shown the door because of a felony conviction for essentially stealing from taxpayers.
That sounds like reasonable, good government, right? Artis' former boss, City Clerk Adrian Santos, said "Randall Artis was terminated because he cannot be trusted to handle the public's money. It's just that simple."
It seems simple enough. Someone with a felony conviction for stealing from taxpayers shouldn't be working in a position in which he could potentially do it again.
Only it's East Chicago, and anyone who's followed the ins and outs of that city for any period of time knows it's not "that simple," as Santos would have us believe.
Artis' conviction didn't happen in 2015 or 2016.
He pleaded guilty in 2005 — more than 10 years ago — to a charge of theft in U.S. District Court, Hammond. You see, Artis was an East Chicago city councilman at the time, elected to preside over the public trust.
Artis was convicted, along with a number of city officials and vendors, in a corruption probe that became known as the sidewalks-for-votes scandal. The co-conspirators misappropriated more than $24 million to pave new sidewalks, curbs, private driveways, parking lots and even one resident's entire backyard to curry votes in the 1999 elections.
Even with that highly publicized, shameful mark on Artis’ resume, then City Clerk Mary Morris Leonard hired Artis in August 2015.
Artis told The Times earlier this month it was his "big break in life" landing the position, which admittedly pays a paltry $10,840 per year but comes with full benefits, including health insurance.
The problem is, Artis clearly didn't deserve this "big break," at least not at the benevolence of a city he already admitted to fleecing, taking advantage of and deviating from a sacred oath he took when sworn into office.
Second chances have their place in society, but not at the expense of those already victimized — in this case, the taxpayers.
Artis now claims his firing is political, contending Santos bent to the political whims of disgraced East Chicago political operative Robert "Bobby" Cantrell, who recently finished a 78-month federal sentence for his own felony conviction. A federal jury found Cantrell guilty of taking cash kickbacks from a contract between the North Township trustee's office, where Cantrell was an employee, and a counseling service, and then evading taxes on the profits.
If Cantrell is actually calling political shots again, that also would be an embarrassment to a city currently reeling from a sitting city councilman, Robert Battle, who is charged in an unrelated federal homicide and drug case.
Santos denies Cantrell had anything to do with the firing.
Regardless of the truth behind Artis' firing, nothing changes the embarrassment of a convicted felon, found guilty of stealing from taxpayers, was again rehired to serve those very same taxpayers.
On the unconscionable hiring side of this red-faced fiasco, East Chicago isn't alone. Throughout the years, convicted criminals, particularly ones whose crimes were against taxpayers, have found their way back onto municipal and county payrolls throughout Lake County.
Prior to being hired by East Chicago, Artis also worked part-time for Lake County Sheriff John Buncich and former Lake County Surveyor George Van Til, county records show. Both of those jobs also followed Artis' 2005 conviction.
It's all part of politics-as-usual in Lake County, in which political allegiances hold more sway over hiring than qualifications — in which the strength of political connections transcend criminal convictions.
Ask most private-sector employers — ones that don't have hiring arrangements with court probation departments — if they would knowingly hire felons, and the answer is likely to be no.
But we do it here in Lake County as a matter of course, and it's embarrassing.
Voters keep letting it happen, too. Until our voters’ faces glow red with either the scarlet hue of anger or the sheepish blush of embarrassment — and until those emotions translate into action at the polls — nothing will change.
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