EDITORIAL: Local party must break corruption's mold
The Times Editorial Board
NWI Times
Jan 8, 2017
Protecting taxpayer dollars and repairing the foundering reputation of some Region government institutions are more important than political allegiances.
It's a simple message every Northwest Indiana resident should be delivering to political leaders, some of whom perennially just don't seem to get it.
The Lake County Democratic Party, in particular, is at an important crossroads at which a change in leadership is likely imminent in 2017.
The destructive consequences of each and every county taxpayer and political leader not pushing for a change in direction for the county's majority party of power are clear.
For generations, political allegiances in some Region government bodies have contributed to a climate in which more than 60 public officials or their connected contractors have been convicted for felony crimes against taxpayers.
It's why the Lake County Democratic Party has a chairman, who also happens to be county Sheriff John Buncich, under federal indictment for allegedly accepting bribes in a towing contract scheme related to the sheriff's office.
Misplaced allegiances, a sickness really, are why Democratic Lake County Councilman Jamal Washington is feeling little to no party pressure to resign his post after pleading guilty last month to battering his wife.
The potential crossroads for a new direction for the county's party of power comes in the likelihood that Buncich will be forcibly removed from his government office in 2017 — if he doesn't resign of his own volition.
If he is convicted or pleads guilty in 2017 of the felony bribery charges, Indiana law will automatically revoke his position as sheriff.
It would seem, at that point, his party chairmanship would be untenable as well.
Now Lake County Democratic Party members must be pushing for a new direction.
In 2016, we were disheartened to learn of some new names being bandied about in political circles as potential future party chairmen.
One of those names, Michael Pannos, surfaced when Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. suggested he would like to see Pannos take the party's reins at some point.
Pannos was central to the corrupt East Chicago administration of former Mayor Robert Pastrick. Pannos was central to a civil lawsuit, which he settled out of court in 2014, that was filed by the Indiana attorney general's office in the last decade.
The lawsuit accused Pannos and his business of enriching themselves with millions of East Chicago taxpayer revenues siphoned to his private company with little taxpayer benefit to show for it.
If this is the type of leader top party officials turn to for potential leadership, our Region is doomed to continue experiencing a cycle of corruption that's long plagued Northwest Indiana's political reputation.
Talk of Pannos being a future party leader has died down. But who else will be considered as Buncich's successor?
With one voice, all Region residents and officials, Republican and Democrat, should be demanding a strong county Democratic Party leader bent on quashing corruption at its root.
This leader should not be a current officeholder like past chairmen. It must be someone who can focus on cleaning house and promoting candidates who stand for responsible government.
It must be someone who can apply the right pressure to oust or force resignations of officials who've admitted to crimes or otherwise sullied the reputations of their offices.
Republican officials, leaders and voters in Lake County should be part of the chorus. The Democratic Party continues holding majorities in county and municipal government offices and therefore holds sway over all people within its borders.
It's time for a healthy vetting and thorough considerations of the next Democratic party leader in Lake County, and the state party should be applying pressure as well.
If the Lake County Democratic Party truly concerns itself with the needs and well being of constituents, it will get serious about selecting a future chairman who won't become the next criminally indicted politico.
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