Davich: Portage mayor should know image is everything in court of public opinion
Chicago Tribune
Jerry Davich
February 10, 2017
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/opinion/ct-ptb-davich-james-snyder-resignation-st-0213-20170210-story.html
Should Portage Mayor James Snyder step down from office while awaiting his public corruption trial in April?
Before you jump to a knee-jerk answer — I'm pretty sure all of us have one by this point — ask yourself why Snyder hasn't done it yet. Would it further tarnish his public image? Would it suggest guilt to city residents? Would it complicate his legal defense? Is it strictly about keeping his income, health insurance and other financial perks intact?
I don't think so.
Sure, those are all factors in his decision, but I believe Snyder is convinced he's innocent of all federal charges against him. Convinced. Nothing less.
"I am absolutely convinced that he believes that," said Portage City Councilman Collin Czilli (D-5th), who has called for Snyder's resignation along with several other city officials the past few weeks.
On Nov. 18, Snyder was formally charged with one count of tax evasion and two counts of bribery involving a local towing firm. Snyder pleaded not guilty, and he's been repeating that mantra since that day. I don't see him stepping down, even for the next two months, despite public outcry to do so.
Unlike those of us who either hope the mayor is innocent of these charges or that he will be found, or plead, guilty, Snyder acts assured he has done nothing wrong. Nothing. He has stated this publicly, and to me, and to other city officials.
Is this the common, even predicted, response from yet another Northwest Indiana public official indicted by the feds? Or is this the sad delusion of a man who may be serving prison time later this year? His supporters insist it's possible that Snyder has indeed been wrongly accused, and he will soon be exonerated of all charges.
And yes, presumed innocence until proven guilty is legally correct in our country, though many observers in this area have already presumed his guilt. It's easy to do in Northwest Indiana, where federal agents historically charge and convict public officials with an impressive success rate.
Snyder knows this, yet he insists he is not guilty of any wrongdoing.
Former Lake Station Mayor Keith Soderquist, who could easily serve as the poster child for modern-day public corruption, took a different tact after he and his wife Deborah were caught by the feds.
"They both knew they were guilty," said Kim Frizzell, the city's administrative assistant and a longtime city employee. "He essentially cased the joint during his time as a city councilman, learned how to manipulate people and using his terms as a training ground for public corruption later in his career. He had an agenda from early on."
The former eight-year city councilman pleaded guilty to improperly and illegally using money from his reelection campaign and the city's food pantry. The stolen funds were used for gambling at a casino boat, federal prosecutors said.
After deliberating only a few hours after an eight-day trial, a jury found Soderquist and his wife guilty. They were both sentenced to prison late last year.
Will the same fate be served to Snyder, who also is battling against public perception?
"My reputation is shot until I win, and I understand that," Snyder told me.
On Thursday, I heard from city residents who had just found out that Snyder drives a city-leased vehicle costing $866 a month. He also used this vehicle last month to drive his family to Washington D.C. to attend inauguration events for President Donald Trump. And he upgraded his hotel room on the taxpayers' dime.
"The fact that in 2016 we raised utility rates by 32 percent makes it look even worse," Czilli said.
Regardless whether you believe he should have attended this event with his family, or not, it simply looks bad for his public image. Then again, public image is not supposed to sway the verdict of his trial, scheduled for April 10. Just the facts, ma'am.
Czilli shared with me the Portage Utility Service Board paperwork filed for 2017 regarding Snyder's city-leased vehicle, a 2016 Chevy Tahoe. Snyder is one of several city officials with city-leased vehicles at their disposal, ranging in monthly cost from $613 to $779 for the five-year lease term.
"We also paid for Sirius XM and OnStar data in (Snyder's) vehicle," Czilli said.
To add context, it should be noted that the City Council voted unanimously for this fleet of vehicles after the general election in 2015. (Other municipalities in this area pay for similar city-leased fleets.) And it's likely that most Portage residents would never know about this contract if not for Snyder's indictment.
A federal indictment magnifies every move, every decision, every public comment. Everything he does is now under a microscope. Snyder knows this.
It's hard to believe after all these decades, all these indictments and all these convictions that a public official would dare commit a crime of any kind, even stealing a handful of paperclips.
Then again, it's not that hard to believe when you consider the human dynamics at work, the same universal dynamics that existed more than a century ago, corrupting so many others after they were elected into public office. Those damning attributes haven't gone away. Greed, ego, arrogance, the lust for power and a feeling of invincibility.
Does Snyder feel invincible against the charges against him? Should he show this attitude in public? Is this merely a reflection of how he genuinely feels in private? I don't know. Unlike his critics and political opponents, I'm not hoping for a guilty verdict in April. We've had too many public officials found guilty of corruption in this area.
But one thing is certain regarding public opinion about Snyder, and it was echoed publicly by U.S. District Court Judge James Moody at Soderquist's sentencing hearing.
"What the hell were you thinking?" he asked incredulously.
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