03172017 - News Article - US Attorney David Capp served with integrity and skill. A high bar has been set

US Attorney David Capp served with integrity and skill. A high bar has been set
Chicago Tribune
March 17, 2017
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/opinion/ct-ptb-editorial-us-attorney-st-0319-20170317-story.html

U.S Attorney David Capp's resignation last week came as no surprise, given President Donald Trump's upset victory in November. That's the political nature of the landscape when parties change in White House administrations.

Capp, a career prosecutor who intended to retire in June, leaves behind an impressive legacy of bipartisan service underlined by a fervent commitment to justice.

A 1968 Gary Lew Wallace graduate, Capp served as the region's top crime fighter since 2007, when his predecessor, Joseph Van Bokkelen, became a federal judge. Capp was sacked last week with 45 other U.S. attorneys by order of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Capp was serving as top deputy under Van Bokkelen when former president George W. Bush tapped him as interim U.S. attorney after Van Bokkelen's resignation. Former president Barack Obama took Capp's interim tag off in 2009 when he named him U.S. attorney for Indiana's Northern District, based in Hammond.

Before his appointment, Capp toiled 23 years under Republican and Democratic administrations showing no aversion to prosecuting corrupt Democratic politicians.

Capp led efforts such as Operation Lights Out and Operation Restore Public Integrity to root out crooked politicians who usually wound up as guests in federal prisons.

In recent years, Capp's office joined with local police, and agencies across the Illinois state line, to go after violent street gangs such as the Imperial Gangsters and Latin Kings, who operated primarily in Northwest Indiana.

Capp remained visible in the region, speaking to local groups about the work his office was doing to fight crime. Last year, he said the 56 members of the Latin Kings and Imperial Gangsters arrested by his office were responsible for 36 homicides.

Late last year, Capp announced stunning indictments against Lake County Sheriff John Buncich and Portage Mayor James Snyder on unrelated corruption charges tied to towing schemes. Those cases will now move forward after Capp departs.

Last year, former Lake Station mayor Keith Soderquist went to prison for improperly taking money from his campaign fund and the city's food pantry account to gamble at casinos.

Capp has also successfully prosecuted a host of Lake County Democratic elected officials including former East Chicago Mayor George Pabey, former Lake County surveyor George Van Til, former Lake County clerk Tom Philpot and former Gary city council members Ronier Scott and the late Marilyn Krusas.

Capp's departure comes sadly as the country is politically polarized and torn. Gary native Clifford Johnson, a federal prosecutor in South Bend, has been named interim U.S. attorney until Trump makes a permanent choice.

It's unclear who Trump might name to succeed Capp, but since the Jimmy Carter administration, the U.S. attorney appointee has come from Lake or Porter counties. U.S. Sen. Todd Young is leading the search.

Capp's successor has an illustrious blueprint to follow. The bar is set high. We hope the next U.S. attorney should be up to the challenge.