11102004 - News Article - EDITORIALS: Continue to roust public corruption - The issue: Joseph Van Bokkelen - Our opinion: The law-abiding citizens of Northwest Indiana have been served well by this U.S. attorney - ROBERT CANTRELL

EDITORIALS - Continue to roust public corruption
The issue: Joseph Van Bokkelen - Our opinion: The law-abiding citizens of Northwest Indiana have been served well by this U.S. attorney
NWI Times
Nov 10, 2004
nwitimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/continue-to-roust-public-corruption/article_ce95ec48-5573-558d-8e21-3546ce441168.html
A positive outcome for Northwest Indiana of President Bush's re-election is the likelihood that Joseph Van Bokkelen will continue as U.S. attorney for Northern Indiana.

Van Bokkelen and his staff have been relentless in investigating what he once called "behavior without integrity" among public officials and those who do business with government officials here.

"...and I think I am making some sort of difference," he said in what surely is the understatement of the day.

It has been under Van Bokkelen's leadership that many politicians at the municipal, township and county levels of government dread Fridays, which have become synonymous with the announcement of indictments against public officials.

When he was named U.S. attorney by President Bush, at the urging of U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., and others, Van Bokkelen made it clear that targeting public corruption in Lake County was a priority.

He stuck to that pledge -- with the convictions of 16 elected officials, public figures and politically connected businessmen; 13 on trial or awaiting trial on various charges of public fraud or its cover-up. So far.

There always has been the perception that the region was rife with political corruption, and Van Bokkelen and his team have proved that to be the reality with its Operation Restore Public Integrity.

Not since the Operation Lights Out investigation that began in the 1980s and resulted in the convictions of more than 20 people, including some high-profile politicians, has the region seen so many influential people fall like dominoes because of the aggressive federal investigations by the U.S. attorney's office.

Had Sen. John Kerry won the presidential election, Van Bokkelen -- as a Republican president's appointee -- likely would have been replaced by a Democratic appointee.

The law-abiding citizens of Northwest Indiana have been served well by this U.S. attorney, not just for the corruption investigations, but also for his vigorous prosecution of gun violations, one of the most aggressive in the nation.

Lugar's office is optimistic that Van Bokkelen will remain Northern Indiana's top law enforcement officer.

That is bad news for those in government circles who confuse elective office with an unlimited bank account. And that is good news for the rest of us.