Panel clarifies court probe
Commission issued a 'caution' to judge while dismissing a complaint
Post-Tribune (IN)
December 29, 2006
A state ethics commission cautioned Lake Superior Court Judge Julie Cantrell for improperly using money from driving school fees to give her staff $20,700 in salary bonuses.
Breaking with the panel's usual practices, a spokeswoman for the Commission on Judicial Qualifications issued a public statement about an investigation into Cantrell's office, a response to statements by Cantrell last month that said the commission "dismissed" complaints against her.
"Short of filing charges (the commission) can express a private caution. (A caution) is an expression of the commission's finding that the complaint was not unfounded or groundless," said Meg Babcock, counsel for the commission. "Typically that is a private communication. Because Judge Cantrell stated publicly the complaint was dismissed, I determined it was appropriate to speak publicly to correct the impression made by her public statement," Babcock said.
Cantrell referred questions to her attorney, Terry Smith, who said a letter from the commission said the case was "dismissed with caution."
"The case was dismissed. Dismissed means dismissed," Smith said. "They said don't pay bonuses with (money from the driving school) even though she got authority from the (Lake County) Council ... They said, if you do it again, just let us know about it."
Cantrell said in November she had received a letter from the commission and "they said they had looked into it, and they had dismissed the complaint."
A 2003 audit report showed that Cantrell had used funds from driving school fees collected from traffic court defendants to fund $900 bonuses paid to 23 employees, Babcock said.
Cantrell's Superior Court colleague, Judge Jesse Villalpando, filed a wide-ranging complaint against her, including a claim she was overcharging students in her driving school and diverting the excess funds to other uses. After Cantrell made statements to the press about the outcome of the ethics investigation, Villalpando sent a letter to Babcock.
A longtime rival of Cantrell's father, political fixer Robert Cantrell, Villalpando said issues with the driving school became apparent to him after Robert Cantrell threatened to back candidates against Villalpando to use a politically connected firm for defendants in his courtroom.
Villalpando said it was his duty to report possible ethical lapses by Cantrell or any of his peers.
"Her father was trying by coercion to force me to do some of the same things that he was getting, without complaint, in her court," he said.
Traffic court defendants can be assigned to take driving school courses instead of having an infraction put on their record. Judge Cantrell said last month she had put her driving programs "on hiatus" because of bad publicity.
Federal investigators also have reviewed Cantrell's driving school records. Cantrell has said the federal investigation "didn't find anything wrong, either." David Capp, spokesman for U.S. Attorney Joseph Van Bokkelen, would not comment on whether the Justice Department was investigating Cantrell.
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