05302008 - News Article - Fromm's agency called into court - Former Cantrell ally called by prosecution in political corruption trial

Fromm's agency called into court
Former Cantrell ally called by prosecution in political corruption trial
Post-Tribune (IN)
May 30, 2008
Nancy Fromm on Thursday began telling the story of the rise and fall of her politically-connected counseling service, a business cycle that closely followed the Lake County election cycle.

The prosecution witness in the corruption trial of Robert Cantrell, Fromm testified that she founded her first counseling company the day after Cantrell's daughter, Julie, was sworn in as a Lake County judge.

Fromm said she agreed to work on Cantrell's 1996 campaign after asking Robert Cantrell if his daughter would steer work to a counseling agency she planned to start with Hobart Township official George Sufana.

"We said we would help her and that if we supported her, that we hoped she would send us some business," said Fromm, whose testimony comes as part of plea bargain for tax evasion and obstruction of justice charges connected to her business.

Judge Cantrell and the Hobart Town Court were the first and only customers for the firm, which Fromm and Sufana eventually would split up to accommodate other political alliances and win more business. Julie Cantrell won re-election in the May primary and has never been charged with any crime.

The half that became Fromm's Addiction & Family Care (AFC) is at the center of federal prosecutor's case against Robert Cantrell, who allegedly collected six-figure fees from Fromm in exchange for using his connections -- built during his long career as a Lake County political operative -- to win government contracts for AFC.

Prosecutors allege Cantrell violated state ethics laws by not disclosing his ties to AFC while he was working for one of the firm's clients, North Township Trustee Greg Cvitkovich. Former township attorney Anthony DeBonis testified he raised the same issue with Cvitkovich in 2004, after reading a news article detailing Cantrell's connection to AFC.

DeBonis testified Cantrell told him that he never collected fees from AFC's contracts with the township or with his daughter's court. Asked by DeBonis to provide a sworn affidavit or financial records as evidence, the lawyer said Cantrell became "animated."

"By the end (of the conversation), I had a clear impression that he wasn't going to do it," he said. "I think he was miffed that we were trying to find out what the extent of his business relationship was."

Defense attorney Kevin Milner noted the township first signed a contract with AFC in 1999, before Cantrell took his township job, though the deal later was renewed through 2006.

Milner objected to Assistant U.S. Attorney Wayne Ault's recitation of the names of counseling classes AFC provided, titles that included "The Art of Assertiveness," "How to Stop Procrastinating" and "Yoga." The firm had been hired to provide addiction counseling for township employees.

"There are no allegations in the indictment about the quality of the classes," Milner said. "What the government is trying to do is basically attack the contract as being silly ... The only issue for the jury is whether or not (Cantrell) accepted money."