(Indiana Attorney General)Zoeller takes aim at (Democrat)Pastrick bankruptcy

Gary Post-Tribune ^ | December 22, 2010 | BY TERESA AUCH SCHULTZ

[tcrlaf]

ndiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said he plans to fight former East Chicago Mayor Robert Pastrick's attempt to escape his $108 million debt to the state.

Pastrick filed for bankruptcy last week, about 10 months after a federal judge sided in favor of Indiana's lawsuit against Pastrick and his co-defendants for their role in the sidewalks-for-votes fraud scheme and ordered the judgment.

The state has been trying to collect ever since and filed a motion last week asking for the seizure of his personal property at his Ogden Dunes home and a storage locker in Portage.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Nuechterlein had originally granted the request but then had to deny it after Pastrick filed for bankruptcy.

The only creditors Pastrick listed in his filings were the state and the law office representing Indiana.

However, Zoeller said the filing was just a stalling tactic and a federal judgment shouldn't be discharged through bankruptcy.

"The filing for bankruptcy is symbolic of a lack of accountability and one more attempt to avoid his responsibility to the citizens of East Chicago," Zoeller said. "Former Mayor Pastrick never has been held accountable for running the East Chicago municipal government as a corrupt enterprise, which was what the federal court found."

The lawsuit is in connection with a scheme to collect votes for Pastrick in the 1999 Democratic primary.

Several officials have been convicted in the $24 million fraud, but Pastrick wasn't indicted on criminal charges.

[tcrlaf]

This is the Same Chicagoland Border city that has 40 People convicted of Voter Fraud in the 2003 Democrat Primary.

You know... That Democrat Voter Fraud that the left says doesn't exist.

[muawiyah]

The East Chicago/Gary/Hammond area is undoubtedly the source of Chicago’s corruption.