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Rich James, Post-Tribune: Politics is where Bobby Cantrell found his niche. He was very, very good at being very, very bad. If you were running for office, you didn’t necessarily need him supporting you. But you sure as heck didn’t want him working against you. Former East Chicago Mayor Bob Pastrick and former Sheriff Bob Stiglich were the two best politicians I’ve ever seen in Lake County. And while they were in power, you knew Cantrell was somewhere in the background doing what he could to help or hurt. It wasn’t that Cantrell had so much power as it was that he was bright, very bright. Cantrell had a way of convincing a politician that he needed him to get ahead or put out a fire. He bobbed and weaved and .jpg)
danced and usually came out on top. That is, until last week when he was convicted in federal court on 11 counts of fraud — involving some of the money he received for getting an addiction service locked into government offices. Much of the money Cantrell made — let’s just say that he received — came from Nancy Fromm’s Addiction and Family Care business. Just like Cantrell, Fromm and her business were pretty much shams, selling services that government offices neither needed nor could afford. While there’s nothing wrong with receiving a finder’s fee to secure a government contract for a business, you do have a problem when you fail to report the money — one of the things Cantrell was convicted of doing. When you have shameless people like Fromm and disgraced former Schererville Town Court Judge Deborah Riga testifying against you, there is almost a guilt by association. Defense attorney Kevin Milner made that point when he asked the jury during closing arguments, "Wouldn’t you like to hear from someone who isn’t facing time in prison?" Yeah, but as a former federal prosecutor once said, "You don’t swim with swans in the sewer." While Cantrell is another feather in the federal cap, you just know prosecutors are looking for more. If Cantrell had been convicted on a count or two and been given a year or two in prison, chances are he would have quietly done his time. That’s pretty much how it always has worked in East Chicago. But he was convicted on all 11 counts and now faces the very real possibility of dying a lonely man in prison. Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. said he doubts Cantrell will talk, even if he has the goods on someone. "He’s old school," McDermott said. Yeah, but he’s got kids and grandkids. That’s plenty of reason to sing, even if it isn’t "Hail Noble Washington."
Matt Tully, Indianapolis Star: After talking with local Democratic insiders, I’ve compiled a list full of names to keep an eye on as the days leading up to 2011 pass by. Melina Kennedy: The former deputy mayor and 2006 candidate for county prosecutor is on every Democratic insider’s list of likely candidates for mayor. Since losing the 2006 race, Kennedy has become a partner at the law firm of Baker & Daniels. On the political front, she has worked extensively for new U.S. Rep. Andre Carson’s campaigns. That relationship could boost a run. Summary: Bet on it. Joe Hogsett: Friends of the former Indiana secretary of state say he is interested. Hogsett declined to confirm that. But more importantly, he didn’t deny it. Summary: Keep watching. Kathy Davis: She was respected as former Mayor Bart Peterson’s financial wiz and popular as Joe Kernan’s lieutenant governor. So Davis, who now works on computer modeling programs, is worthy of inclusion. "I guess it’s possible," she said the other day. Summary: A good choice, but don’t bet on it. Mike O’Connor: The one-time chief deputy mayor is now the Marion County Democratic Party chairman and a lobbyist. Those jobs would give the GOP plenty of ammunition to use against him. Still, after guiding Peterson’s losing re-election bid in 2007, trying to win the mayor’s office back would be tempting. Summary: Unlikely. Woody Myers: He has high name ID after spending about $2 million of his own money during the recent congressional primary. But he underperformed — for a guy who spent $2 million. Summary: Maybe. He’s worked to stay in the news post-primary. Jim Schellinger: He is bruised from his failed bid for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. But the businessman did win Marion County — barely. Summary: Worth watching. Various City-County Council members: Personally, I have a rule: The day a council member becomes mayor is the day I call F.C. Tucker. After all, the council has not been the city’s shining light in recent years. Still, Democratic insiders say several current members are fantasizing about being mayor. The names that come up most frequently are Joanne Sanders, Brian Mahern and Paul Bateman. Summary: Heaven help us! Others: Former top Peterson aide Gordon Hendry is interested. Many Democrats, meanwhile, say Sheriff Frank Anderson could run. And while it’s unlikely Bart Peterson would jump in, we’ll be watching.
Leslie Stedman Weidenbener, Louisville Courier-Journal: State Rep. Dennie Oxley may be of more help than your average running mate. First, he probably won’t be afraid to attack Daniels, and he’ll likely do it well. Second, he’ll be a relentless campaigner. With his large district, Oxley is used to doing a lot of driving on the Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner circuit, to sporting events in the area, and to political events across his district. Third, his more conservative positions will be a counterweight to what is likely to be a GOP charge that Thompson is liberal. He’ll probably make Southern Indiana’s conservatives feel more comfortable with Thompson. But this will be a real test for Oxley as well. As the House majority whip, Oxley has been in a leadership position that is essentially all politics all the time. His role is not to formulate policy, so details about policy have not been his strongest suit. To help Thompson succeed, that will likely have to change. He’s going to be questioned by voters and the media repeatedly as he travels, and he’ll need some good answers.
Stephanie Salter, Terre Haute Tribune-Star: Sometimes I have this fantasy when I hear yet another smug know-it-all talk about the “irrelevance” of the mainstream news media, or “MSM,” as the abbreviated slur goes. I think, OK. How about we just fold up shop right now? Everybody who has trained for years to gather, verify and disseminate news — especially all of us soon-to-be extinct print dinosaurs — we’ll just go home. Tomorrow, there will be no more daily paper on anybody’s doorstep. And someone else can pull things together to put on a Web site for people to read for free. Want some information that lasts longer than a 30-second video clip about, say, a complex school board issue? A scandal in the county recorder’s office? A multi-million-dollar federal appropriation that’s been withdrawn? A black-and-white kitten that was rescued from rising flood waters? Want to spread out a big aerial shot of those flood waters to get some lasting perspective on how helpless or heroic some of your neighbors were? Tough. Try the blogosphere. Maybe somebody there will pick up the slack.
Sylvia Smith, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: It has been amply established – even by political compatriots of President Bush – that the preparation for the Iraq invasion was appallingly inadequate. We are living through (and many are dying through) the effects of the White House’s naïve assumptions that the war would be brief, the cost would be borne by Iraq’s oil production and the new government would come together seamlessly. History will judge Bush harshly because of those misjudgments. But is metaphorically waltzing into war a cause for impeachment? Absolutely not. Rep. Dennis Kucinich thinks otherwise, and he forced the House to vote last week. His contention is that Bush committed high crimes and misdemeanors when he snookered America into invading Iraq. His 35 articles of impeachment ranged from “creating a secret propaganda campaign to manufacture a false case for war against Iraq” to “endangering the health of 9/11 first responders.” The Democratic leadership, which controls the action on the floor, does not support Kucinich’s move but could not completely block it because the rules of the House allow any of its members to bring a privileged resolution to the floor and insist on a vote within two days. The House leadership funneled Kucinich’s resolution to the Judiciary Committee, which won’t hold hearings or take any action. So the matter is buried. (It’s the same committee that was assigned and took no action on Kucinich’s previous impeachment measure against Vice President Cheney.) The House clearly has no appetite for impeaching Bush. The country certainly doesn’t.
Tags: Leslie Stedman Weidenbener, Rich James, Stephanie Salter, Sylvia Smith
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