INDIANAPOLIS | When Democrat Linda Pence announced her candidacy for state attorney general last week, she said she would need to undertake an extensive review before committing to continuing the civil racketeering case against former East Chicago Mayor Robert Pastrick.
Pence, an Indianapolis attorney, didn't mention that she already is familiar with the other side of the corruption case. Federal court records show Pence represented Rieth-Riley, a paving company that paid $625,000 to settle claims it helped city officials conspire to divert more than $24 million in public money to a 1999 sidewalks-for-votes scheme.
"What I was trying to convey (last week) is, in this particular civil case, I'm not the attorney general yet," Pence, a former U.S. Justice Department attorney, said Thursday. "I'm not privy to the evidence in that case. I wouldn't be allowed to see it. If that evidence is there and there is corruption, I will go after that, and I will continue that case."
The civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act lawsuit Republican Attorney General Steve Carter filed four years ago labels the city of East Chicago a corrupt enterprise and seeks to recoup the millions spent on the pre-election paving scheme.
"Frankly, that case is one of the highest priorities in the entire office," Greg Zoeller, the GOP candidate for attorney general, said Thursday.
Zoeller, Carter's chief deputy, has vowed to continue the fight against Lake County corruption. Zoeller won the GOP nomination over Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas, whose law firm, Burke Costanza & Cuppy, represented a pair of East Chicago officials who recently settled in the state RICO case.
"When I'm attorney general, I would review that file extensively," Pence said last week. "I am against public corruption. I would not focus on one county, which I think I've seen in the past."
Pence said she would be willing to entrust the East Chicago case to subordinates or outside counsel if her review identified a potential conflict of interest.
Although Rieth-Riley admitted no wrongdoing in its 2006 settlement, the state had accused the company of playing a central role in a scheme to help East Chicago officials legitimize the paving bonanza that preceded Pastrick's 1999 re-election. The original civil lawsuit said the company signed off on a phony contract after other contractors already had helped pour free driveways, patios and sidewalks for city voters.
In 2005, Pence filed a countersuit in the case, contending that Rieth-Riley's contract with the city contained a clause protecting the company from liability if any part of the pact was deemed "contrary to the law." A year later the company forged a settlement that included a pledge to cooperate with investigators.
"Of the $1.3 million recovered in the RICO case, Rieth-Riley paid a significant settlement of $625,000, which is the largest to date and represents twice the amount paid to outside counsel," Carter spokeswoman Staci Schneider said Thursday.
More than a dozen of the 27 former city officials and contractors originally named as defendants in civil suit have reached similar settlements.
