HAMMOND | East Chicago politicians recall Timothy Raykovich "quarterbacking" city projects in the closing years of Robert Pastrick's reign, but Raykovich likely won't be a defendant when the state's civil trial against Pastrick starts May 26, according to court filings.
Patrick Collins, the private lawyer hired to run the state's lawsuit, filed a report Wednesday in Hammond federal court indicating Raykovich and the state had "reached an agreement in principle." Collins wrote that he anticipated Raykovich's dismissal today from the lawsuit former Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter filed in 2004. The suit aims to hold Pastrick, administration aides and contractors liable for the disappearance of $24 million in city money during the sidewalks-for-votes scandal.
It was unclear Thursday whether Raykovich has agreed to help the state with its case in return for his dismissal. Attorneys in the case are under a gag order, and Raykovich's lawyer, David Weigle, did not return a call Thursday. Collins also did not return a call Thursday, and Attorney General Greg Zoeller declined to comment.
Pastrick-era city politicos remembered Raykovich on Thursday as Pastrick's confidante, a top aide who subbed as the de facto mayor for the engineer of Lake County's Democratic machine.
"When Bob Pastrick couldn't meet with department heads, he'd sit in on the meetings," said a Pastrick-era city councilman who was granted anonymity to talk about a pending lawsuit involving local politicians.
"(Raykovich) was very well aware of what was happening in the administration."
Jesse Gomez, a precinct committeeman and former city councilman who worked in Pastrick's City Hall, said Raykovich dealt mostly with Pastrick, not other administration officials. Raykovich sometimes stepped in to lead projects for Pastrick, Gomez said.
"He seemed to be doing maybe some of the quarterbacking," Gomez said.
Raykovich's dismissal from the suit likely would leave James Fife III, another top Pastrick aide, as Pastrick's lone co-defendant. Collins wrote that contractor Calumet Concrete is near a settlement with the state. Collins wrote that Fife and Pastrick are unlikely to settle.
Starting May 26, state lawyers plan to use the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, to hold Pastrick and his co-defendants financially responsible for the $24 million spending scandal that snared the Sidewalk Six, a group of city officials convicted in federal court in a concrete-for-votes scheme. Neither Pastrick nor Raykovich nor Fife was charged criminally in the matter.
Zoeller has said he does not expect the state to collect the full $24 million. But he thinks the suit will prove the Pastrick administration was run as a corrupt enterprise during the scheme. Zoeller said the city "perverted" the practices of city government. He said the civil trial will force Northwest Indiana residents to behold the scope of the city's problems.
