When former East Chicago Mayor Bob Pastrick hired convicted felon N. Atterson Spann as his sanitary district supervisor in 1994, what reformers there are in the city were quick to cluck their tongues at his choice.
Spann, an East Chicago Democrat and a former county commissioner, had served prison time on public corruption convictions, and there he was, back on the public payroll. Spann went on to serve as Pastrick's campaign manager in the 2003 mayoral race and the director of human services in 2004.
Pastrick's iron control of the city's 1,000 municipal employees -- one out of every 30 people in the city -- and their families kept him in power for three decades but made him a target of people who said the city was ready for reform.
It was partly on such a platform that the current mayor, George Pabey, campaigned. The fact that Pabey had been a police chief under Pastrick made some people suspect his desire for reform may have in reality been window dressing, but in a hotly contested race that ended up in court, Pabey was finally declared the winner.
Anyone out there remember the old rock song by The Who titled, "Won't Get Fooled Again"? If not, ask your grandpa, and he will tell you it contains the line, "meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
New boss Pabey in 2005, shortly after he was elected, named Rudy Byron, who was convicted along with Spann on the corruption charges, as East Chicago's new parks superintendent in 2005. Byron later was transferred, then laid off.
Now we find out the city has hired STM Enterprises, owned by Sandra T. Markovich. Astute -- and maybe even not-so-astute -- observers will recognize this as a re-formation of the former JGM Enterprises, owned by Sandra's husband, former County Councilman Joel G. Markovich.
Markovich went to prison for defrauding East Chicago and remains on probation. He owes East Chicago some $700,000 in restitution. He is STM's operations manager. So in essence, the city is paying STM in order that an STM "employee" can repay the city.
His wife's business cuts grass on an emergency basis on abandoned property. It's a stretch to believe that with the more than 800 city employees East Chicago still has, the city could not find a few people able to operate a lawn mower.
But no, officials hired STM. And STM pays its operations manager. And its operations manager repays the debt he owes to the city -- which he is doing regularly, to his credit.
Maybe the city could just cut out the middleman and instead of paying STM, just write the check to whatever fund is set up for restitution.
The larger question is why would Pabey hire Markovich in the first place? Because his work is the best? So he can repay the city? Or is there something Markovich may know that the mayor would prefer to remain unknown?
Looking at the whole situation, it is difficult to tell whether the Pastrick administration has been reformed, or whether it is being re-formed.
The opinions are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at markk@nwitimes.com or (219) 933-4170.
