Lake County trained on a new era with ethics sessions

CROWN POINT | Lake County officials have decided to put the fear of God into their employees and each other.

Thomas Dabertin, county government's human resources director, said he will begin employee training sessions next month on accepting gifts and misusing the Internet or government property for personal gain, as well as the virtues of whistle-blowing.

Sheriff John Buncich issued a general order last month forbidding law enforcement officers from engaging in activities that conflict with their public duty.

The Board of Commissioners and County Council are putting the finishing touches on an agreement to have outside trainers from the County Shared Ethics Advisory Commission to continue such instruction into the coming years.

County Councilman Ted Bilski, D-Hobart, is one of several officials pushing the charge to bring in representatives of the Shared Ethics Advisory Commission, who began six years ago in Crown Point, Highland, Munster, Schererville and eventually Whiting

"I'm not making innuendos about any employee or elected official. We have great people who work here," Bilski said.

"What I'm saying is there are certain standards and certain practices that are and aren't acceptable. People drop off gifts like chocolates and flowers, and folks need to know what is accepted to take and what isn't. It's no different in the private sector," he said.

However, Bilski acknowledges local politicians appear to have more to prove than their counterparts outside of government.

"We really get a black eye in Lake County. It sickens me that people think that if you are from Lake County you are a thug, you are corrupt, you are no good."

Gov. Mitch Daniels took his shot in a 2009 Griffith speech: "You are entitled to all the lousy, crummy, graft-ridden government you are prepared to pay for."

More than a dozen county officials have been led into federal prisons in recent years for public corruption. Three county police officers await sentencing for using county police paperwork to illegally buy and sell machine gun components and laser gun sights to the public over the Internet.

The sheriff warned his employees last month in a memo, "Employees shall not engage in financial transactions using nonpublic government information or allow the improper use of such information to further any private interest. Employees shall disclose waste, fraud, abuse and corruption to the sheriff and or proper authorities."

Former Gov. Joe Kernan warned in a speech to the Lake County Advancement Committee last fall that if Lake County's local officials fail to get their ethical house in order, downstate officials will do it for them.