Another Corrupt Prsecutor running for office

This is the third in what's become series of posts about outgoing Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi and members of his cabinet. (Yesterday, this blog had items about Brizzi's fundraising in 2009, before his announcement last week that he wouldn't seek re-election, and the party loyalty of Helen Marchal, Brizzi's former chief of staff and now Republican candidate for his job.)


Now, let's turn to David Wyser, Brizzi's chief trial deputy. He's running for Hamilton County prosecutor as a Republican. At the same time, he is continuing to work in his Marion County job, in which he focuses on trial strategy, participating in some high-profile cases at various stages and sometimes meeting with deputy prosecutors to review their cases before trial.


Marchal and Wyser both faced a difficult question when they decided to run, but they came up with different answers -- which led to Marchal resigning her post upon announcing her candidacy last week and led Wyser to stay put. They both faced potential conflicts because of the federal Hatch Act. The law bars local and state agency employees from seeking partisan elective office if they "work in connection with programs financed in whole or in part by federal loans or grants." Marchal said her connection was unmistakable, since she had helped apply for federal grants and oversaw programs and staff funded by them.


This week, I put the question to Wyser: Why doesn't the Hatch Act apply to him?


The rules aren't quite clear-cut, but the stakes are high: If a candidate makes the wrong call, his or her agency could lose out on money, and the candidate could be disqualified from office. (You can read more about the Hatch Act's restrictions at the U.S. Office of Special Counsel website.) Wyser's response is after the jump.





Here's what Wyser told me: As chief trial deputy, he isn't the supervisor of any federally-funded programs and oversees deputy prosecutors' trial work, but not the employees themselves. If any of their work is paid for in part by federal grants, Wyser said, his own connection to the money is merely casual. "Not only did I look into it, but I consulted with one of the leading experts on the Hatch Act in the country," he told me. "I don't need to do anything different than what I've been doing."


I called the expert Wyser cited, James Bopp Jr., a Terre Haute lawyer involved in a lot of high-profile cases involving partisan issues. Among his clients was Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett, whose opponent, former Mayor Kevin Burke, launched a Hatch Act challenge based on Bennett's work for a mental health nonprofit agency that received federal funding for its Head Start program. A local judge ruled Bennett eligible, the Indiana Court of Appeals disagreed, and then the Indiana Supreme Court reversed, allowing Bennett to retain the office.


Bopp told me that, in his estimation, Wyser interacts so infrequently with prosecutors participating in federally funded programs that the connection is "de minimis." "I do believe, as I advised him, that he is not 'Hatched' -- that he is not prevented from running for office. I think he's sufficiently removed from any federal funds that are used in the office that he can do this."


It remains to be seen whether Democrats or any eventual opponents will press Wyser further on the issue.

Ok Brizzi's corrupt is Out..When will Spears GO???

Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi is out -- and his chief of staff, Helen Marchal, will seek the Republican nomination for prosecutor this year in his place.
Brizzi announced late this morning via a written statement that he would not seek a third term in office in this November’s election.

Soon after, Marchal, a career prosecutor, issued a news release announcing her candidacy.
"This decision was not an easy one," Brizzi said in a letter to the community, "but after serving as prosecutor for the last seven years, I have wrestled with the question of whether I could make a commitment to serve an additional five years. ... I am still incredibly passionate about the job we do and our commitment to a victim centered philosophy that criminals have a choice and victims don't. I could not be any prouder of our accomplishments over the past seven years."
Marchal has worked more than a dozen years as a deputy prosecutor under Brizzi and predecessor Scott Newman, including the last three years as Brizzi's chief of staff. She has been a key behind-the-scenes player in his administration, overseeing a staff of nearly 400, managing the office's budget and coordinating criminal-justice programs.
“I’ve devoted my time in the prosecutor’s office to making the community safer by ensuring that we hold criminals accountable," Marchal said in the news release. "We’ve worked to punish violent offenders without apology." She added: "We must continue victim-centered prosecution and work every day to help victims through the process and fight to bring justice and restore their sense of security."
Marchal also is the Republican half of a bipartisan marriage -- her husband, Marion Superior Court Commissioner Jeffrey Marchal, is a Democrat.
She resigned her position as chief of staff late Tuesday, Brizzi said, because of concerns that running for office while overseeing programs that receive federal grant money could run afoul of the federal Hatch Act.
Brizzi’s announcement of his intentions comes at the last minute for his party – on the last day other candidates can register for the Marion County GOP’s February slating convention, in which party insiders make endorsements for the primary. The delayed announcement also leaves Marchal at an early fundraising disadvantage.
Since last summer, Democrats Terry Curry, Greg Bowes -- the Marion County assessor -- and former state Rep. David Orentlicher have been campaigning for their party's nomination for prosecutor.

Brizzi, 41, was first elected prosecutor in 2002 and was re-elected in 2006, beating Democrat Melina Kennedy by just over three percentage points in a year when Democrats won other countywide races on the ballot. He may have faced a tough re-election battle this year.
He also had been stung by a recent financial scandal involving a close friend. Timothy Durham, his finance chairman and largest donor in 2006, faced accusations in November that his companies were involved in a Ponzi scheme to defraud investors. The FBI raided the offices of two of Durham's companies, Ohio-based Fair Financial and Downtown Indianapolis-based Obsidian Enterprises.
No criminal charges have resulted, but Brizzi has defended himself against criticism of his associations with Durham.
Brizzi touted accomplishments including high conviction rates for murder and drug prosecutions, online sex sting investigations organized by his office and a mentoring program matching staffers with at-risk children at five schools.
"I will continue to work hard for the best interests of our community and make 2010 another banner year for our office," Brizzi's letter says.