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.