Sometimes when I get mired in the relatively boring politics of northeast Indiana, I miss the gleeful graft and corruption practiced routinely in The Region. The latest case is from East Chicago, where Mayor George Pabey is accused of getting a little extra out of city employees:
The charges came after an investigation that lasted more than an year into work done on a house Pabey bought with his daughter in 2007, located at 8530 Locust Ave. in Gary's Miller neighborhood. Federal officials claim Camacho told five East Chicago employees to work on Pabey's home, including pour cement and paint the inside, up through August 2008. The employees allegedly used city property, too, including cell phones and a cement truck.
No fancy computer fraud, no elaborate schemes to hide massive sums of money, just good, old-fashioned "get city employees to fix up my house" petty larceny. And the best part:
Pabey came into office six years ago, promising to end the corruption that plagued former Mayor Robert Pastrick's time in office. Multiple indictments were filed against Pastrick's allies.
Can't wait to see what the next reform candidate comes up with.
