25. February 2008 by Greg Kelver.

“Our part is to pursue with steadiness what is right, turning neither to right nor left for the intrigues or popular delusions of the day, assured that the public approbation will in the end be with us.” –Thomas Jefferson, 1822.

Before the smokescreen clears from the latest political manipulation and the spotlight brightly shines again on Assessor McDaniel, County Attorney Friedman may want to spend a little time brushing up on the general concept and definition of “ethics.” In my opinion, his latest ”Ethics Complaint” is just a thinly veiled Hail Mary attempt to legally bully and manipulate the DLGF and its former employees

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=10146

The latest action “on behalf of McDaniel”, presumably to once again be paid for by LaPorte County Taxpayers, is yet another link in a long chain of governmental tax abuse inflicted on LaPorte County residents. But it is long past time for the DLGF to hold their ground and be actively engaged.  Unfortunately, whatever action the DLGF may take at this point will still take place within the confines of a fundamentally flawed property tax assessment system.  In a high stakes political shell game, the pea will just move from one township shell to another and the game will go on. 

Attorney Friedman is a very bright individual who likely understands that “legal behavior” is not necessarily the same as “ethical behavior”  The Markkula Center of Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University summarizes it very well -  “Ethics is not following the law. A good system of law does incorporate many ethical standards, but law can deviate from what is ethical. Law can become ethically corrupt, as some totalitarian regimes have made it. Law can be a function of power alone and designed to serve the interests of narrow groups. Law may have a difficult time designing or enforcing standards in some important areas, and may be slow to address new problems.”

As an interested spectator to this ongoing brawl, I think many taxpayers would agree that Bill Wendt holds the moral high ground in this battle, not Attorney Friedman. Mr. Wendt has spent a great deal of time and his own money trying to properly investigate, document, and resolve a blatantly flawed countywide property tax reassessment. His contact with the DLGF is yet another indication of doing his homework and getting his facts straight. On the other hand, County Attorney Friedman has repeatedly used his county compensated position to fight and obstruct attempts to clean-up the Assessor’s mess while villifying those who are. He apparently did not see any “ethical” problem with the no-bid contract awarded to Nexus.  Since Commissioner Bohacek has hauled them to court to try to break the logjam, he apparently does not see an “ethical” problem in the  failure of the PTBOA to resolve appeals that have been hanging open for years or the assessment process that has led to a 3000 appeal backlog. And apparently he does not see an “ethical” problem with propping up a qualifications challenged County Assessor who appears oblivious to the disrupted lives of the local residents she was elected to serve. 

Give it up Shaw.  The News-Dispatch February 1st editorial had it right - LaPorte County Assessor Carol McDaniel should resign.  But if legal or political training prevents you from pursuing the ethically right path for LaPorte County residents,  I believe that your resignation should be tendered as well.   
 

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22. February 2008 by Greg Kelver.

As a long time observer of some of the clowns we manage to put in office, it looks like the new LaPorte City Council will be worth watching for some comic relief over the coming years.  Only two months into a four year term and some of our elected finest are already raising the bar for bipartisan silliness. The entire state is pretty much in flames but with a bit of delusional self importance, Councilman Heichel has the latest gem with his feel-good, do-nothing resolution to let state legislators know how the LaPorte City Council feels about the property tax mess http://www.heraldargus.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=2260 

 Apparently the bright bulbs on the LaPorte City Council feel that by unanimously passing their resolution, the waters will part so Democrats and Republicans down in Indy will join in a bipartisan legislative lovefest to magically pass some wonderful legislation that will fix the property tax disaster they have been cheerfully creating for decades. 

 Wakeup Dorothy -State Legislators already know how we feel but they are pretty much clueless about how to fix it.  However LaPorte County Taxpayers already know exactly who is going to get screwed when the session is over and the ugly bipartisan lovechild finally emerges.

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