National Association of Attorneys General President Hosts National Forum on Public Corruption

25 April 2006

National Association of Attorneys General President and Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter will convene a Conference to Address Public Corruption, Tuesday, April 25, at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago.

The one-day event will bring together a range of representatives and diverse perspectives from the media, industry, government and academia to discuss the origins and nature of public corruption and what they can do in cooperation with other law enforcement entities to stamp it out.

"Public corruption breeds apathy, cynicism and turns citizens away from civic service," President Carter said. "I'm pleased that we've been able to establish a forum that brings together a distinguished panel of speakers from across the country to address this issue and to help others learn and take public corruption investigations to another level and to help restore and maintain confidence in government."

Guest speakers include the Attorneys General of Idaho, Indiana, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. U.S. Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty will be appearing, as well as Chicago Tribune Political Reporter Rick Pearson; University of Illinois Professor Dick Simpson; Eric Seidel, deputy chief of the Rackets Bureau of the New York County (Manhattan) District Attorney's office; and Acting Chief of the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice Andrew Lourie.

"While each state may have its own separate and unique set of facts in a public corruption investigation, a conference like this allows authorities to share ideas, experiences and strategies and to assist them in recognizing the similarities between cases," President Carter said.

Attorneys General across the country have taken a number of steps to investigate and prosecute public corruption cases. Some Attorney General offices have specially designated public corruption units to focus on these unique crimes, while others have created special task forces and work closely with local, state and federal law enforcement to root out organized crime and public corruption.

The Indiana Attorney General has worked with the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District in a federal task force developed to investigate and prosecute public corruption focusing on northwest Indiana. One of Attorney General Carter's deputies has even been cross-designated as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney

The Indiana Attorney General has taken an unprecedented step of filing a civil Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization (RICO) action which named a city as a corrupt enterprise. The investigation into the City of East Chicago revealed an elaborate scheme of votes in return for sidewalks.

Attorney General Carter approached the Indiana General Assembly this year and pursued legislation that would add sentencing sanctions that would prohibit those convicted of vote fraud from maintaining or seeking employment within the municipality or its subdivisions.

For a copy of the agenda, visit http://www.naag.org/news/pdf/2006.pres.init.agenda.pdf. The event will be held in the Crystal Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency, located 151 East Wacker Drive, 312-565-1234.

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