I was born in 1966 in Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, the beating heart of Amish country. Dad worked for RCA in
Lancaster and accepted a transfer to Marion, Indiana in 1971. It took a long
time to get used to not living in the mountains and not taking regular trips to
the New Jersey Shore. Back then, you folks talked funny. Now I am fully
Hooserized and the people out there talk funny.
I spent two years in St. Paul
Elementary, four years in Kendall Elementary, two years at Justice Jr. High, and
four years at Bishop Bennett High. All of this in Marion Indiana. I started
looking for part time employment on my 14th birthday when I became "legal."
Before that, I worked for anyone in the neighborhood who would let me, cutting
grass, shoveling snow, landscaping, painting, cleaning gutters, repairing roofs,
and anything else I could do. My siblings and I never got an allowance. Dad
said, "You live here, you eat here, you work here." By age 17 I had saved enough
money to take a trip to Europe and visit 14 countries.
I went to college at Ball State
University in 1985. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in three and
one half years. I was admitted to the "Honors College" and graduated number one
in my department. During that time I worked in the dormitory cafeteria, for Bob
Evans Restaurants, and managed a Subway Restaurant in nearby Anderson, Indiana.
After college I became an insurance
agent. I sold insurance by day and worked at RCA at night making television
picture tubes. I was one of the top insurance agents in my district at the time.
In the fall of 1989, I was accepted to the Law School at Indiana University,
Indianapolis. I continued to sell insurance during my first year, but later
realized I couldn't do both and resigned from my insurance company. I allowed my
license to lapse when the law changed and required continuing education to
maintain the license.
In the summer of 1990 I went to the
East China Institute of Politics and Law in Shanghai to study Chinese law. That
summer I earned an honorary Chinese law degree. (Note: with that degree I still
need a couple of yuan to get a cup of tea.) While in Asia, I toured some of
China, and visited South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, and Thailand.
I graduated law school in 1992.
That summer I missed passing the bar exam by three points. It was the year of
the infamous generation skipping tax question, which postponed many a graduates
plans. (The next exam tax question was "what is income" to kind of made up.)
Needless to say, I passed.
For those of you who remember, 1992
was "the worst economy in 50 years." There were plenty of people who wanted to
rent me office space, but no one who wanted to hire me. I opened my own office
and started my solo law practice as a trial lawyer. With no one to show me the
way, I had to be a quick learner and "fast on my feet" to avoid learning some
hard lessons.
To read about my one really hard
lesson, see "Skeletons" back on the home page.
In 1996 I took a job with the State
of Indiana while maintaining a small law practice on the side. My job with the
state was to write all of the statutes and administrative rules for 13 regulated
professions. In December of 1996 I added teaching night classes at IVY Tech to
my schedule. In 1997, I added teaching adult continuing education classes to my
weekend schedule.
In July of 1999 I married my lovely
wife, who works for the Indiana Attorney General's Office, and inherited three
teenage boys. (Since then, they have all grown, moved away, and done fairly well
for themselves.)
In 2000, I left state employment to
take a position with a corporation. I continued teaching at IVY Tech and
continuing education on weekends. In January of 2001, I lost that job because I
went to my mother in law's funeral. She had the nerve to die right before
Christmas. As I was terminated in front of witnesses, I had no trouble wining my
unemployment comp case. (I wonder if it was a coincidence that they
simultaneously downsized and fired about 1/3 of the employees at the
Indianapolis branch.)
In 2003, I opened my law practice
here in Brazil. In 2005 I added the slogan "Fighting For You" to my office
materials. The slogan was given to me by my clients who said over and over that
I was the only attorney in the area who really fights for his clients. (In my
opinion, there are plenty of other good attorneys in the area.) That slogan has
been my goal in each and every one of my cases. I despise losing a case and will
do anything within the bounds of the law and ethics to win, even if the client
can't always pay the bill. I never let the money effect how hard I work on a
case.
I am a member of Annunciation
Catholic Church where I have been a reader, an usher, Sunday school teacher, and
President of the Parish Finance Council. I ran the Kennedy's Crossing Bingo for
approximately three years. I have twice been president of the Clay County
Breakfast Optimist Club, and am a member of the Brazil Rotary Club. I am a
member of Centennial 541 Masonic Lodge, Rotary Club, Arts Illiana, and am a Son
of the VFW.
In 2010, I seek your approval to
become Clay County's next Prosecutor.
Politics
I have had no desire to run for an
elected office since 10th grade when I ran for class treasurer and lost.
However, I am not the kind of person who can complain about things not being
right and not do something about it. That is why I have decided to run for Clay
County Prosecutor.
In my life I have been an active
member of both political parties. Winston Churchill once said; "If you are not
liberal when you are young, you have no heart. If you are not conservative when
you are old, you have no mind." That statement describes me.
On the National level, there are
often worlds of difference between the leaders of the Democrat and Republican
parties. At the state level, the differences seem to be much more narrow with
common sense guiding the way. At the local level, I believe that common sense
and hard work are of paramount importance.
In 2008 I voted in the Democrat
Presidential Primary. That registered me back as a Democrat. The Republicans
were not interested in allowing me to challenge their incumbent candidate in the
primary. My Democrat friends welcomed me back home and invited me to challenge
the incumbent in the general election. I am running as a conservative "Give ‘em
Hell Harry" and "Ask not what your country can do for you" Democrat.
Prosecutorial Philosophy
There are basically two kinds of
people who run for office: People who want to be something and; People who want
to do something. People who want to be something focus primarily on their image,
how they will be remembered, and trying to stay in front of the direction of the
whims of the voters. People who want to do something are committed to accomplish
one or more goals and believe that their image will take care of itself.
I am running for Clay County
Prosecutor to do something. In my opinion, the prosecutor should prosecute the
guilty, protect the innocent, and know the difference. I will PERSONALLY make
charging decisions and PERSONALLY prosecute the people that I believe are guilty
of crimes. I WILL NOT hire out of town attorneys to prosecute my cases. The
people of Clay County expect their prosecutor to earn his pay. If that means
working late, I will do it. If it means making difficult or unpopular decisions,
I will do it. Who your relatives are will not effect my decision on whether to
charge and prosecute.
The Prosecutor holds an extremely
important power; the power to take away a person's liberty. Decisions of this
nature should not be taken lightly, based on emotions, or "the seriousness of
the charges." I will exercise due caution to protect innocent people who get
caught up in the system.
No parent should ever have to worry
about legal consequences for disciplining a child. Too many parents are afraid
to paddle or soap a dirty mouth. It is no wonder that so many children seem to
be out of control. If the next generation is going to be successful, they need
to be taught right from wrong at home, not in the juvenile justice system.
The prosecutor and law enforcement
have to work together to be successful. If I am elected, I will work closely
with the Sheriff, the Chief of Police, and the Town Constables to provide a
united front, with unified goals, and clear understandings. I will assist the
officers in their training on the current state of the law, assist them with
their probable cause affidavits, requests for warrants, and courtroom
presentations. It is important that the prosecutor guides law enforcement to
stay within the bounds of the U.S. and State Constitutions while aggressively
rooting out wrongdoers.
For the people of Clay County, I
believe that the top two priorities should be getting rid of methamphetamine
dealers and collecting from child support delinquents.
Methamphetamine is a plague on our
community. It is not only the number one drug crime in our community, it is also
one of the primary causes of most of the other criminal issues in our community.
Methamphetamine destroys families, ruins children, and is a significant cause of
the area poverty as it sucks the money out of our community and deters
businesses from coming here.
I believe that people who are
addicted to drugs should have an opportunity for rehabilitation. It is in our
interest that children have parents at home and as many people contribute to the
betterment of our community as possible. However, if they do not make good use
of that opportunity to recover from their addiction, they then have the
opportunity to be an example for other people who may be tempted to use drugs.
Child support delinquencies
contribute to the high cost of public assistance to the needy and place an even
heavier burden on the tax payers of our community. While public assistance is
there to help the truly needy, parents should be the ones primarily responsible
for the care and support of their children. Parents who refuse to care for and
support their children should not be tolerated.
Plea agreements are necessary and
proper. It is one of the ways that the prosecutor can tailor justice to fit the
particulars of a crime. Justice should not be one size fits all. That said, I
haven't backed away from a fight since third grade when I was spanked for being
a coward and sent back out to finish the fight. I haven't won all of my fights.
But I haven't ran away from one since then either. If a case needs a jury to
resolve it, then I will try the case in front of a jury. If a case has to be
solved with a bench trial, then the judge will hear the evidence and render his
verdict.
Finally, it is my desire that as
many people who have been convicted and punished can turn around and lead a
productive life and contribute to their families and the community. If a person
has successfully paid their debt to society, that person deserves a chance to
show the world that they have changed. If they show that they have not changed,
that would have to be taken into consideration when trying to find the proper
measure of justice in a subsequent case.
The prosecutorial philosophy I have
laid out will require a lot of time, hard work, and thoughtfulness, but that is
exactly what I believe this office demands. If elected, that is what I will give
the citizens of Clay County.
Skeletons
Anyone who runs for public office
has skeletons. For better or worse, my skeletons hang out on the living room
couch, not in the closet.
I have lived a boring life by
today's standards. Other than my wife, children, and dogs, my passions are, and
always have been, travel and reading. I have never cheated on my wife, never
experimented with the gay lifestyle, never been divorced, and have no
illegitimate children. Six years of catholic education by priests and nuns must
have done some good.
I have never used illegal drugs.
However, I am from both Italian and German stock. I must confess that I like
good wine, beer, and some spirits. I don't like not being in full control of my
faculties and don't like being drunk. However, when I was a college student at
Ball State in the 1980's, there were a few beer parties that . . . . Well, my
memories of a couple weekends are a little less than clear.
In second grade, Sister Rose Marie
introduced me to her paddle, aptly named "The Heat Seat", for fighting. I also
earned way more than a few spankings from my parents for both bad acts and bad
omissions. Mom claims that I am responsible for each of her gray hairs.
But this is the biggie. In 1996,
three years after receiving my law license, I opened a small collection agency
with a friend who had a sterling reputation in the collections industry.
However, I did not know that he was in the early stages of drug addiction. He
used my rubber signature stamp to steal money from clients. When this was
discovered, I paid back every penny and voluntarily included 10% interest for
the trouble the effected clients suffered. However, that triggered an
investigation by the Attorney's Disciplinary Commission. After four very long
years of sleepless nights and upset stomachs they concluded that I negligently
supervised a non attorney, that our business was a partnership (a corporation or
LLC would have been fine, but a partnership is a no-no), and his efforts to
attract business to our collection agency was "solicitation." (In Re. Hear,
29S00-9911-DI-662)
When all was said and done, in
February 2001, I was suspended for 100 days with automatic reinstatement of my
law license. I spent that time, and more, doing honest work like landscaping and
driving a truck.
I have been an attorney for about
17 years now. Since 1996, I burned the signature stamp, sign virtually all of my
documents in blue ink, virtually never photocopy my signature, and have my CPA
review my client funds records. Lesson learned!
Life Goals
I believe that there is no shortage
of qualified people to fill elective office. If elected, I would certainly like
to be elected to a second term. Beyond that, I will have to decide as the time
comes.
It is not my desire to die as a
practicing lawyer. While it has been extremely gratifying to have helped so many
people through their difficult times, for me, the time will come to lay down the
burdens I pick up for my clients and begin anew.
It is my desire to start a
manufacturing business here in Clay County. I have consulted with the West
Central Economic Development District and Rose Hulman Ventures and things look
promising. I would consider it a crowning achievement to, after spending half of
my adult life rendering legal services that I can be proud of, then bring a new
industry to this community showing off our talented craftsmen and quality
resources.
I also intend to make time to be a good husband, play with grandchildren, keep
my beagles riled up, go sailing from time to time, and continue to write for
publication.
I spent several years doing sales before law school. I also spent 10 years teaching adult continuing education to literally thousands
of students. I also taught college for about 5 years.
In all of these experiences, I have found that the more I reveal my self to people, faults and all, the more that they can identify
with me and the more that they like me. I believe part of it is that I am pretty well grounded, comfortable in my own skin, and I have
a pretty good sense of humor. But mostly, I believe that people cant help but like someone who makes himself vulnerable by being
self revealing to them. My life is an open book; typos, scribbles, and all.
