10252019 - News Article - Portage Board of Works seeks to recoup surety bond on Clerk-Treasurer

Portage Board of Works seeks to recoup surety bond on Clerk-Treasurer
Chicago Tribune
October 25, 2019
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-stidham-surety-bond-st-1027-20191025-3xirglak3naf7hfvxcgeujt2iq-story.html
The Portage Board of Works, made of mayoral appointees, on Tuesday approved a resolution calling on Mayor John Cannon to try to recover money from the insurance company holding a surety bond Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham.

It was the next move in a months-long campaign by Cannon and an “executive investigative committee” that alleged Stidham inappropriately paid nearly $60,000 in contracts without getting board of works approval between 2015 and 2016.

“We believe these funds were not approved,” Cannon said. “We know they were never on a docket. They were never approved by the board of works.”

The investigative committee also was made of Cannon appointees. Stidham said the move was “purely political, a way for (Cannon) to distract people from problems in his own administration.”

The resolution calls for Cannon to try to get Liberty Mutual to pay the city the almost $60,000 out of a $300,000 bond the insurance company holds on the elected clerk-treasurer. If Cannon is successful, and, Liberty Mutual pays the money to the city, the insurance company can seek to recoup its losses from Stidham.

“The board of works wants their money back,” Cannon said. “They believe the board never approved the payments. Their objective has been, I believe, to get the money back.”

Governmental entities, like cities and towns, get bonds on elected officials and others as insurance policies. If the public official does something to harm the entities they represent, those entities can try to recover any financial losses from the agencies holding the bonds.

The Indiana State Board of Accounts, or SBOA, and a special prosecutor, with investigative help form the Indiana State Police, have been investigating to determine if Stidham did anything inappropriate.

Stidham acknowledged the SBOA is still reviewing the matter, though he said an initial report from the SBOA indicated there have been problems with the board of works’ accounting for years.

“(Cannon) keeps jumping to conclusions because he’s trying to score political points,” said Stidham, who is not running for any office. “He won’t let the state process play out.”

Stidham lost a bid for the mayor’s office in the May primary and will leave the clerk-treasurer’s office at the end of December.

10072019 - News Article - Facebook post referencing Holocaust museums used to explain why portrait of disgraced Portage mayor still hangs in city hall

Facebook post referencing Holocaust museums used to explain why portrait of disgraced Portage mayor still hangs in city hall
POST-TRIBUNE
OCT 07, 2019
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-portage-snyder-portrait-st-1008-20191007-7m5xdqcz5baazhz4tklng34xvm-story.html

Portage Mayor John Cannon is defending both his decision to restore the portrait of disgraced former Mayor James Snyder in City Hall, and recent comments on his campaign Facebook page referencing Holocaust museums in his decision to repost the portrait.

Cannon, a former city councilman who was selected by caucus to complete Snyder’s term and is running for mayor on the Republican ticket in the general election, said the picture, taken down in mid-February when Snyder was convicted on federal corruption charges, went back up sometime in May.

“It’s part of the historical record. The man was elected twice as mayor,” he said.

On a post to Cannon’s campaign Facebook page last month, someone asked why Snyder’s picture was still hanging in City Hall.

“If we have learned one thing in history is if we forget it we are doomed to repeat it. That is why there are holocaust museums,” part of the campaign Facebook response said. “Snyder’s photo will hang there until the end of time. His story, will be etched in Portage’s history, hopefully not ever repeat itself.”

Council President Sue Lynch, D-At large, who is running against Cannon for mayor, said after the picture went up again, she got several calls complaining that it was back.

“He’s a disgraced mayor. He shouldn’t be up there with those who didn’t disgrace the city,” she said, adding she found the mention of Holocaust museums “outrageous.”

Cannon said that comment wasn’t meant to compare the portrait to Holocaust museums, but to note knowing about history so it’s not repeated.

“In this case, the history of what happened to James Snyder is so a mayor won’t do it again,” he said.

Councilman Collin Czilli, D-5th, who said he took the portrait down the night of Snyder’s conviction in mid-February on two of three federal corruption charges with Cannon’s assistance, found Cannon’s comment about Holocaust museums “despicable.”

“There is no situation in which the Holocaust is comparable to any other situation in history unless it’s a genocide of the same magnitude,” Czilli said, adding Holocaust museums are meant to remember those who were murdered under the Nazi regime. “It’s just insane to me that anyone would make that comparison in the first place.”

He, Cannon and Lynch were in the lobby of City Hall and noticed Snyder’s picture the night Snyder was convicted. Cannon, Czilli said, held a chair still while Czilli took down the picture.

“He was there,” Czilli said, and was OK with taking the picture down. “He did not indicate otherwise."

Czilli said he does not feel that Snyder’s picture should be hanging with those of mayors who weren’t convicted while they were in office.

“It’s not erasing history. We’re not going to forget he was mayor,” Czilli said, adding Snyder’s name is on building plaques throughout the city that will remain.

Cannon, who admitted Snyder’s time as mayor ended “badly,” said that other communities with leaders who were convicted while in office have not erased their names or their former presence.

Lake Station officials are considering just that, though they haven’t made a decision yet.

In August, some city leaders said they wanted to remove former Democrat Mayor Keith Soderquist’s name removed from commemorative plaques and the city’s trash and recycling cans before his March release after serving a four-year sentence in federal prison for public corruption.