CONSULTING DEALS RAISE QUESTIONS FOR FUTURE DRUG COURT

Hammond: Judge Says Adequate Work Performed To Justify Contracts

HAMMOND - Without contracts or detailed invoices, two local attorneys have
drawn checks for at least $15,000 each to work as consultants helping to
set up a program that has yet to receive funding to operate.

The attorneys met regularly as part of a planning group for a future drug
court program, but it's not clear what work was performed for their $1,458
monthly payments. Their invoices don't say, and contracts referenced in the
bills don't appear to exist.

City Judge Jeffrey Harkin paid Hammond attorney John Cantrell to plan for
his role as defender in the drug court. Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Emory
Christian was paid to plan her role as prosecutor.

Christian defended her role in the program, saying she had volunteered
hundreds of hours before she began getting paid in April.

Christian said the group has produced several detailed documents that are
needed to secure federal money to run the program, including local court
procedures and lists of resources for housing, employment and drug counseling.

"It's absolutely a prerequisite that if you're going to start a drug court,
all your volunteers have to be trained," Christian said.

The consulting deals were paid for with a $35,000 payment last March from
the discretionary spending account of riverboat casino tax revenue
controlled by Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr.

Cantrell and Christian were moved to the city payroll as part-time drug
court attorneys in the probation department when their consulting deals
dissolved in January.

But the drug court doesn't exist yet. While some funding is in place, a key
grant from the U.S. Department of Justice was denied last year after the
department's funding was cut, Harkin said. And despite spending at least
$26,000 for consulting work, city officials have no guarantee they won't
again be denied a federal grant.

It's a risk that Harkin and city officials say they are willing to take
because success would create a way to make a meaningful difference in the
lives of the court's clients.

"I think it's much to-do about nothing, because everyone on this team has
made a valuable contribution," Harkin said. "No one is along for the ride."

City officials plan to begin admitting up to 20 offenders into a related
intensive supervision program, but they stress it's not official because it
has not been certified to operate as a drug court.

Treating addictions outside prison

Hammond officials have long sought to join the company of more than 1,000
other municipalities across the nation that use drug courts to reduce
substance abuse and decrease the heavy strain on local jails and prisons.

Under such programs, drug and alcohol addicts voluntarily agree to enter
intensive treatment programs that also steer them toward education and
employment opportunities.

In return for avoiding jail time, the offenders submit to intensive
judicial supervision, including signing a contract allowing police to enter
their homes at any time, for any reason. They also agree at the beginning
to serve their jail sentences if they test positive for drug use or
otherwise violate program rules.

Cantrell, a longtime defense attorney, was tapped by Harkin to become the
public defender in the program.

For drug court prosecutor, Harkin selected Christian, whom he knew from her
years working as deputy prosecutor in Hammond City Court, where Harkin is
judge. Since then, she has gone on to a prominent drug prosecution position
with the Lake County prosecutor.

The Hammond City Council voted earlier this month to allow Harkin to apply
for federal money through the U.S. Department of Justice to start the
program. City consultant Ed Krusa said he intends to work hard to get the
grant application finished by the deadline at the end of this month.

With funding in place, city officials could expand their intensive
supervision program into a certified drug court by the end of the year.
Such a court could divert up to 100 drug-addicted offenders from the prison
system.

Even if the grant is turned down again, Harkin said he could use existing
funding to continue the intensive probation program in some form.

Paper trail lacking

Harkin acknowledged that the contributions Cantrell and Christian made to
the group were not measured in hours, but he dismissed any concerns about
the arrangement.

In contrast to the itemized bills of some other city consultants, Cantrell
and Christian provide scant detail in the invoices explaining their payments.

Cantrell's bills say, "Contractual agreement for services rendered for the
above period to the Hammond City Drug Court," while Christian's invoice
says only, "Professional services."

Neither had contracts that could be located.

The city Board of Public Works and Safety has never approved a contract for
the work, officials there said. Court Administrator Paul Krizman was unable
to find contracts for information requested from the City Council earlier
this year, and drug court consultant Ed Krusa said he had not seen a contract.

Harkin said Christian and Cantrell didn't need to turn in detailed
statements of the work they performed as consultants because their payments
were negotiated as a lump sum for 2004 split into biweekly checks.

That's why the consultants continued to draw checks when the planning group
didn't meet in November or December, and that's why Cantrell continued to
get paid while he was in the hospital for surgery last fall.

Harkin said the attorneys performed extensive work on a volunteer basis
throughout 2003, but only began receiving payments when McDermott approved
the riverboat funding in March 2004.

For example, Christian and Cantrell took federally funded trips to New York
state and North Carolina to see how drug courts operate there.

Cantrell did not return several calls for comment, but Christian described
her drug court work in a written response to questions for this story:

"Initially Emory Christian volunteered, without compensation, in excess of
200 hours to participate as a member of the Hammond City Drug Court team.
These hours she was required to volunteer her time to receive highly
specialized Drug Court training which required travel and the attendant
sacrifice thereto."