(La Porte County, IN) - La Porte County Commissioner Joe Haney is declining an invitation from local Democrats to break free of an angry, self-righteous group not working for the county's best interests.

 

Haney said he will not stop "trying to dismantle years of a systematic destruction of morals and ethics in La Porte County government."

 

Examples of this decay, according to Haney, include "career politicians" such as Commissioners Sheila Matias and Rich Mrozinski, former Commissioners Dr. Vidya Kora, and County Attorney Shaw Friedman dismantling the county ethics ordinance and refusing to enact a new ethics ordinance.

 

Haney also alleged, "we've seen them fight tooth and nail against whistleblower protection earlier this year. I'm not going to stop fighting for decent, honest, and open government here."

 

“I’m going to tear down this corrupt house of cards here in La Porte County,” Haney said.

Haney also defended Stabosz for filing a police report and asking fingerprints be taken of the package to try and uncover who placed it outside his office. Haney believes an anonymous package should be taken seriously, especially in a "post 911 world", especially in a government building.

 

“That is not a laughing matter,” he said.

Mrozinski seemed to deny placing the package but later confessed after being caught on surveillance video after hours entering the building with a package and soon leaving the building without the package.

 

Haney said the corruption he's talking about is "right on the borderline of illegal. [It's] not quite illegal, but it's certainly immoral, it's certainly unethical, and it's certainly not right." He also called the request by Democrats to join Matias and Mrozinski, who they described as problem solvers, "absolutely laughable."

 

“I am the only commissioner who works hand-in-hand with the La Porte County Council. Every single member of that La Porte County Council, Democrat or Republican, I have a very good working relationship with,” Haney said.