Commissioner Gramarossa Attorney’s Press Release:
(LaPorte, IN) – Indianapolis attorney Stanley F. Wruble III, who
practiced law for decades in South Bend and represents LaPorte
County Commissioner Connie Gramarossa, appeared on Zoom at
tonight’s County Commission meeting to declare that “Special
Prosecutor E. Nelson Chipman Jr. filed his report in LaPorte
Circuit Court Monday afternoon which makes clear that, despite
the best efforts of County Commissioner Joe Haney and County
Auditor Tim Stabosz, Connie Gramarossa will NOT be charged
with any criminal offenses. A special prosecutor was appointed to
look into the use of a county car on March 1, 2023, when Connie
Gramarossa went to her son’s bedside as he lay in a Chicago
emergency room. Commissioner Gramarossa also did not
commit any crimes by affixing Commissioner Haney’s signature to
a resolution they both had voted for.
Wruble then declared, “After two and half years of these two
elected officials – Stabosz and Haney – making nonstop claims of
“corruption” and “criminal misconduct” about other elected and
appointed officials in county government that they simply can’t
back up with facts or evidence, isn’t it about time they use their
final fifteen months in office to do ‘the people’s business’ and stop
this nonsense?”
The ten-page report filed by the Special Prosecutor concludes
that while Gramarossa’s use of the car to go to Chicago to be at
her son’s bedside after an emergency hospitalization was not
prudent or “authorized,” it did not rise to the level of criminal
misconduct. Furthermore, Wruble said that “Commissioner
Haney had made an accusation of forgery against Ms.
Gramarossa after she added his signature to a resolution they
both had voted for, but that was certainly not criminal, and the
Special Prosecutor noted that the Commissioners’ office uses
signature stamps all the time.”
Said Wruble, “As a former elected official, I know signature
stamps are routinely used at all levels pf government. I know that
being one county over that LaPorte County had a solid reputation
for many years of good, honest county government and bipartisan
cooperation before these two individuals came into office. Since
January 1, 2021 though, it appears there has been a constant
stream of unfounded allegations coming from these two, with Mr.
Haney declaring in the summer of 2021 that he’d walked into a
‘vat of filth’ and Stabosz constantly claiming “corruption” “fraud”
and “conflict of interest” against those he targeted. This
nonsense even led to a grand jury being convened late last year
and the grand jury issued a report with no findings of any criminal
wrongdoing.”
“Then these two targeted my client, Connie Gramarossa, for the
past six months, after she voted with Commissioner Mrozinski to
replace Mr. Haney as Commission President. It was only after
Mr. Haney lost power that the allegations of criminal wrongdoing
against Commissioner Gramarossa came forward, and these
meritless attacks took up valuable investigative resources from
the State Police while there is real crime out there that needs
solved. Mr. Stabosz apparently told a county department head a
month ago with certainty that my client was going to jail! It’s time
to stop this endless campaign to malign others in county
government and actually do the work the voters elected them to
do.”
Wruble ended by saying that “Both Connie Gramarossa and her
husband Rich have a reputation for honest, fair dealings as
businesspeople in LaPorte County and for Mr. Haney and Mr.
Stabosz to try to trash that reputation for political purposes is
inexcusable. We are all deeply gratified that the Special
Prosecutor has come to the conclusions he did.”