The Calumet Township trustee has dropped a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a 2013 state law that could cut millions in assistance to Gary's neediest residents and let the town of Griffith leave the township.
Lawyers for Trustee Mary Elgin and Dwight Gardner, a Gary resident, filed a notice in U.S. District Court in Hammond Tuesday they want to dismiss litigation against state officials.
The state, which had been seeking the dismissal anyway, doesn't object to the township bowing out. The federal judge over the matter typically would grant the dismissal in such a case.
Gary attorney Robert Lewis, who represented the trustee in court, said Tuesday he received instructions from her to end the litigation. He declined further comment. Elgin didn't respond to calls for comment.
Elgin filed the suit in January claiming the law, known as House Bill 1585, was improper special legislation to provide tax relief to the predominantly white town of Griffith at the expense of black Gary residents.
However, Elgin will be leaving office following her loss in the May Democratic primary to Kimberly "Kim" Robinson. Robinson will face off Nov. 4 against Republican candidate Dorita P. Lee in the general election.
Robinson said Tuesday, if elected, she couldn't support continuing a lawsuit against the state that is unlikely to succeed.
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