American Notes INDIANA

Start with a promising Indiana politician. Add one mistress. Season with love notes and broken promises. The result? A pungent political scandal.

The imbroglio came to light last December, when Mary Cartwright, personnel director for the Hoosier Lottery, accused her boss, Jack Crawford, of sexual harassment and he was forced to resign. Out of concern for the couple's privacy, Governor Evan Bayh initially kept a lid on embarrassing documents Cartwright presented: a handwritten contract in which Crawford promised to pay Cartwright $125 a week and a pledge to promote her to lottery director if he ever became Governor. But Bayh made the documents public two weeks ago, after Crawford indicated he might run for prosecutor of Marion County and Cartwright charged that a state trooper and a lottery official had broken into her apartment. The Governor also fired Cartwright.

"I just don't think I belong in public life," said a dejected Crawford. Said Cartwright: "I have been royally used." But the Governor had the last word: "I think the whole thing can be categorized as tragic."