ANDERSON­ — A state police investigation into Anderson City Councilman Rodney Chamberlain is “simply politically motivated” and a “witch hunt,” his attorney said Thursday.

Indiana State Police recently began an investigation that last week included subpoenas for timecards from the Anderson city controller’s office and parks department, as well as records of payments to Chamberlain from North Side Middle School and the now-closed South Side Middle School. That information will be provided by state police to Madison County Prosecutor Thomas Broderick Jr. for his review.

Contacted Thursday, Chamberlain declined comment and referred questions to his attorney, Daniel Whitehead.

“This is not ghost employment,” Whitehead said. “We will vigorously defend his character.”

He said he and Chamberlain were cooperating in the investigation and hoped to arrive at a settlement. But he also said Chamberlain had done nothing wrong and worked more than 40 hours a week for the parks department. Whitehead said he was “prepared to open up the floodgate of information” concerning payments and time records involving other city employees.

“If Rodney Chamberlain is guilty of ghost employment,” Whitehead said, “they need to turn over every city employee’s timecard. ... We are very upset that they’re doing (the investigation), but let them keep doing it. Bring it.”

Whitehead said “it’s an embarrassingly small amount” that Chamberlain, who is recreation superintendent at the parks department, received from the two Anderson schools, but he did not provide a dollar figure. He said “on the rarest occasions” that Chamberlain provided services as a disc jockey or helped officiate games at the schools.

“This is the hot case?” Whitehead said.

It’s unknown how much Chamberlain received in payments from North Side and South Side middle schools during the period covered by the subpoenas, from January 2007 until Oct. 26 of this year. Such payments were not approved by the school board.

Anderson Community Schools Business Manager Kevin Brown said he didn’t believe the payments involved tax dollars. He said they came from extracurricular money at the schools, generated by fundraisers, and he was unaware how much was involved.

“It doesn’t involve the (Anderson Community Schools) corporate books at all,” Brown said.

Contact Dave Stafford: 648-4250, dave.stafford@heraldbulletin.com