Edward Hospital CEO wants state board, staff fired

SPRINGFIELD - The head of a suburban hospital who wore a wire to help bring down Rod Blagojevich now wants lawmakers to fire the state panel and staffers who've rejected her new hospital plans.

"They are unable to provide leadership," Edward Hospital CEO Pam Davis told state lawmakers, referring to Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board executive secretary Jeffrey Mark and Illinois Department of Public Health deputy director David Carvalho.

But those staff members say they too cooperated with federal authorities going after the former governor and that Davis' new hospital in Plainfield simply isn't warranted.

Carvalho said he was "grateful to Davis for helping expose the corruption. Without her efforts the corruptions would have lasted longer."

But they defended their decisions regarding Davis' quest to put a new hospital in Plainfield and said ousting staff who did the right thing simply because they were there when others didn't sends the wrong message.

The showdown between Davis, Carvalho and Marks played out before a government ethics reform committee Tuesday. House Republican leader Tom Cross of Oswego is pushing Davis' plan to dismiss the members of the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board and staff.

Recently, lawmakers approved dumping all members on state pension boards and the head of the Teachers Retirement System, claiming a fresh start was needed in the wake of corruption scandals involving state pension investments.

Now Cross and Davis are using that same angle in calling for the health planning board's makeover and dismissal of the two staff members, saying they should have done more.

But Marks said he was just as shocked at the board behavior as Davis, consulted legal staff and state ethics officials and ultimately cooperated with federal authorities. He said he was never asked to wear a wire.

The staffers also said Davis and Edward Hospital have had nine projects go before the board and only one - the Plainfield hospital - has been denied. Edward Hospital is considering a fourth attempt at getting the board's approval for the project.

Davis went to the FBI after corrupt health board members tried to get her to hire politically connected firms in exchange for approval. Davis wore a wire to record meetings with former board member Stuart Levine, who has since pleaded guilty.

Blagojevich was arrested in December, impeached and ousted by lawmakers in January and indicted last month. He has declared his innocence.

Carvalho said wiretap transcripts show Levine and others considered him an impediment and were trying to get rid of him. He called it ironic that Davis and Cross would propose doing what the corrupt board was never able to. "Which is take me out of the picture," he said.