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More Politics — Illinois Style
By W. Guy Finley | March 12, 2008
Yesterday I wrote a bit about the Rezko trial, today’s Daily Herald and other outlets had some interesting news based on the testimony of a former attorney for the hospital facilities board. One interesting development was how State Representative Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) made pleas to state administrators to write favorable recommendations for a proposed hospital in Crystal lake. The letters written to the board members were entered as evidence.
Franks states he just supported the plan and felt it was good for McHenry County though. Should we take him at his word when you consider that Franks is an attorney who just so happened to be representing Mercy Hospital, who was seeking the approval, at the time? Franks states he only took his action apart from his position as a state representative.
So, if you’re the head of the Illinois Department of Revenue (one of the letters presented as evidence) and an attorney representing Mercy Hospital calls you to write a letter in support of their proposal, he isn’t going to notice that you also happen to be a state representative? It’s interesting that as a school board member I have to file a Statement of Economic Interest every year, more or less disclosing any business interest I have in firms doing business with our board but it’s just fine for a state representative to work as an attorney for a hospital seeking state approval to build a new facility.
The Sun-Times also covered how the attorney for the board testified about the vote in question for the Mercy proposal. According to her testimony a member of the board originally voted “present” or abstained but after it was clear the vote would fail the chairman (a Rezko backed appointee) spoke to another board member Stuart Levine (who has already pleaded guilty to accepting kickbacks) who then went over to the member in question and had a private conversation with him — in the middle of taking the vote! The member then changed his vote to “aye” and the Mercy proposal passed. Although it passed the facilities board the hospital was never built.
Most of these stories have gotten beaten to interior pages thanks to Obama’s primary victory in Mississippi and other news. This case is giving yet another inside glimpse to the seedy world of Illinois politics. The question is, is anyone paying attention?
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