Doc gives cash, gets board spot
From the AP Newsroom
Blagojevich says he didn't know about campaign gift
July 09 11:43:00, 2004
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(AP) — Gov. Rod Blagojevich appointed a Kankakee neurosurgeon to the state's embattled Health Facilities Planning Board days after the physician made a $25,000 contribution to the governor's campaign fund, state records show.
The governor said Thursday he was unaware of the contribution
when he named Dr. Michel Malek to the board 18 days afterward.
"I don't want to know that stuff, so once in a while you'll see
that those things happen," Blagojevich said outside his Capitol
office. "I don't think those things (contributions) should be at
all considered when you make a decision like that."
"We just try to pick the best people we can find," Blagojevich
said.
The Democratic governor said he couldn't recall how Malek was
chosen, but said he probably went through a screening process like
other board appointees and that it was unlikely his staff members
knew about the donation.
Blagojevich said he would not return Malek's contribution or
those of other current board members because "to do that would
suggest that somehow that was linked" to the appointments.
Blagojevich spokeswoman Cheryle Jackson said Malek's experience
in southern and central Illinois made him valuable to the board,
which makes decisions concerning multimillion-dollar hospital
expansions that are crucial in determining whether those projects
can get financing.
Malek declined to return seven telephone calls to his Kankakee
office and home in Chicago over the past three days. A receptionist
on Thursday morning said that he was in surgery and could not come
to the phone.
Jackson confirmed that the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago has
notified the governor's office that the board is the focus of an
investigation and that the board and some or all of its members
have received subpoenas.
According to published reports, a whistleblower lawsuit filed
under seal in U.S. District Court claims a Chicago financial power
broker tried to use ties to the board to shake down a suburban
hospital.
House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said he plans to move
legislation Friday that would create a new board of five members
required to abide by restrictions on conflicts of interest.
Blagojevich said he supported such legislation but did not back
Madigan's specific proposal.
Madigan's measure would fire the seven sitting members of the
board. There are two vacancies on the nine-member board.
Blagojevich on Wednesday imposed a moratorium on all board
activities "in light of recent allegations concerning the
propriety of certain board actions."
Malek has not been accused of any impropriety and his name has
not appeared in reports concerning the whistleblower lawsuit.
Records on file with the State Board of Elections show that
Malek contributed $25,000 to Friends of Blagojevich on July 25,
2003. He was one of four members named to the board by the governor
on Aug. 12.
State records show some other board members have made campaign
contributions to various Illinois politicians in recent years,
although only one to Blagojevich.
That one is Republican attorney Stuart Levine of Chicago, who
resigned as vice chairman of the planning board a month ago. State
records show he paid a total of $4,267 to ferry Blagojevich
supporters, contributors and campaign staff to fund-raisers.
State records show more than $1.5 million in Levine
contributions to various Illinois politicians over the past decade,
including $64,500 to former Gov. George Ryan, who is now facing
federal racketeering charges.
A former head of Citizens for Ryan, Bourbonnais insurance broker
Bernard Weiner, is a current member of the planning board.