 Quinn aides said the governor acted as quickly as possible to determine the truth and then make changes without causing major
disruptions at the Department of Children and Family Services. They
say state ethics laws barred him from revealing that inspectors were
investigating then-Director Erwin McEwen, information that didn't
become public until three weeks ago.The Democratic governor has a
long history of calling for more government openness and
accountability, first as an outside activist and then as state
treasurer and lieutenant governor. Legislators are questioning how
he handled the McEwen case and why it took the governor so long to
remove McEwen.
Two Illinois House committees plan a joint hearing, said Rep.
Greg Harris, a Chicago Democrat and chairman of the House Human
Services Committee.
"There are questions we would like to ask about the
decision-making," Harris said Tuesday. "This merits a full
discussion."
Rep. Jack Franks, chairman of the State Government Administration
Committee, said he was troubled that Quinn did not remove McEwen far
more quickly, particularly when the report said McEwen was no longer
cooperating with investigators as required by law.
"The first day an employee of mine stopped cooperating would be
his last day on the job," Franks said.
McEwen was accused of creating an atmosphere of lax oversight
that allowed a friend to take millions of dollars from the state for
shoddy or nonexistent work. Inspectors recommended legal action
against McEwen's friend, George E. Smith.
Quinn's office got the inspectors' preliminary report on May 25,
aides said, and the governor ordered a review that was completed by
Aug. 1. McEwen's resignation was announced nearly a month later, and
he left the agency in late September.
His departure was portrayed as routine. Quinn said nothing about
McEwen's mismanagement or Smith's potential fraud. That came to
light when the inspector general's official report was released on
Oct. 17.
Spokeswoman Brooke Anderson denied any contradiction between
Quinn's calls for openness and his silence when removing McEwen. She
said state law barred Quinn from disclosing anything about the
inspectors' work, even his own internal review or what convinced him
that McEwen had to go.
She said Quinn is satisfied with those restrictions on what he
can reveal about his own administration.
"The current law strikes a fair balance between due process and
transparency," Anderson said in an email.
The law cited by Quinn's office is part of the act setting up an
ethics commission and detailing the duties of inspectors. The
section on what information the commission can release says "all
investigatory files and reports of the Office of an Executive
Inspector General ... are confidential."
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Quinn's position got some support Tuesday from author and
attorney Scott Turow, the former chairman of the state's Executive
Ethics Commission.
"As a matter of policy, I think the governor is probably doing
the right thing in not releasing details until the disclosure
procedure at the EEC has been complied with," Turow said in an
email.
But other government watchdogs questioned Quinn's claim that a
governor is legally barred from telling the public why he has
removed an agency director.
"Once there's a termination, that cause should be public," said
Brian Gladstein, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for
Political Reform.
McEwen did not return messages left at his home.
State inspectors report Smith billed several government agencies
for work done by nonexistent employees, submitted fake papers,
forged people's signatures, turned in fraudulent expense accounts
and falsely claimed he was a psychiatrist. They also found he
administered psychotropic drugs to children without permission and
without determining the proper dosages.
The report said Smith and his various organizations collected $18
million in state grants from 2008 through 2011. Smith often rebuffed
questions from employees at the Department of Children and Family
Services by saying he answered only to the director.
"Director McEwen created a situation that was ripe for a vendor
such as Dr. Smith to enrich himself and inflate costs by billing for
`ghost' positions and billing various agencies for the same
services," said the report, a result of an investigation by the DCFS
inspector and the state's executive inspector general.
It's not clear whether any law enforcement agency is considering
charges against Smith. The governor's spokeswoman wouldn't say
whether Quinn thinks charges are warranted.
"That is for the proper authorities to determine," Anderson said.
___
Online:
Inspector general's report:
http://tinyurl.com/83wsns6
[Associated Press;
By CHRISTOPHER WILLS]
Christopher Wills can be contacted at
http://twitter.com/ChrisBWills.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed. |
