McHenry County Blog

In the pleas agreement between the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Jacob Kiferbaum appears the following:

Planning Board/Mercy Hospital

Hospital proposed for Crystal Lake by Mercy Health System.

[Stuart] Levine solicited a kickback of approximately $1.5 million from [Jacob] Kiferbaum relating to the construction of Mercy Hospital’s Crystal Lake facility.

Kiferbaum agreed to pay a kickback, with the exact amount and manner of the payments to be determined at a later date.

At Levine’s direction, the kickback proceeds were to be paid to Individual 1 pursuant to a sham consulting contract.

Levine agreed to and, according to Levine, did use his influence with the Planning Board to ensure that Mercy Hospital would and did receive approval of its application to build the Crystal Lake facility after it contracted with Kiferbaum Construction Company to build that facility.

In or about late 2003, Levine and Kiferbaum agreed that Levine would use his position as a Planning Board member to influence the Planning Board to approve Mercy’s application, if Mercy gave Kiferbaum Construction Company the construction contract – of approximately $49 million – to build Mercy’s proposed hospital.

In exchange, Levine asked Kiferbaum for a kickback of approximately $1.5 million, to be paid at Levine’s direction.

Kiferbaum agreed to pay a kickback, with the exact amount and manner of the payments to be determined at a later date.

On or about January 23, 2004, approximately one month after the Planning Board had made known its intent to deny Mercy Hospital’s application to build the Crystal Lake facility, Kiferbaum and Mercy Hospital signed a construction contract, agreeing that Kiferbaum Construction Company would build the new hospital for Mercy.

On or about April 21, 2004, the Planning Board voted in favor of granting Mercy’s application for a permit to build a new hospital; Levine voted to approve the application.

According to Levine, he also took steps to cause other Planning Board members to vote to approve Mercy’s application.

On or about April 21, 2004, Levine told Kiferbaum what happened at the Planning Board meeting. Levine said that nobody could have gotten this done but Levine; there was a mutiny with the Board members who did not want to approve Mercy’s application; and nobody really knew that Levine was orchestrating it. Kiferbaum said that he could not thank Levine enough.

Levine said that they were in this together.

Shortly after Mercy’s application was approved, Levine directed Kiferbaum to make the kickback payments relating to Mercy Hospital to Individual 1.

Levine told Kiferbaum he would have a consulting agreement prepared for Kiferbaum Construction Company and Individual 1′s company.

On or about April 29, 2004, Individual 1 sent a sham consulting agreement to Kiferbaum, which provided that Kiferbaum Construction Company would make payments to a company operated by Individual 1, totaling approximately $1,728,000.

This amount included proposed kickback payments relating to Mercy, and payments that Kiferbaum still owed as part of the kickback relating to the CMS addition. This agreement was never signed by Kiferbaum.

I thought CBS Channel Two had the best coverage of the Rod Blagojevich verdict reading.

An employee was texting from the courtroom.

This is how CBS Channel Two told viewers the guilty findings on Counts 12, 13 and 14.

Viewers could see in real time what the talking heads saw.

In covering the Health Facilities Planning Board meeting in Joliet, the Northwest Herald had a camera, which I didn’t dip into (a case of too much information for me), and a series of notes from a reporter on the scene.

First, Mercy’s Crystal Lake application went down with only one vote in favor, the paper reported.

Although the web site reported that Centegra’s Huntley hospital application was also rejected, no vote was given. Guess readers will have to wait until tomorrow to find out.

Or one could go to the Daily Herald story and find the vote was the same 8-1.

I probably should have gone out on a limb and predicted that both applications would be rejected.

There were a bunch of new members who knew little of the process. And the staff had recommended rejection of both applications.

I still don’t think there should be a Soviet-style judgment made by state government.  If Centegra and Mercy want to roll the dice on hundreds of millions of dollars of construction, let them.

The free market would decide the winners and losers among the new and older competitors.

A press release from Mercy Health System:

New Crystal Lake Hospital would provide lifeline for McHenry County
High-tech ER will offer access and convenience when seconds count

CRYSTAL LAKE, IL – A new hospital in Crystal Lake would significantly reduce travel times for McHenry County residents in need of emergency medical treatment and provide efficient access to quality healthcare.

A Crystal Lake hospital, proposed for Route 31 and Three Oaks Road, would serve four of the five most populous communities in the county – Crystal Lake, Algonquin, Lake in the Hills and Cary, U.S. Census figures show. Population in those areas has escalated by nearly 20,000 residents from 2000.

“With a hospital in Crystal Lake, local ambulance run times will be cut in half,” said Mercy Vice President Rich Gruber, noting that the proposed hospital plan is “wholeheartedly” endorsed by the Crystal Lake Fire Department. “That saves time so crews can get back into the field and continue to serve the community. Most importantly, reducing run time saves patients precious time when seconds count.”

Mercy Health System submitted plans to state health officials last year to build a $200 million, 353-square-foot, state-of-the-art hospital in Crystal Lake, a project that would begin later this year if approved.

According to Gruber, building a hospital where the most people live only makes sense, especially in emergency situations. Currently, the closest facilities for residents in those four areas are located in Woodstock, McHenry or Barrington.

Visits to emergency rooms, which serve as gateways for treatment and admissions for inpatient care or points of transfer, have increased dramatically throughout the nation in recent years. It’s now more crucial than ever that hospitals focus on delivering timely, exceptional healthcare and ensure patients receive the care they need without lengthy wait times.

“Increased drive times to area hospitals and the subsequent wait times and emergency room overcrowding are unacceptable,” said Dr. Dean Wolanyk who specializes in emergency medicine at Mercy’s Harvard Hospital. “These are factors that diminish the quality of the healthcare patients receive and force them to endure more suffering with potentially tragic consequences. With a Crystal Lake hospital, we are committed to bringing immediate access to quality health care when patients need it most and require the greatest amount of care.”

Mercy’s state-of-the-art emergency room is designed and staffed to attend to patients quickly and efficiently while providing them the comfort, emotional support and information they need. The new amenities and electronic records system will make for an expedited intake process, reducing wait times and enabling patients to see a doctor and receive necessary treatment much faster than traditional emergency rooms.

Emergency-room visits have increased at a rate of twice the population growth, according to the American College of Emergency Physicians. This figure is only expected to increase as the number of uninsured and new Medicaid recipients continue to rise.

According to Press Ganey, which tracks hospital performance nationwide, the average emergency room wait time in 2009 was four hours and seven minutes. Emergency wait times have a direct impact on patient satisfaction, Press Ganey concluded.

That’s why it’s more important than ever that emergency departments have the latest technology and systems in place to better treat large volumes of patients suffering from a myriad of medical issues, Gruber added.

“The last thing anyone who is sick or suffering from an extreme medical condition wants to do is wait to see a doctor,” Gruber said, noting that some other local hospitals have begun posting their wait times online. “Unfortunately, for any patient and their loved ones, a trip to the emergency room is a long and frustrating wait that couldn’t come at a worse time.”

The emergency room will feature 10 beds. It will also include treatment rooms focused on critical care, trauma injuries and heart-related stress.

“When seconds count, families and seniors living in the most highly populated areas obviously have the greatest need and require the most care,” Gruber said.

“They deserve a centralized, accessible facility that provides quality healthcare. A new hospital in Crystal Lake would meet and exceed the growing demand that shows no signs of slowing down.”

Standing in the Crystal Lake City Council Chambers, where he presides as Mayor at Tuesday night meetings, Aaron Shepley put on his other hat to represent Centegra, his day-time employer, in its opposition have competitor Mercy Health System be given state permission to build a hospital in Crystal Lake at Route 31 and Three Oaks Road (across from the Holiday Inn).

The first page of transcript you see below has former Crystal Lake City Councilman Fred Wickham finishing his testimony in favor of Mercy’s building a Crystal Lake hospital. Shepley’s testimony starts on the second page.

It started Friday morning at Crystal Lake’s City Hall at ten.

I decided to drop by on the way from picking my son up from junior high a little before two.

Kalahari water park parking lot in Wisconsin Dells.

Click to enlarge.

The parking lot looked like that of a water park in the Wisconsin Dells.

Mainly Illinois license plates, but lots of Wisconsin plates.

And it was packed.

Police cars were parked at each entrance next to signs urging people to got to the parking lot of the old and now-demolished police and fire department building.

I managed to find one of two empty spaces and walked in.

Mercy had a sign outside.

It promised 128 private suites.

No “Bucket Shop” operation here.

As I entered the city council chambers, I saw it was packed.

People had occupied most of the seats and were lined along both walls of the Crystal Lake City Council Chambers.

While I was there, a doctor was testifying that approving Centegra’s proposal in Huntley would be preferable to a hospital in Crystal Lake.

A physician partial to Centegra's hospital proposal is testifying here.

There were so many policemen and women visible in the building that I was reminded of the Gay Games meeting of the city council.

Illinois Health Facilities & Services Review Board Hearing Officer Courtney Avery managed to stay awake 3 hours and forty-five minutes into the Crystal Lake Mercy Hospital proposal hearing.

The meeting seemed peaceful to me.

But a lot is at stake.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to build the proposal facility, plus the permanent jobs and revenue that would be generated for Mercy Health Systems or, in the alternative (assuming the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board approves only one hospital), Centegra.

I have made it no secret that I think the approval process is worthless.

It is an attempt to impose a Soviet-style of centralized planning on a vibrant sector of our economy that, had it worked, would have us still in a Cold War with the Soviet Union.

During the first year of my second eight-year stretch in Springfield, I introduced a bill to abolish the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board (the name of the hospital approval board before the General Assembly changed the name to protect the guilty).

Many of the highly politically connected lawyers making money from this worthless licensing scheme descended upon my office before they killed the bill in committee.

Should you desired to read more of my opinion about the Certificate of Need process, here’s the place to find it.

A press release from Mercy Health Systems:

Census data shows Crystal Lake hospital is needed now

Centegra plan must wait years until population grows

According to recent data released by the U.S. Census, increased residential growth in the most densely populated area in McHenry County demonstrates a significant need for a hospital to be built in Crystal Lake.

Meanwhile, a new hospital in Huntley would have to wait until the population there increases, census data confirms.

The 2010 figures released a few weeks ago shows that four of the five most populous communities in the county – Crystal Lake, Algonquin, Lake in the Hills and Cary escalated by a total of nearly 20,000 residents from 2000 for a combined total of nearly 125,000 people. A Crystal Lake Hospital would serve each of those communities, none of which currently has a hospital. The municipality with the fourth highest population in the county – McHenry – already has a hospital.

Mercy Health System has submitted a plan to state health officials to build a $200 million, 353-square-foot, state-of-the-art hospital in Crystal Lake, a project that would begin later this year.

According to Mercy Vice President Rich Gruber, building a hospital where the most people live only makes sense. Currently, the closest facilities for residents in those four areas are located in Woodstock, McHenry or Barrington.

“Families, women and seniors living in the most highly populated areas obviously have the greatest need and require the most care,” Gruber said. “They deserve a centralized, accessible facility that provides quality healthcare. A new hospital in Crystal Lake would meet the growing demand that shows no signs of slowing down.”

If its application wins approval, Mercy would break ground on a new hospital in Crystal Lake later this year.

Meanwhile, a competing bid from Centegra Health System would require the population in the southwest section of the county to grow in order to create a need before building begins. Even if approved by state regulators this year, Centegra’s planned facility in Huntley would not even open until 2016.

A Crystal Lake hospital would bring sorely needed jobs and spur economic growth beginning in 2011, Gruber added.

Pamphlet promoting Mercy's Crystal Lake hospital proposal.

“Not only do people need quality healthcare options where they live now, but we also need to create jobs for McHenry County and spur economic development to strengthen the financial well being of the area and the families who live here,” Gruber said.

One Lake in the Hills mother echoed the sentiments of many area families when she submitted comment to the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board in favor of a new hospital in Crystal Lake: “I have three kids and it would be great to have a hospital closer to where we live.”

Gruber noted that the rapid population growth also impacts development, which effects traffic congestion and ultimately increases the time emergency responders take to travel between accident scenes and the nearest emergency centers.

Building the hospital in Crystal Lake would significantly reduce travel time for EMS personal.

“In emergency situations, seconds count,” Gruber said. “Patients who require medical care and have sustained serious injuries can ill afford to suffer further with long wait times and delays in receiving quality healthcare.”

“It takes me 30 minutes or more to get to Woodstock or McHenry and it would be nice to have an ER closer with quality healthcare,” said Donald of Crystal Lake who wrote in support of a new Crystal Lake hospital to state health officials.

A view of the proposed Crystal Lake Mercy Hospital.

Way down at the bottom of tonight’s Crystal Lake City Council meeting agenda is a resolution supporting Mercy Hospital’s Certificate of Need application to state regulators.

Take a look at the memo from City Manager Gary Meyerhofer for Agenda item number 31:

The content of the resolution itself follows:

Considering that Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley is a high ranking employee of Centegra, which has a competing hospital siting proposal on Algonquin Road in Huntley, it is of interest that the signature line reads “Mayor Pro-Tem.”

One would assume that means Shepley will not take part in the deliberations.

A politician can probably be best judged by the depth he will sink to get elected.

I remember Jack Franks once being outraged that someone had put up a sign identifying his religion on Route 31 right before or on election day.  I wonder if he will be surprised at the similar outrage that John O’Neill probably has about the mailing you’ll see at the bottom of this overly long article.

Previously, I shared his first mailing. You remember, the one where he promotes himself as an “Independent,” (but does not say he will vote against House Speaker Mike Madigan, the major problem in Illinois.)  You can find it here.

Franks has sent out two more “positive” pieces and another one has come from a surrogate group that so far has failed to file any identification papers with either the State Board of Elections or the McHenry County Clerk.  This group has sent out a “hit piece” on John O’Neill, the first Republican brave enough to face him down in six years. Stay tuned on Saturday.

I don’t know which of the pieces Franks is willing to identify himself with went out first, so I’ll show you the first one on the scanner:

The address side repeats endorsement excerpts, talks about his latter day opposition to Rod Blagojevich, his meaningless recall amendment and how he is pushing for term limits. (Click to enlarge.)

So, what’s the problem with his claims?

Franks worked closely with Rod Blagojevich after he was elected. The bulk prescription drug proposal that Franks had pushed with great publicity was one area of cooperation.

Here are the contributions that Herb Franks, Jack’s father, made to Friends of Blagojevich:

• 11/30/2001 – $5,000
• 1/13/2002 – $100
• 6/10/2002 – $500
• 6/25/2002 – $5,000
• 10/10/2002 – $2,000.00 In-Kind Contribution

During that time he sent the following memo to the Blago patronage woman seeking “positions” for his friends and family:

Click to enlarge.

If you can find any evidence that Franks opposed Blagojevich before the 2006 election, please let me know.

I have written about the phony Recall Amendment previously. No one is covered but a governor like Rod Blagojevich. If approved, it will be the weakest Recall language in any state. It give political cover to its supporters to be able to say they did something, when in fact they just are spinning the voters’ wheels in mud.  Lots of motion, but none of it forward toward real reform.

Franks says he is for term limits for legislative leaders, an idea I pushed vigorously when I ran for Governor against Rod Blagojevich in 2002.  He has made no effort anyone can see to limit House Speaker Mike Madigan’s reign.

Term limits for himself do not seem to be in the picture.  Franks is running for this seventh term. I have never heard of any term limit advocate favoring legislators serving longer that twelve years.  If Franks wins, he will be starting his 13th year.

The other side of this first mailing looks like this:

The pitch is "Government has been corrupted by too many politicians enriching themselves instead of working for the people. My focus is to end this sorry practice and I will not stop until Illinois has been cleaned up."

As to using one’s office for personal purposes, perhaps Franks can explain the following letters communications with state agencies in support of Mercy Health System’s application to build a hospital in Crystal Lake:

Jack Franks' July 30, 2003, letter on law office stationery to an Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board concerns the Crystal Lake Mercy Hospital application.

Jack Franks' August 11, 2003, letter on law firm station dated Aug. 11, 2003.

August 29, 2003, letter on law firm stationery that Jack Franks sent to the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board on behalf of Mercy's Crystal Lake Hospital appplication.

September 8, 2003, letter from Department of Aging Director Charles D. Johnson recommending approval of Mercy's Crystal Lake Hospital with a copy to Jack Franks at his law office. I wonder why there is an exhibit number on the document.

September 22, 2003, letter concerning Mercy's Crystal Lake Hospital from Public Aid Director Barry Maram. It seems to have been written at Jack Franks' request.

Here's the final letter concerning Jack Franks and Mercy's Crystal Lake application. It does not refer to Jack Franks, the lawyer. it references "Representative Franks."

I would assume that Franks did not do this as a constituent service for Mercy Health Systems.

This article is already way too long, so I’ll look at the third Franks’ mailing tomorrow.

The renovated Illinois House of Representatives chamber from the Democratic Party side.

One of the way lawyers in the General Assembly make money is by attracting clients who have not only a business agenda, but a legislative agenda.

Because state law does not require attorneys to list their clients, there’s no central place to look to see if a particular lawyer-legislator is benefiting personally from his legislative position.

Now comes evidence in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel from neighboring state Wisconsin that this practice actually existed in Wisconsin.

Columnist Daniel Bice writes of two admitted felons asking for rollbacks of their verdicts based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s Enron Jeff Skilling “honest services” case.

That’s the case U.S. Attorneys have used to convict numerous politicians whom, it was argued, did not provide their constituents with “honest services.” The Supreme Court ruled that was not a specific enough crime, that to fit there had to be a bribe or a kickback.

Most Illinois politicians, a highly evolved species, know better than to be involved in such direct behavior. They prefer the “I’ll do a favor for you now,” “You do a favor for me down the road” approach.

Anticipation of the Supreme Court decision required a last minute re-work of the case against Rod Blagojevich.

Now Bice is telling readers that Nicholas Hurtgen, a Wisconsin political operative turned Bear Stearn biggie in Chicago is seeking to withdraw his guilty plea.

Hurtgen, of course, was involved in the Crystal Lake Mercy Hospital scandal.

But the more interesting part of the column is the information about ex-State Senator Gary George, described as the most powerful African-American politician in Wisconsin. He “pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy for accepting kickbacks of legal fees paid by an inner-city social service agency” and is now out of prison.

Now read what the man with a now-suspended law license says,

“”It is not bribery behavior under federal law to seek and receive legal work as a state legislator.”

Think that might apply to lawyer-legislators in Illinois?

= = = = =
After finishing this, I found this commentary on lawyer-legislator Abraham Lincoln on Tom Roeser’s blog:

Anyone who has deeply studied Lincoln, a political and literary genius, knows that he was a successful railroad lawyer while he was a state legislator…knows that he unfurled a map of Illinois on his desk in the House and bargained the routes of railroad lines across the state, making deals on what towns the trains would stop at…which he used to run for the U. S. Senate where he got more votes than Stephen A. Douglas (not that it did him any good as the legislatures in those days named U. S. senators and they picked Douglas).

Remember there were no serious conflict of interest laws then binding state lawmakers.

If you looked at the front page of the Chicago Tribune Sunday, you saw five candidates on top of the page.

They are ones that the Tribune’s poll found leading in both the Democratic and Republican Party primaries.

It was Pat Quinn and Dan Hynes for the Democrats. In that race, the Tribune endorsed no one.

In the GOP contest, the heads of Andy McKenna, Jim Ryan and Kirk Dillard appear. The Tribune has endorsed McKenna.

Maybe the supporters of a GOP candidate not in the top three (and who found less than 10% support in the Tribune poll) can surpass the three front-runners.

But, I don’t think it will happen.

If my analysis is correct, people who want to play a role in the decision-making process regarding who the Republicans put up in November have to select among McKenna, Ryan and Dillard.

Having run against Ryan (and Rod Blagojevich) as the Libertarian Party candidate for governor in 2002, I have seen him cozy up to Blagojevich to make sure I was not allowed to be any of the debates.

(If you are interested in the details, here they are.  The Illinois League of Women Voters had sponsored debates for each statewide race for decades.  in 2002, the League said everyone would be include who received at least 5% in an independent poll.  The Daily Southtown, a newspaper, showed me slightly above 5% prior to the League’s deadline.  Ryan and Blagojevich decided not to participate in that debate.  For that reason, I know that Ryan is capable of cutting deals with Democrats when it is in his personal self-interest.)

Then, there is Stuart Levin, Ryan’s law school study partner, long-time supporter and largest lifetime contributor.  To say that that relationship is a problem strikes me as something of an understatement.

It’s not that I think Jim Ryan is dishonest.  It’s not that I think he knew his friend was a crook.

It’s that I know how large contributors often get rewarded.

If Levine had asked Governor Jim Ryan to appoint him to the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, I think Ryan would have appointed him.  (Levine was involved in the licensing scandal involving the Mercy Health System hospital application in Crystal Lake.)

If Levine had asked Governor Jim Ryan to appoint him to the Downstate Teachers’ Retirement System board, I think Ryan would have appointed him.

After all, Levine contributed over $800,000 over Ryan’s career and he trusted Levine.

Therein is the problem.  Levine would have been right where he was when he committed felonious acts during the Blagojevich administration.

So, here’s the question I ask of Jim Ryan supporters:

If Jim Ryan had been elected in 2002, how much less corrupt would his administration have been than Rod Blagojevich’s?

Certainly somewhat less corrupt.  As I said before, no one thinks Jim Ryan is a dishonest man.

But his level of discernment about the motives of this man he had known all of his adult live was subpar, to put it as mildly as possible.

And, that doesn’t get into substantive issues like gun control.  Ryan would never win the support of fans of the movie “Red Dawn.”  I know.  He wouldn’t appear on the DeKalb radio station in a forum about gun control when he learned I was in the studio.

That leaves two candidates:

• Kirk Dillard
• Andy McKenna

I can enthusiastically support whichever one wins the primary.

However, Dillard has one vote that is just horrible, in my opinion.

It is his vote to triple suburban collar county RTA sales taxes.

To solve DuPage County budget problem, DuPage County Board President Bob Schillerstrom and State’s Attorney Joe Birkett successfully prevailed upon Dillard and two other DuPage County state senators to vote for what National Taxpayers United of Illinois’ Jim Tobin calls the “CTA bailout.”

Kirk Dillard

It was that, but it was also a bailout of DuPage County because, contrary to the first suburban “bribe” plan–allowing the collar county boards to spend one-quarter of one percent of the three-quarters of one percentage point increase on roads–after the DuPage County officials got involved, it could be spent on transportation or law enforcement. DuPage County had a referendum on the ballot at the time to raise the sales tax of law enforcement purposes, but, hey, if you can get your state senators to take the heat, why bother the voters.

Not only did Dillard’s vote raise our taxes, it rendered asunder the suburban bipartisan coalition on the Regional Transportation Authority put together in 1974. I can only remember a couple suburban legislators who voted for RTA who got re-elected. (Both the Republican Senate and House bill sponsors were defeated.) I guess I take that a bit personally.

Other than that, I find his and McKenna’s positions fairly similar, except that Dillard has not taken a no tax increase pledge and McKenna has. (I have to admit that having the Illinois Education Association, surely an income tax hike organization, endorse Dillard raises my eyebrows.)

Andy McKenna

One more thing about McKenna.  At the GOP convention in Decatur, he heatedly criticized DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom, who just withdrew his name from consideration as a candidate for governor (but who will still be on the ballot) about his lobbying DuPage County state senators to triple the RTA sales tax.

Only State Senators Carol Pankau (now a candidate for DuPage County Board President) and Randy Hultgren (now running for Congress in Kane County and more) voted against the 300% increase in the RTA sales tax.

How hot was the criticism?

Most of the DuPage County delegation walked off the convention floor.

In addition, taking on Thompson’s continuing show of support of incarcerated former Republican Governor George Ryan, McKenna said,

“It disappoints me with a former governor lobbies the president to pardon a former governor.”

So, which of the top three are you leaning toward?