Englewood Health Department employees have added another chapter in their dodgy relationship with e-mails.  Former Health Director Violet Cherry got in trouble because her department saved them and acting Director Paula Jenkins seems to be in the soup because her department erased them.  

According to the April 25 issue of the Suburbanite:

The U.S. Attorney's Office has been advised that Health Department employees erased e-mails from three computers after a subpoena for documents was issued March 6.

 
Director Jenkins claims that these erasures were part of a "regular clean up of computers."  Yet, these emails were deleted even after Board of Health Attorney Richard Lustgarten issued an official memo instructing Jenkins and staff to fully cooperate with the U.S. attorney and not destroy any documents.

The ill-timed destruction of these emails casts suspicion on Director Jenkins, just as the '18-Minute Gap' on the Watergate Tapes did to the Nixon administration.  Was this erasure a sign of insubordination, incompetence or coverup?

Now Director Jenkins is on the offense, claiming that Board of Health President Lisa Levien is the one orchestrating a coverup.  According to the Suburbanite, Health Department employees signed a letter accusing Levien of ordering them to lie to the U.S. Attorney.  Yet, Board Attorney Richard Lustgarten was incredulous, responding that the Board President and he agreed on "absolute compliance" with the U.S. Attorney.  And now the origin of Jenkins' letter is being called into question.  According to the Suburbanite:

When asked who authored the letter asserting that Levien told them to lie to the U.S. Attorney, Jenkins said, “I don’t remember.”  She said she did not remember if it was an attorney or a staff member but did say that the letter was signed after legal consultation was obtained.  She refused to name the attorney who advised the staff.

 

However, according to one Board of Health member, a faxed version of the letter originated from the law offices of John Carbone, the special counsel that was hired by the anti-Violet Cherry board to dig up dirt on the former Director.

While Director Jenkins positioning herself as a whistleblower, why is she hiding, forgetting and covering up?  Let's look at the circumstantial timeline.

After Director Violet Cherry was suspended, Paula Jenkins was promoted to acting Director and granted a 60% raise by the previous anti-Cherry Board.  After the Board of Health's majority changed and Lisa Levien became the Board's President, the raise was reversed.  Most recently, instead of just elevating Paula Jenkins to the permanent position, the Board decided to do a national search for a new Health Department director inviting Jenkins to submit an application.  Then came the accusations against Board President Lisa Levien.

We hope that the U.S. Attorney's investigation will reveal all.  But why should it take a federal case to get a taxpayer funded local Health Department focusing on food inspections instead of these food fights?

Frankly, the only sound of whistleblowing we are hearing is the wheezing of beleaguered taxpayers.   They are the ones who are going to once again foot the bill for the ongoing sickness in our "Health" Department.