(The Center Square) – The former Pritzker administration official who spearheaded the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has agreed to pay $150,000 to the state after an ethics complaint investigation.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the former director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, agreed to “a violation of the Ethics Act and the facts comprising the violation, in that she accepted employment and compensation from an entity which had contracts involving IDPH with a cumulative value of $4.2 million and over which she had exercised regulatory and licensing authority in the year before her departure from State employment,” a filing from the Executive Ethics Commission said.
Ezike led IDPH from January 2019 to March 2022, where she facilitated the policies the state enacted to combat the spread of the respiratory illness. Those policies, enacted by more than 110 executive orders and two years worth of consecutive 30-day emergency proclamations from Gov. J.B. Pritzker, included closing schools and businesses, limiting occupancy at public places, mask mandates and vaccine mandates.
In 2022, Ezike left the administration to take a job with Sinai Health System. The ethics complaint filed in October 2023 alleged a violation of ethics laws.
The Ethics Act says those subject to the act shall not accept employment or receive compensation or fees for services from a person or entity for a one year period if that entity is the subject of state contracts with a value of $25,000 or more, or if the person or entity is the subject of state regulation or licensing.
An investigation by the commission found various grants and contracts for a value of $4.2 million within the one-year time frame, the bulk being two separate $2 million contracts to provide funding to named hospitals for ordinary and contingent expenses. Sinai was also subject to various regulatory and licensing decisions by IDPH during that time.
A “mitigation statement” with Attorney General Kwame Raoul released as part of the commission’s findings said Ezike “thought she did everything right.”
“She thought she was able to accept the job,” the filing said. “Dr. Ezike accepts responsibility and appreciates the Office of the Attorney General’s role in settling this matter. She also asks the Commission to recognize the challenges for employees navigating the revolving door prohibition.”