Former health district official finally held accountable

Two years after the scandal broke, the former head of the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District has been indicted.

Better late than never. It was beginning to look as if local authorities simply wanted to forget that Vito Palazzolo ever ran the local public health district.

That's understandable because his tenure was a disaster. But no public official linked to the type of misconduct associated with Palazzolo deserves a pass.

So the news that Palazzolo was indicted late last week on a series of felony charges stemming from his abuse of public resources was welcome. Financial crimes can be a tricky to investigate, but someone has to stand up for the taxpayers and send the message that the abuse of taxpayer money won't be tolerated.

Palazzolo had a brief 17-month tenure as executive director of the local health district. Imported in January 2006 from a similar job in Michigan, where he also was fired, Palazzolo obviously was a poor choice to lead the district. Financial records indicate that he started helping himself to public resources right from the start, and he was placed on paid leave in May 2007 after a district finance employee brought concerns about Palazzolo's conduct to the three-member health district board.

After an investigation, Palazzolo was dismissed, and he left for parts unknown.

He's charged with a variety of misdeeds, including theft of government property, abusing the district's credit card and official misconduct. Palazzolo's lawyer denied any improprieties when the story broke, and he fought unsuccessfully to keep his job. Now he'll finally have to answer the charges and account for his alleged actions in a court of law.

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