DANIEL BICE

Bice: Finalist for city health commissioner has history of personal financial troubles

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

You just knew the selection of the next commissioner for the troubled Milwaukee Health Department would not go off without a hitch.

That's because, just days after city officials announced the pair of finalists for the job, it comes to light that one of them has a history of financial troubles.

Mayor Tom Barrett (right) in February shakes hands with Health Department Interim Commissioner Patricia McManus.

Jeanette Kowalik, an associate director of the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs in Washington, D.C., has filed for bankruptcy twice and had a Milwaukee home foreclosed on by a lender and then sold.

Kowalik, 39, most recently filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2014, listing $217,000 in assets and $406,000 in liabilities.

Her assets at the time included the Milwaukee house and timeshares in two condominiums in Orlando, Fla. Later in 2014, Kowalik was sued by mortgage lender James B. Nutter & Co. for not making payments on the house, which she bought for $152,000.

Jeanette Kowalik, one of two finalists to be Milwaukee's health commissioner

Chapter 7 bankruptcy allows a creditor to clear most unsecured debts, such as credit cards and medical bills. It did not allow Kowalik, however, to dispose of her $170,000 in education loans.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is expected to choose between Kowalik and Sanjib Bhattacharyya, the Health Department's laboratory director, to fill the commissioner's post. Patricia McManus, the longtime leader of the Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin, is the interim director.

Ald. Michael Murphy, who was one of eight officials on the committee that recommended the two finalists, said he would have liked to have known about Kowalik's financial troubles.

Such information, he said, would not have determined — on its own — how he would have viewed Kowalik's candidacy. But he said it would have been relevant in deciding whether she should be running an agency with a $21.7 million budget.

"It would have played a role in my decision-making," Murphy said. He added, "You would think anyone applying for such a high-profile job would have known this would become public information right away."

It doesn't appear that the city had fully vetted the job candidates.

Maria Monteagudo, the city's director of employee relations, said the committee was given the responsibility of reviewing the pool of 10 candidates based on their résumés and references. The panel then referred two finalists to the mayor for his consideration.

"If and when the mayor makes a decision on whether he wants to nominate someone based on their qualifications and professional references, a background check will be done," Monteagudo said by email.

A spokeswoman for the mayor said Barrett was unaware of the finalist's past financial woes.

Kowalik, who has a doctorate in health sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, provided the Journal Sentinel with a five-paragraph statement emphasizing the obstacles she has overcome since being born to a black mother and Polish father.

"I can relate to many as I had to work my way up and out of poverty," Kowalik wrote. "Education was my way out."

Federal records show she first filed for bankruptcy in 2003, a year after she got her undergraduate degree from UWM. Details of that court action are not available.

Kowalik worked for the city Health Department for six years. While there, she got a master's in public health from Northern Illinois University.

She received a doctorate in 2013 while working for the Wauwatosa Health Department and Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee. She previously served as UW-Madison’s director of prevention and campus health initiatives.

Along the way, she bought a duplex in the Enderis Park neighborhood on the city's northwest side. She said she was then caught in the national foreclosure crisis.

"I was young and purchased my first home in 2007 and was impacted by the recession," she wrote. "This is not unique to most Americans who purchased homes shortly before the recession and were unable to sell due to decreased property values versus mortgages owed."

As a result, Kowalik — the single parent of a 19-year-old son — said she again needed to file for bankruptcy, which she called "a form of financial recovery that has helped many Americans."

She said it is legitimate to ask about the financial backgrounds of public servants expected to oversee tax dollars. But she said her personal financial history "in no way reflects my future ability to run the Milwaukee Health Department."

She added, "I have demonstrated the ability to not only experience but recover from personal financial challenges which have NEVER impacted my ability to function in leadership positions, including management of million dollar budgets."

Paul Vornholt, chief of staff to the mayor, said Barrett will take into consideration "all appropriate factors," including work history and personal background, when selecting the next health chief. The key factors will be those directly related to the candidate’s ability as a public health officer, Vornholt said.

If selected, Kowalik would not be the first top Milwaukee health official with personal financial troubles.

Baker's problems

Former Health Commission Bevan Baker had the Internal Revenue Service put a lien on his property in July 2015 for unpaid federal income taxes totaling $26,578 for four previous years. The lien has not been released.

Baker — who was making $147,842 a year when he left office — also had to go to court in 2012 to consolidate and pay off a series of delinquent loans from about a dozen payday lenders and other short-term, high-interest outfits.

In January, Baker left his job at City Hall as news broke that his beleaguered department failed to provide services to families of thousands of children who had tested positive for lead — or at least document those efforts.

Also coming under criticism has been the city program aimed at preventing children from suffering lead poisoning. The problems were first detailed in a scathing report released by the mayor in January and then in an even tougher state report last month.

Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 224-2135 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.