The Real Scandal

As the Rezko trial unfolds, attention has turned to the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board.

You can't build a new hospital in Illinois without permission from this board. You can't even build a new wing.

Witnesses at the corruption trial of Antoin "Tony" on Wednesday laid bare an upside-down world of hospital regulation in Illinois, where medical need took a back seat to political connections, an old-boy network and a delicate balancing act of favors.

The real scandal is that this board even exists.

Why should politicians
Control what can be built?
This kind of regulation
Makes innovation wilt.