Dr. Lonnie Edwards, Chicago`s controversial health commissioner, denied Saturday that he plans to resign, saying that pubished reports about his resignation came as news to him.
”I`m as enthusiastic about my work as I was the first day on the job,”
a baffled Edwards said in a telephone interview from his home. ”I don`t know how in the world that news got out. I have not written a letter of resignation, and I do not intend to write a letter of resignation.
”We`re now working on health plans to take Chicago into the next millennium,” Edwards said.
But Edwards is not expected to last into the next year. All three mayoral candidates in the April 4 election have said they would fire him.
Monroe Anderson, Mayor Eugene Sawyer`s press secretary, first discussed the resignation Friday, saying Edwards would leave March 31.
Anderson reiterated that statement Saturday, and added that Edwards was expected to make the announcement Monday at a ceremony for the city`s Health Day program at McCormick Place.
Anderson said he got the news ”from one of Edwards` people,” adding that Edwards would not be available even during the upcoming mayoral transition.
But Edwards emphaticlly disagreed, saying he had tried to contact Anderson ”all day Saturday to try to find out why he is saying these things.” Edwards said Anderson had not returned his calls, and that that was unusual.
”Ethically and professionally, it wouldn`t be right for me to leave at this time,” Edwards said. ”If I planned to leave I would wait until the new administration came in so that I could give them enough time to look for a new health commissioner. I would work with that person so that it would be a smooth transition.”
Asked about the criticism he has received from the mayoral candidates, Edwards replied: ”That`s an unfortunate situation. They`re misinformed. They`re all in a hurry to make it to City Hall, and they`re trying to make health a main issue of their campaigns.
”They don`t realize how complex an issue health is in the city of Chicago, and so they criticize blindly.”
But Edwards has been under fire from others, too. Gay activists have been particularly critical of what they call his slow response to AIDS.
Defending his stance, Edwards said: ”AIDS is a very complex issue, and our resources are limited. It`s an issue that commands a plan greater than the Department of Public Health.
”What is happening here in Chicago is no different from what`s happening in other big cities in the nation: People have denied their susceptibility to the disease and they haven`t taken it seriously. But now, people are starting to cooperate and it`s a new day. I`m happy about that.”
Edwards also has been criticzed for the high infant mortality rate in the city, but he said, ”Babies are dying when they go home to poor housing and because more and more pregnant women are addicted to drugs.”
Edwards said Monday`s conference at McCormick Place is designed to address some of the health issues that Chicagoans are most concerned about. He said the department had planned the event for months to ”clarify some things and help clear the air of some of the misunderstandings we`ve had.”
