Fired UCI Medical Center Executive Vows to Fight Back : Inquiry: ‘We didn’t get the word out and we got creamed,’ Herb Spiwak says. He plans to appeal, but UC officials say no appeal exists for non-tenured staff.

A day after two top administrators were fired by UCI amid a nationally publicized scandal, one of the ousted employees vowed to fight the dismissal as state officials questioned whether the move went far enough.

Herb Spiwak, second in command at UCI Medical Center, said Friday that he and his boss, Mary Piccione, will appeal their termination by the University of California for allegedly lax oversight of UCI’s fertility clinic.

“We didn’t get the word out and we got creamed,” said Spiwak, the center’s deputy executive director, during an interview Friday morning at his Laguna Beach townhome. “We want to tell our side of the story.”

But UC officials say that because of the pair’s status as non-tenured employees, there is no appeal process. “[They] can be terminated at any time with or without cause,” said university spokeswoman Fran Tardiff, who described the decision as final.

The university’s actions prompted some state legislators and UC officials to question whether culpability for the scandal extends beyond the two medical center administrators.

“No doubt they were heavily responsible for some of the things to happen and their leaving does create a possibility for fresh leadership,” said Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica). But “if you read [the management audit] you find that the problem at UCI is a systemic one. It describes secrecy and a system that is beyond accountability.”

Piccione, known for her financial savvy, was perhaps most guilty of zealously pursuing the goals set by higher-placed university officials, Hayden said.

“She was hailed as keeping her eye on the bottom line until this [crisis] happened, then she was thrown over the side of the ship,” Hayden said.

Hayden said UC President Jack Peltason, the former chancellor at UCI who recruited Piccione, “was involved in the whole enterprise . . . and encouraging the rah-rah attitude toward the fertility clinic that seemed to captivate the Irvine community.”

Peltason has not returned repeated telephone calls since the crisis erupted a month ago.

Other critics agreed Friday that Piccione and Spiwak were only part of a much larger problem.

“I think the university from top to bottom was very slow in dealing with the allegations of the theft of eggs and university property,” said Lt. Gov. Gray Davis, also a UC regent. “The whole sorry episode smacks of a cover-up.”

“There was clearly a lack of oversight,” said Assemblywoman Jackie Speier (D-Burlingame), “And I think it was systemic. . . . There have been enough scandals within [the University of California] over the years to suggest that it is on autopilot much of the time.”

Some said UCI Chancellor Laurel L. Wilkening ought to share the blame.

“I would think that the regents should review her competency and performance. It happened under her stewardship. Why is that?” asked Sen. Quentin L. Kopp (I-San Francisco).

Wilkening has refused to discuss the details of the crisis or her involvement.

Davis said he was particularly annoyed at the expenditure of $919,370 in taxpayer money on settlements with whistle-blowers in the scandal, and suggested the decision came from Wilkening.

“I don’t know if she exercised [her authority] or she gave someone authority,” Davis said. “But the decision was definitely at the campus.”

Piccione and Spiwak, a team once lauded for rescuing the center from a $17-million deficit, were informed Wednesday in terse memos from Wilkening that they would be discharged. The memos cited poor oversight of the fertility clinic, failure to remedy financial and business problems there and their “unacceptable management style.”

The action followed weeks of turmoil set off by UCI’s public allegations that three doctors at its Center for Reproductive Health improperly transplanted human eggs, failed to report cash payments owed to UCI and provided unapproved drugs to patients. Drs. Ricardo H. Asch, Sergio Stone and Jose P. Balmaceda have been placed on paid administrative leave from the faculty. They steadfastly deny wrongdoing.

A scathing management audit, released last week, found that Spiwak and Piccione tried to squelch the scandal by retaliating against three whistle-blowers. The confidential agreements were made in part to settle the claims of retaliation.

Piccione and Spiwak continue to deny retaliating against the whistle-blowers and their attorneys have described them as scapegoats in the crisis.

Spiwak made a vague reference Friday to filing a whistle-blower complaint against the UC Board of Regents, but neither he nor his attorney, Frank Quinlan would elaborate.

Piccione, 60, attending a wedding on the East Coast, was unavailable for comment.

Spiwak said he and Piccione are preparing documents for the Board of Regents to contest their dismissal.

“I’ve spent the last seven years there and to just be thrown out,” said Spiwak, 49, whose termination is effective June 30. “It doesn’t make me happy.”

Others said Friday the attention belongs less on high-level UC administrators than on the doctors themselves. Regent S. Stephen Nakashima said UCI should immediately oust the trio.

Times Staff Writer Nancy Wride contributed to this story.