Metra Director Under Investigation

[billio]

greyhounds

But he "Loved" Metra and this was "Just One Mistake"...

 

First of all, it was more than "just one mistake."  The incompetence in METRA clearly extends to amateurs who would tote up the bill of particulars against Pigano. 

 Second, why shouldn't Pigano just love METRA?  He used METRA to take it and us taxpayers for almost a million pizoozas, and my Chicagoland spies tell me that what has surfaced so far may be just the tip of the iceberg.

Incidentally, a note to Dakotaguy:  Pigano reportedly admitted to forging the signature of his Board Chairman on the authorization for his $56K bonus.  Forgery, lads and lassies, is a fel-o-ny.  Even in Illinois!

To repeat a prior observation:  if METRA, with Pagano exemplifying the rot and corruption at the top, and presumably extending down to lower levels, is the best managed transit authority, the God help the poor suckers who have to underwrite the worst managed ones.  This what this teaches us about the quality of management (or more accurately, the lack thereof) in this industry.

[greyhounds]

But he "Loved" Metra and this was "Just One Mistake"...

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=383335

I wonder why his wife wasn't with him.  He was in deep trouble and obviously tormented.  I wonder why she didn't feel the need to be there with him and help him in his own time of need.  Please don't take that as sympathy on my part for him.

But I do think such sympathy was her role and she just wasn't around to play the role.

 

[Dakguy201]

If I understood the Sotos report correctly, in total he cashed $475k of unused vacation time by means of taking a cash payment each year in lieu of his  10 weeks of vacation time that was to be earned over the coming year.  The policy manual permitted that in "rare and unusual" circumstances.   In addition, there were borrowings against a deferred compensation plan, such plan only applying to a few high ranking employees, in the amount of $838k.  There was a 401(k) plan for which he apporved the maximum (for tax purposes) employer contribution for himself and others.  That was legal but questionable.   A further relatively minor amount was obtained in questionable unused sick pay cash-ins.

All of this on top of a $250k salary. 

 

 

[narig01]

 Sad. 

Rgds IGN

[Falcon48]

Metra has posted a fairly detailed executive summary of the investigation of the Pagano fiasco on its website.  See attached.

http://metrarail.com/metra/en/home/utility_landing/newsroom/newsroom/executive_summaryreport.html

[ndbprr]

 

Who knows?  This is Chicago.  More importantly will they try to take it back or sweep it under the rug? In typical Chicago fashion we will hear something like, "think of how thw family feels now.  We can't hurt them more".

[Victrola1]

 Was he the only one to so benefit?

[ndbprr]

 

Well here is the Chicago Trib article on the report from Metra:

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/05/metra-to-get-report-on-pagano-probe.html

Apparently he stole $475,000 over several years.  I guess $267,000 and eleven weeks vacation (That's nearly 1/4 of the year!) just doesn't go as far as it used to.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

billio

CShaveRR

...under Mr. Pagano's watch, Metra is probably the best-operated commuter rail system in the country, and one that's still undergoing expansion and upgrading.

 Think what that says about overall management quality in the transit industry.  Not exactly a ringing endorsement...

Having been a daily commuter on Metra and its predecessors since 1980, I would strongly agree with CShave's observation.  Considering the financial constraints under which it currently operates, Metra does pretty well. 

[billio]

CShaveRR

...under Mr. Pagano's watch, Metra is probably the best-operated commuter rail system in the country, and one that's still undergoing expansion and upgrading.

 Think what that says about overall management quality in the transit industry.  Not exactly a ringing endorsement...

[erikem]

CShaveRR

But under Mr. Pagano's watch, Metra is probably the best-operated commuter rail system in the country, and one that's still undergoing expansion and upgrading.

 

The cynic within me wonders if that's why he was being so hotly pursued in that he was making others look bad.

- Erik

[billio]

Bob-Fryml

Back in the 1960s I seem to recall that Illinois had a Secretary of State (or maybe it was one of Mayor Daley's cronies?) who, when he died, the press reported that he had a closet full of shoeboxes and each one was stuffed with cash.

I also seem to recall that "shoeboxes stuffed with cash" seem to be quite the tradition among metro-Chicago politicos.  So this now begs the question:  Have the authorities sought a search warrant for Pagano's home - specifically limited to investigating any shoeboxes that may be on the property? 

The politician in question was Paul Powell, a most colorful Secretary of State for the State of Illinois.  Years ago. I recall being told that Mr. Powell had passed the word down to his state troopers that he wanted to hear of no officer accepting a ticket-beating bribe without receiving half the funds himself, otherwise the trooper would get into real trouble.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Bob-Fryml

Back in the 1960s I seem to recall that Illinois had a Secretary of State (or maybe it was one of Mayor Daley's cronies?) who, when he died, the press reported that he had a closet full of shoeboxes and each one was stuffed with cash.

I also seem to recall that "shoeboxes stuffed with cash" seem to be quite the tradition among metro-Chicago politicos.  So this now begs the question:  Have the authorities sought a search warrant for Pagano's home - specifically limited to investigating any shoeboxes that may be on the property? 

Since Mr. Pagano is dead, no criminal charges can be pursued against him.  However, if a criminal investigation is opened against someone else, then a warrant may be requested if the state's attorney or United States Attorney can show probable cause that such related evidence is germane to their case.

[Bob-Fryml]

Back in the 1960s I seem to recall that Illinois had a Secretary of State (or maybe it was one of Mayor Daley's cronies?) who, when he died, the press reported that he had a closet full of shoeboxes and each one was stuffed with cash.

I also seem to recall that "shoeboxes stuffed with cash" seem to be quite the tradition among metro-Chicago politicos.  So this now begs the question:  Have the authorities sought a search warrant for Pagano's home - specifically limited to investigating any shoeboxes that may be on the property? 

[Victrola1]

There is more to virtue than "making the trains run on time."

http://www.snopes.com/history/govern/trains.asp

[eolafan]

zardoz

I'm surprised there was such a furor over a measly $50K.  Heck, in Chicago, 50K is barely a down-payment on a decent bribe.

I don't think the furor has  as much to do with the amount (although to me $50K is a heck of a lot more than "measly")...but rather it is due to the people of Illinois being just plain sick and tired of corrupt politicians (yes, the IL voters elect most of them, but that's a story for another day).

[CShaveRR]

Please, be patient. The facts that were going to come out last week will come out later, after he's been eulogized and buried.

I think we'll find that it takes a lot more than $56K to make a "sad day for Metra". I also think we'll find some heretofore-hidden pressing personal problems that caused a sudden aberration by someone who was not experienced in the ways of covering his trail.

But under Mr. Pagano's watch, Metra is probably the best-operated commuter rail system in the country, and one that's still undergoing expansion and upgrading.

[Phoebe Vet]

The dollar value is irrelevant.  When a highly respected leader in the community, often reported as such in the media, falls hard and publicly it is more psychologically devastating than most people can comprehend.

Such people are always a suicide risk.

[zardoz]

I'm surprised there was such a furor over a measly $50K.  Heck, in Chicago, 50K is barely a down-payment on a decent bribe.

It will indeed be interesting to hear the results of the investigation.  Was he really guilty?  Maybe.  But realize that once allegations have been made, it was up to him to PROVE HIMSELF INNOCENT.  And even if he was proved innocent, his reputation has already been ruined, as well as his ability getting another job.

[greyhounds]

As he stood on the tracks and watched the train that was about to kill him approach, Mr. Pagano, the head of Metra, had on his person a copy of the Metra procedures for handling service disruptions due to suicides.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-kass-0509-20100509,0,7560705.column

 

 

[billio]

blue streak 1

I hope this  ""suicide"" is investigated by the independent feds .. NTSB to determine actually what happened. Does METRA have cameras in the locos and cab cars that would tell us a lot? I'm not a conspiracy buff as such but.....................!?

Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh!

[eolafan]

Yes, to name a few of many.

[edbenton]

Like who the Maidigans Daley Blago and QUITE A FEW OTHERS in and around CHICAGO.

[eolafan]

As a long time resident and taxpayer in northern Illinois, I have a few comments:

1. Pagano's actions clearly illustrated his relative guilt related to the charges about to be brought against him and those actions also clarified what kind of a person he was.

2. Pagano actually did us taxpayers a favor in preventing a "whitewashing" of the truth in this case and saving the taxpayers tons of money in legal fees.

3. I only wish many more crooked Illinois politicos would take a cue from Pagano.

4. The only ones who did not benefit from his actions are his family and the poor Metra engineer and train crew he dragged into his sordid story.

[greyhounds]

blue streak 1

I hope this  ""suicide"" is investigated by the independent feds .. NTSB to determine actually what happened. Does METRA have cameras in the locos and cab cars that would tell us a lot? I'm not a conspiracy buff as such but.....................!?

Yes, Metra has cameras in the locos and cab cars.

This is the 2nd high ranking Chicago area government official to take his own life in six months.  The president of the school board shot himself last November.

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/11/man-found-dead-near-merchandise-mart-downtown.html

I'm suspicious as to whether these were totally voluntary actions.  I only have suspicion.  I do not have proof.

Here's more on Pagano:

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=379106

 

 

[Norm48327]

 You think the feds are independent? Think again. The feds are in the pocket of Obama's Chicago administration.

[blue streak 1]

I hope this  ""suicide"" is investigated by the independent feds .. NTSB to determine actually what happened. Does METRA have cameras in the locos and cab cars that would tell us a lot? I'm not a conspiracy buff as such but.....................!?

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Wow - what a shocker. 

At the ending of the 1989 Jack Ryan novel Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_and_Present_Danger , one of the power-corrupted bad guys - Vice Admiral James Cutter - does much the same thing, only with a DC Metro bus - on the George Washington Parkway, if I recall correctly - after one of the shadowy figures in the story - John Clark - confronts him and gives him an opportunity to do so ''for the good of the service''.  A similar plot device was used by Ian Fleming in one of his James Bond short stories, ''Octopussy''. 

- Paul North. 

[senshi]

The Butler

To take that line of thinking one step farther, did he 'fall on his sword' or was he pushed?

Was this the line to McHenry, Ill?

 

 Yes.  Looking on google maps its on the north end of Crystal Lake (Hillside Rd was what I heard).  This is sad but it feels like he was using his suicide to get one last jab at Metra or somebody on the board (by using the train).