If you're new you may need to know that Metra is the government authority that oversees the Illinois commuter rail operations for the Chicago area. They're generally well thought of and recognized as a very good system. I've certainly used the service and have a good impression of Metra.
But there seems to be a problem with some money...
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=377375&src=109
The allegations CAN'T BE TRUE!!! In Chicago? Illinois??? No way!!!
Hays
wilmette2210Yes Ive herd that this guy is a political hack. This is almost as ridiculous as the bank bailout with executives also giving themselves bounces. This cant happen anymore.
What amazes me most is that he thought he was going to get away with it when the budget is under the microscope right now.
zardoz wilmette2210Yes Ive herd that this guy is a political hack. This is almost as ridiculous as the bank bailout with executives also giving themselves bounces. This cant happen anymore. Remember, this is the United States, where a person is granted the illusion of being "innocent until proven guilty".
Remember, this is the United States, where a person is granted the illusion of being "innocent until proven guilty".
Pagano is not a "political hack" - he's well thought of. Something doesn't make sense here. He couldn't have unilaterally decided to pay himself a bonus. Other people in RTA had to approve it. It's going to be interesting to see what actually happened.
Falcon48 zardoz wilmette2210Yes Ive herd that this guy is a political hack. This is almost as ridiculous as the bank bailout with executives also giving themselves bounces. This cant happen anymore. Remember, this is the United States, where a person is granted the illusion of being "innocent until proven guilty". Pagano is not a "political hack" - he's well thought of.
Pagano is not a "political hack" - he's well thought of.
Sez who -- his mother? What is the source of your assertion?
Hays,
That statement is predominantly true because the watchdogs ( the general public) has gone to sleep at the wheel. Some areas have become a hotbed of corruption. To include the railroads in this discusssion look at the western suburbs of Chicago.
I like an old South African proverb that reads as follows.
"Politicians are like a bunch of bananas.They hang together, they are all yellow, and there is not a straight one among them."
Could that apply to Chicago, or perhaps Detroit? LOL!
Norm
I'm very surprised by these allegations since Phil Pagano has done a fine job of running Metra for the past 20 years. I've met him many times and I've never heard anything bad about him. It will be interesting to see where these allegations lead. I'm not sure where the so-called "bonus" money came from. Perhaps some kind of federal grant that inlcuded an administrative fee? Even Sen. Durbin has jumped in on this. If the allegations are true, then I will really be disappointed since I always had a high opinion of Pagano.
Mike O I'm very surprised by these allegations since Phil Pagano has done a fine job of running Metra for the past 20 years. {emphasis added} How do you know? Have you worked there? Do you know anything about the factors that determine whether he performs well or not? I've met him many times and I've never heard anything bad about him. Part of the shtick of running an agency is to project a good image. Did it ever occur to you that Pigano has (or perhaps had) a PR Department geared to make him look good, whether he did a good job or not. Remember the in-house PR-flack first claimed that METRA awarded no bonuses (heh, heh), and only after poersistent hounding by outside media did the Chair-babe of METRA start to look seriously into the bonus allegations. The fact that the TRAINS MAGAZINE website reports Pigano has been told not to leave town ("METRA CHIEF TOLD NOT TO LEAVE CHICAGO AREA") suggests that the boy has some major 'splaining to do. It will be interesting to see where these allegations lead. Sure will!! I'm not sure where the so-called "bonus" money came from. Perhaps some kind of federal grant that inlcuded an administrative fee? For Pigano only? Gimme a break!! Even Sen. Durbin has jumped in on this. Of course. He's a Democrat and my sources suggest Pigano is a Republican. If the allegations are true, then I will really be disappointed since I always had a high opinion of Pagano. Again, WHY??
I'm very surprised by these allegations since Phil Pagano has done a fine job of running Metra for the past 20 years. {emphasis added}
How do you know? Have you worked there? Do you know anything about the factors that determine whether he performs well or not?
I've met him many times and I've never heard anything bad about him.
Part of the shtick of running an agency is to project a good image. Did it ever occur to you that Pigano has (or perhaps had) a PR Department geared to make him look good, whether he did a good job or not. Remember the in-house PR-flack first claimed that METRA awarded no bonuses (heh, heh), and only after poersistent hounding by outside media did the Chair-babe of METRA start to look seriously into the bonus allegations. The fact that the TRAINS MAGAZINE website reports Pigano has been told not to leave town ("METRA CHIEF TOLD NOT TO LEAVE CHICAGO AREA") suggests that the boy has some major 'splaining to do.
It will be interesting to see where these allegations lead.
Sure will!!
I'm not sure where the so-called "bonus" money came from. Perhaps some kind of federal grant that inlcuded an administrative fee?
For Pigano only? Gimme a break!!
Even Sen. Durbin has jumped in on this.
Of course. He's a Democrat and my sources suggest Pigano is a Republican.
If the allegations are true, then I will really be disappointed since I always had a high opinion of Pagano.
Again, WHY??
Mike O I'm not sure where the so-called "bonus" money came from. Perhaps some kind of federal grant that inlcuded an administrative fee?
The money came from us. Even the Federal government gets its money from us.
BNSFwatcher The allegations CAN'T BE TRUE!!! In Chicago? Illinois??? No way!!! Hays
Sounds like someone failed to share the wealth? He may be the only hoinest and competent government in the state of Illinois, but when he got handed that 'gift', He should have wiped his fingerprints off the thing and run the other way! Most of us learned when we were children, when you were tagged, you were "IT" and you either ran and tagged someone else, or you had 'won'.
Sort of sounds like this guy failed to notice the Red Block and ran the signal.
He WAS the Engineer, so he's tagged with the resultant damage, and blame, or glory (?).
One thing for sure he won't be the first political appointee in that State to get his knuckles rapped, and put in 'time out'.
Innocent or guilty, he'll be the guy to suffer, That's Illinois politics!
The Chicago Sun Times is reporting that the Metra Director committed suicide by jumping in front of one of his agency's own trains.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2247226,phil-pagano-metra-train-death-050710.article
An "expensive model collector"
Crain's Chicago Business is reporting that Pagano committed suicide stepping in front of a Metra train near Crystal Lake.
"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo Possum "We have met the anemone... and he is Russ." Bucky Katt "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Niels Bohr, Nobel laureate in physics
n012944 The Chicago Sun Times is reporting that the Metra Director committed suicide by jumping in front of one of his agency's own trains.
With his suicide, Pigano answered far more eloquently than any half-baked internal investigation (which was no doubt intended to sweep as much as possible under the rug) the question of his guilt or culpability. To me, it speaks volumes for the man that he lacked the intestinal fortitude to face the music.
Syonara!
Regarding his mode of death, it's too bad that a perfectly good train should befoul itself on his carcass.
Not an elegant, nor appropriate exit. Sympathies to his family and the train crew involved.
Victrola1 Not an elegant, nor appropriate exit. Sympathies to his family and the train crew involved.
Your heart goes out to the crewman (men?) on the train Pagano used to sluff his mortal coil. You also have to feel sympathy for his family.
As Billio stated previously. Pagano certainly claimed the measure of his own guilt, but by stopping what would possibly have been a whitewashed cover-up. You have to wonder if his 'falling on his sword' was just the act of a coward taking the easyway out. Or a cover for 'bigger fish'?
samfp1943Victrola1 Not an elegant, nor appropriate exit. Sympathies to his family and the train crew involved. Your heart goes out to the crewman (men?) on the train Pagano used to sluff his mortal coil. You also have to feel sympathy for his family. As Billio stated previously. Pagano certainly claimed the measure of his own guilt, but by stopping what would possibly have been a whitewashed cover-up. You have to wonder if his 'falling on his sword' was just the act of a coward taking the easyway out. Or a cover for 'bigger fish'?
Was this the line to McHenry, Ill?
James
http://www.trains.com/trn/default.aspx?c=a&id=6774
LOL, well, at least he finally showed a bit of dedication to his company. He showed how well the locomotives were built! Sure, a couple-hundred pound body against approx a hundred tons of steel isn't much, but "steel"...
Hey, think of all the money saved not having to deal with lawsuits and court cases. And prison. And guards. And liars, er, lawyers. I guess it all worked out okay, as the system is pretty cash-strapped these days, so any unnecessary costs being avoided helps.
kolechovskihttp://www.trains.com/trn/default.aspx?c=a&id=6774 LOL, well, at least he finally showed a bit of dedication to his company. He showed how well the locomotives were built! Sure, a couple-hundred pound body against approx a hundred tons of steel isn't much, but "steel"... Hey, think of all the money saved not having to deal with lawsuits and court cases. And prison. And guards. And liars, er, lawyers. I guess it all worked out okay, as the system is pretty cash-strapped these days, so any unnecessary costs being avoided helps.
Were others involved? That now becomes harder to answer. Will this death cause further suspicion, or be used to proclaim case closed?
If the investigation continues, how much greater the expense without the aid of the deceased?
Tagging on here:
Come on gentlemen, please don't jump to conclusions. This is indeed a sad event for his family, the crew, and his co-workers. I'm not going to make a judgment of the man until the facts have been published for all to see. Whether he is guilty or not remains to be seen when they are.
This man may have been innocent. Accusations alone can sometimes be worse than convictions and drive a man to his end.
What about the Union Pacific engineer and/or conductor who had to see Pagano step onto the tracks?
Watch my videos on-line at https://www.youtube.com/user/AndrewNeilFalconer
Victrola1 kolechovski http://www.trains.com/trn/default.aspx?c=a&id=6774 LOL, well, at least he finally showed a bit of dedication to his company. He showed how well the locomotives were built! Sure, a couple-hundred pound body against approx a hundred tons of steel isn't much, but "steel"... Hey, think of all the money saved not having to deal with lawsuits and court cases. And prison. And guards. And liars, er, lawyers. I guess it all worked out okay, as the system is pretty cash-strapped these days, so any unnecessary costs being avoided helps. Were others involved? That now becomes harder to answer. Will this death cause further suspicion, or be used to proclaim case closed? If the investigation continues, how much greater the expense without the aid of the deceased?
kolechovski http://www.trains.com/trn/default.aspx?c=a&id=6774 LOL, well, at least he finally showed a bit of dedication to his company. He showed how well the locomotives were built! Sure, a couple-hundred pound body against approx a hundred tons of steel isn't much, but "steel"... Hey, think of all the money saved not having to deal with lawsuits and court cases. And prison. And guards. And liars, er, lawyers. I guess it all worked out okay, as the system is pretty cash-strapped these days, so any unnecessary costs being avoided helps.
Good questions! Consider: the gravity of the circumstances leading to Pagano's end testifies far more eloquently to the late executive director's character -- or lack thereof -- than we can. Moreover, it's extremely unlikely that Pigano just last week fell off the table and embraced the Dark Side -- one presumes he'd been there for quite a while, perhaps since childhood.
Since the treasury (/bonuses payable/check-cutting) and executive (high muckety-muck) functions at METRA are presumably, nay, almost certainly separate, meaning executive directors don't write their own pay checks or keep the books, then it follows that SOMEONE ELSE wrote the aforementionned bogus bonus check. Presumably (unless he or she has a gold-plated authorization trail signed by the entire Board, then one or more others were in the know, and, from reading the news stories, one of them finked/blew the whistle/leaked to the media (choose one). So yes, others were involved.
Did this sordid affair mark Pigano's only journey into the land of lawlessness? Can't say with the information available. But let's speculate: Pigano was dumb enough to get paid (no, make that demand payment of) his bunko bonus and leave a paper trail to his own doorstep, and moreover, the legalities of the bonus payment stunt he pulled clearly meant nothing to him -- or he wouldn't have done it! So much for his respect for the letter of the law. Could such a person have been guilty of additional undiscovered felonious acts? I think so.
But now put yourself in the shoes of Ms. METRA Board Chairman, who stated (and is widely quoted in the Chicagoland media) that the discovery of Pigano's misdeed was "a sad day for METRA." Will she (or more accurately, her fellow directors) want or have the stomach for not only completing the probe, but of making its results entirely, transparently public, in the sense that Barack campaigned for but doesn't do? Not bloodly likely. Will public sentiment be so docile as to allow her and colleagues to say that with Phil's sudden trajic death, the reason for the probe has ended, and let's get on with supplying transportation to the good people fo the six-county service area, without any followup (which, if it came to pass would make "a great day for METRA.")? Don't know. One senses that the more the investigators look into Pigano's affairs, the murkier and sleazieer things become.
One thing about the probe: I'm sure the METRA Board in its entirety would love to identify the stoolie and subject him to a fate worse than Pigano's. Why? Because it makes METRA (and by implication them) LOOK BAD. But that's just my cynnical view of things.
Others may disagree.
The ButlerTo 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).
Go Huskies. Forward Together Forward
Fan of - C&NW - Milwaukee Road - CGW -
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.
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.....................!?
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.....................!?
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
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.
Like who the Maidigans Daley Blago and QUITE A FEW OTHERS in and around CHICAGO.
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