McHenry County Blog

Keven Craver has an interesting article in the Northwest Herald about the fight Democrat State Rep.  Jack Franks had with former McHenry County Republican Party Chairman, State Senator and Metra Board member Jack Schaffer.

You see, Schaffer owns Liberty Outdoor Advertising.

During the 2010 election a billboard critical of Franks went up in the location on Route 47 closest to Franks’ legislative office.

Franks went ballistic about the billboard over the phone with a couple of folks involved.  That’s what I’ve been told by multiple sources.

He has lost his temper with others on other subjects as well.

There were attacks on the House floor during the veto session immediately after the 2010 election.

The first article I wrote about Franks attacking Schaffer was in January of 2011, while the Metra Phil Pagano scandal broke in the late April.

In any event, there was not an immediate attempt by Franks to remove Schaffer from the Metra Board after the Pagano scandal and suicide occurred.

The attacks on Schaffer began after the billboard appeared.

So, now Schaffer is not applying for reappointment.

And, according to the last paragraph of Craver’s story, Franks says the billboard had nothing to do with his calling for Schaffer’s removal from the Metra Board:

“While Franks has said his interest in the topic is based solely on good government, Schaffer has alleged that Franks is out to settle a score because Schaffer allowed an attack ad aimed at Franks to be posted on a billboard owned by Schaffer. Franks denies the allegation.”

Draw your own conclusions.

With the increase in gasoline and diesel prices, Metra already had a good excuse to raise commuter fares.

But, with the 88% Toll Tax Hike, there is now even less possibility of losing railroad passengers to their cars.

The Daily Herald is reporting that the Metra Board is considering a 25% hike in ticket prices over the next two years.

Some might characterize the one-two punch as “pile-on.”

Just as Barack Obama blames the country’s problem on predecessor George W. Bush, new Metra Executive Director Alex Clifford points the finger at Phil Pagano for kicking the can down the road.

Yesterday, McHenry County Blog laid out the time line for State Rep. Jack Franks’ interest in reforming Metra.

Democrat Franks introduced no legislation until after the fall election.

In the final weeks before the fall election, Metra Board member Jack Schaffer’s Liberty Outdoor posted a billboard that revealed the amount of money that Franks had received in campaign contributions from

• Lawyers
• Labor
• Lobbyists

The source of the information, according to the billboard, wash VoteSmart.org.

About a year after former Metra Executive Director Phil Pagano killed himself on the train tracks near Crystal Lake’s Hillside Road, Franks wrote a letter to McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler about getting rid of Schaffer.

Below is Koehler’s reply to Franks’ May 5th letter.

McHENRY COUNTY BOARD

KENNETH D. KOEHLER, CHAIRMAN
McHENRY COUNTY GOVERNMENT CENTER
2200 N. SEMINARY AVENUE
WOODSTOCK, IL 60098
815/334-4221
Fax 815/338-3991
Email KDKoehler@co.mchenry.il.us
May 10, 2011

Representative Jack Franks
State Representative 63rd District
1193 South Eastwood Drive
Woodstock IL 60098

Dear Representative Franks,

In response to your recent letter concerning the Metra Board, I have to let you know I definitely do not share your point of view.

When we first appointment former State Senator Jack Schaffer to the Metra Board of Directors, we looked at his extensive background on transit issues. We concluded that he was the best choice of a person to represent McHenry County’s interest on the Metra Board. I continue to believe that to be true.

Jack was actively involved in the reform acts which created Metra, he understands the formula guarantees that are central to suburban rail and has done (in my opinion), an excellent job representing McHenry County on the Metra Board.

We all know that Metra’s problems were caused by the activities of the former Executive Director, which was in a large part a personal tragedy in so many ways.

I would suspect you have a better understanding of that than anyone in McHenry County, since your law firm is/or was representing Mr. Pagano’s estate in bankruptcy.

The Metra Board has acted swiftly and responsibly to make the changes necessary to see that a situation like that never happens again.

Individual board members are not expected to be approving individual bills or be involved in the minute decisions on any agency like Metra.

I also note with interest that you have been attacking Jack or non-board member’s decisions that were being made several years before Jack got on the Board, which hardly seems fair.

You didn’t mention any problems with any expenses paid to Jack.

I suspect that is because he hasn’t taken a dime for travel expenses for any trips to Chicago, Springfield, or elsewhere on behalf of Metra.

When we first went to Jack and asked him to serve, none of us even knew what the salary was. In fact, Jack had to be convinced that he was the right person to represent McHenry County and the other Collar Counties.

I would also suggest to you that we knew he was, in fact, a retired State Senator and had a pension, much like you will some day. That was part of the reason we felt he would be in a position to commit the number of hours necessary to serve on this board.

I have been informed that the decision to treat board members as employees was made 15 to 20 years before Jack was appointed to the board. The Metra Board salary and fringe benefits are set or regulated by legislation passed by the Illinois General Assembly. If the legislature feels that those salaries and benefits are too high or low, they can change them. So please have at it and while you are at it, please look at all the board fees paid in six figures to all boards in Springfield.

Metra does in fact employ Lobbyists in Springfield and Washington DC, as does every other transit board in this nation. Metra’s expenses, compared favorably with the CTA and other major suburban rail agencies. The CTA in fact, maintains a staffed office in Washington DC, and Metra spends less money. Jack Schaffer has been in the forefront of the reform efforts at Metra.

When he was last reappointed, he indicated to me that this would be his final term, but, that he wished to be involved long enough to finish the job getting Metra back on track. His presence on the Board will help that cause.

The Metra Board has installed an Inspector General and hired a new Executive Director, Alex Clifford.

Removing Mr. Schaffer would deprive Mr. Clifford of experienced advisors and leave him with no historical perspective. This is a critical point in Metra’s life that a balance must be struck between change that needs to take place and the support needed for the new Executive Director to keep Metra moving in the right direction.

On a personal note, I think the attacks that you have leveled personally at Jack Schaffer have little or nothing to do with his service on the Metra Board (yes, we do get transcripts and tapes) and are troubling, and make me think that there is another agenda at work here.

Suburban Rail is important here in McHenry County and we need to get Metra thoroughly back on track. The number one priority should be first and foremost to protect public transit. I believe we all need to work together to get this done, and I believe that Jack’s continued service on the Metra Board is a real plus.

Sincerely yours,

Kenneth D. Koehler
McHenry County Board Chairman

= = = = =
A post script of Metra’s time table was attached.

Almost to the day, one year after Metra Executive Director Phil Pagano committed suicide by stepping in front of the last morning train from McHenry, Democratic Party State Rep. Jack Franks decided to send a letter to McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler calling for his Metra appointee Jack Schaffer to step down.

When I write about my former legislative colleague from the 1970′s, I identify him as a former State Senator and sometimes as a former McHenry County Republican Party Chairman.

To put Franks’ letter into context, however, it is not his membership on the Metra board that is most important. It is not his Republican Party activity.

It is his ownership of the Liberty Outdoor billboard company that is significant.

Prior to the fall election, when Franks was facing his first Republican challenger in three elections, McHenry Grade School and Library Board member John O’Neill, the man who would run for statewide office or Congress, faced a withering billboard on the way to work.

Citing a reputable source, it pointed out Franks’ main sources of campaign funding–besides his family:

• Lawyers
• Labor
• Lobbyists

I understand the placement was paid for, but Franks doesn’t like bad publicity.

So, what to do?

On March 17, 2011, Franks introduced House Bill 1516 to eliminate fringe benefits from Metra Board members. I wrote earlier of how it did not make in out of the Committee on Mass Transit.

The same day Franks introduced HB 1548 to abolish Metra as a separate agency. He did not call it for a committee vote.

Since Pagano’s financial improprieties became public in April of 2010, I looked at last year’s bill introductions by Franks.

There were so many that I might have missed one about the Metra board, one calling for replacement of all members, for instance, but all I could find after the public learned of the money Pagano made off with was House Bill 6946.

It was not introduced until the week after the fall election.

It called for the 2011 election of a nine-member RTA Board, none of which would be paid. The current CTA, Metra and PACE Boards would be eliminated.

That certainly would have gotten rid of Schaffer as a Metra Board member.

The same day, November 11, 2010, Franks introduced HB 6950. Similar goal–election of a non-partisan, unpaid nine-member Regional Transportation Board and elimination of the current ruling superstructure.

Both bills were introduced after the billboard, I would note

It was right before Pagano’s death, April 28 2010, however, that the public learned that he had made off with lots of money. By May 14, 2010 more details were being made public.

So, if Franks was not interested enough in Metra governance to introduce a bill prior to the billboard paper being pasted on the Route 47 Liberty Outdoor right south of Woodstock Harley-Davidson, why would anyone question that the motivation for his trying to get rid of Schaffer from the Metra Board was vindictiveness?

Franks’ post script to his letter to Koehler reads,

Ken-

I know you and I disagree on this, but I feel so strongly that we must go  in a different direction to separate us from the past and to start over.

I know Jack is your friend but in your heart you know his departure is best for the county.

Metra has adamantly refused to release information to McHenry County Blog regarding efforts to reimburse the taxpayers for the money that former Executive Director Phil Pagano took without authorization.

I’ve been trying to obtain such documents since September, 2010, and have been consistently stonewalled.

An open, transparent agency, Metra is not.

Now, the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor has ruled that all correspondent from or on behalf of Pagano’s wife Barbara must be released, except for a personal note to a Metra employee.

Fair enough.

The letter from Lisa Madigan’s Office follows (some new paragraphs have been created to make it easier to read on a screen):

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
STATE OF ILLINOIS
Lisa Madigan
ATTORNEY GENERAL
March 9, 2011

Mr. Roman Gold
Freedom of Information Act Officer-Metra
foia@metrarr.com

RE: Pre- Authorization Request 2011 PAC-124877

Dear Mr. Gold:

We have received and reviewed the written notice from Metro of its intention to withhold certain information as exempt from disclosure under Section 7(1)(c) of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). 5 ILCS 140/1 et seq., as amended.

On February 8, 2011, Cal Skinner submitted a FOIA request to Metra, seeking copies of “all communication with or on behalf of Barbara Pagano. since [the death of] her husband.”

On February 18, 2011, Metra submitted a pre-authorization Request with the Office of the Public Access Counselor and asserted that the correspondence is exempt from disclosure under Section 7(1)(c) of FOIA (5 ILCS 140/7(1)(c) which exempts from inspection and copying “[p]ersonal information contained within public records, the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, unless disclosure is consented to in writing by the individual subjects of the information.” The exemption defines ” [u]nwarranted invasion of personal privacy” as ” the disclosure of information that is highly personal or objectionable to a reasonable person and in which the subject’ s right to privacy outweighs any legitimate public interest in obtaining the information.” Id.

On March 4, 2011, Roman Gold, FOIA officer for Metra, supplied this Office with the documents that it seeks to withhold pursuant to Section 7( 1)( c).

Determination

Metra’ s request for approval of correspondence between Ms. Pagano and Metra is approved in part and denied in part.

In its letter to this Office, the Metra explains that the responsive documents do not relate to the public duties of any employee but rather relate to the benefits and rights conferred upon Ms. Pagano due to her status as a widow of a Metra employee.

Section 2. 5 of FOIA ( 5 ILCS 140/ 2.5) provides that “[ a] Il records relating to the obligation, receipt, and use of public funds of the State, units of local government, and school districts are public records subject to inspection and copying by the public.”

Information relating to publicly funded benefits that a public employee or a beneficiary of that employee receives clearly relates to the receipt, obligation and use of public funds. Our review of the correspondence between Metra and Ms. Pagano indicates that the documents in question pertain to certain benefits which
Metra funds and for which Ms. Pagano may be required to contribute to Metra.

Accordingly, the documents relate to the receipt and use of public funds, for purposes of Section 2. 5 of FOIA, and the disclosure of this information therefore would not constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of Mrs. Pagano’ s privacy.

Metra may, however, withhold a personal note written by Ms. Pagano to a Metra employee pursuant to Section 7(1)( c).

In summary, Metra has not met its initial burden of demonstrating that the correspondence and other records in question are exempt from disclosure pursuant to Section 7( 1)( c). (Emphasis added.)

Its request for approval to withhold those documents is therefore denied. Metra must disclose the documents (other than the personal note referenced above) to Mr. Skinner. Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at ( 312) 814- 5383. This correspondence shall serve to close this matter. (Emphasis added.)

Sincerely,

Matthew C. Rogina
Assistant Public Access Counselor

Phil Pagano is gone as Executive Director of Metra and, under his replacement Alex Clifford, the agency has decided to drop the Ridgefield train station option.

“We are allowing the option on the land to lapse,” said Metra Board member Jack Schaffer.

He said “a total review of the college location and the Lily Pond Road location” will be undertaken.

“The college has gotten fairly energized and they would like to have a station near the campus, rather than Lily Pond Road,” the former State Senator revealed.

“The college has been consulted and with $5 gas on the horizontal, they (are more interested in a station than before),” he continued.

Asked on whose authority the decision was made, Schaffer said it was “on the authority of the Executive Director, but he consulted with the board Friday.”

= = = = =

Framery owner Jim Roden recently sent this letter to Metra about his concerns about locating a new train station next to Alexander Lumber in Ridgefield.

Jim Roden, owner of the Framery in Ridgefield has sent the following letter to Metra Chairwoman  Carole Dovis.

A copy was sent to the railroad commuter agency’s Inspector General Hillard Heintze.

Metra Board Chairman, Carole R. Doris
547 W. Jackson Blvd
Chicago, Il 60661

Dear Ms. Doris,

I am writing this letter in an effort to inform you of a very large concern with the proposed Metra station in Ridgefield.

There is a huge groundswell of distrust for the reasoning process so far displayed which purports the need of this new station.  I shall outline several issues.

First, there is the issue of real need.  How many train stations are needed in the area surrounding Crystal Lake?

Are you saying that the future population will require 5 stations in this short span?

There are already two stations within Crystal Lake.

There is a station in Woodstock.  There has been land donated to Metra for a third station, the Merryman property, along Lily Pond Road off IL highway Rt 14.

This location is within 2 miles of Ridgefield. Now, another station is proposed in Ridgefield?

What is the basis on which you think there is need of yet another stop so close?

The next concern.  For the sake of further discussion, let’s say you pull the rabbit out of the hat and demonstrate the need for a fifth station. OK, that brings us to the location for this fifth station in Ridgefield.

The “Town” of Ridgefield is, well, where McHenry County College is located.

McHenry County College is one of the biggest assets in this area.  It is among the area’s largest employers.  It brings 100’s of students, staff and faculty to this area daily.  Virtually all come and go via their cars.

Now, if there was the option of going to and from by train, the college would benefit from this easier access.

Hum, let’s think about that one.  Fewer cars on the road, less gas consumed, more riders for Metra… wait a minute, could this be planning for growth that actually benefits the community?

Nah won’t work. Make’s too much sense.

All right, again for the sake of further discussion let’s analyze further the placement of the train station in Ridgefield.

A large percentage of the traffic which flows from Crystal Lake north, and northwest travels on Rt 14 which connects to Rt 47 , etc.  Access to Ridgefield largely travels on the south side of the tracks on Ridgefield Road which connects to Rt 14. There is also heavy traffic coming on Country Club Road through Ridgefield, mostly going to and from the College.

McHenry County College is on the south side of the tracks but off of Rt 14. Its rear entrance is south of the college with the entrance off of Ridgefield Road, again, on the south side of the tracks.

If a station is built close to the college, access to it is a short walk. Is there a site on the south side of the tracks that will work?  I’m sure one has been considered, right?

Now we come to the cost of this station.

We all know about the proposed site on the north side of the tracks. Land costs, road access costs, road expansion costs, perhaps eminent domain costs, etc., and the impact on the immediate area have been studied.

There have been estimated costs on the north side site.

Have there been any on a south side location?

The same costs of course, will apply, no doubt.

Well…maybe not.

The land costs may be different.

The road improvement costs probably would be different.

Access off of Rt 14 definitely would be different.

Impact on the area would require much less displacement.

How would these costs compare?

North side vs. South side.

Would it be prudent to make a comparison?

Nah, that makes too much sense!

The decision makers must be right.

We’ll just do it their way….Hum, who are these decision makers anyhow?

Maybe we should look into their logic.

Who are, exactly, the powers that be in this case?

• Metra?
• McHenry County’s Board?
• The City of Crystal Lake?
• McHenry County College’s Board?
• The State of Illinois?

Is it too much to assume that whoever the powers are, their intentions are for the overall good of the local community.

Logic, common sense, and a total analysis of all possibilities must have been considered in their choosing the proposed site. Those things certainly were considered here, of course.

That is the duty of elected officials, right?

….Hum, as a stretch, could there be something else, some other reason for the proposed site to be where it is?

If we were to ask someone, say Sherlock Holmes, to find perhaps, another reason for this site, where would he begin?

He might first make inquiries along the line of who is to benefit from this site.

Let’s begin with who owns it.  Who will make the first dollars here?

Well raise my rent!!

Further investigation into public record reveals that the Chairman of the McHenry County Board owns the property, and stands to make a sizable amount of money if this site is confirmed.

Besides Mr. Koehler, is there anyone else in his circle who would also benefit? Could there be a present or former member of the Metra Board with like financial interest?

To view it from this perspective, ya can’t help but raise an eyebrow. Will a Sherlock Holmes reveal more that might be, well… common?

Politicians who benefit!

Nah can’t be.  This is, after all, Illinois.

Having the authority to authorize the disbursement of government funds is an enormous responsibility.

Extreme prudence should be used in doing so.

This station is simply not needed.

We all know of the famous “Bridge to No-Where.”  What we will have here is the “No Need Station!”

My name is Jim Roden. I live in Crystal Lake and own a business in Ridgefield.

I would very much like to arrange a time to meet with you and discuss these issues.

Very truly yours,

James Roden

= = = = =

Other articles that might be of interest (listed in reverse order of publication):

Saturday, 8-15-9 The Ridgefield Metra Deal

Friday, 8-14-9 Metra Votes to Purchase Ridgefield Station Site

Friday, 8-14-9 Craig Steagall Unleashes Broadside Against McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler over Metra State Land Purchase

Friday, 8-14-9 Metra Scheduled to Approve Former Flowerwood Land for Station in Ridgefield This Morning

Thursday, 8-13-9 $1.5 Million Being Paid for Ridgefield Metra Site Half-Owned by McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler

Thursday, 8-13-9 Metra Transparency Worse than McHenry County College’s

Wednesday, 8-12-9 Ridgefield Businessman Takes on McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler over Proposed Metra Station

Friday, 8-7-9 Musings on the Proposed Ridgefield Metra Station

Wednesday, 8-5-9 Alexander Lumber’s Move to Ridgefield, Proposed Metra Station Implications

Another person has followed Metra Executive Phil Pagano’s example of how to end his life.

This time it was in Evanston.

This article says he didn’t succeed.

Read the following paragraph from Blackman Kallick, which took a look at Metra’s operations under Executive Director Phil Pagano:

The key words are “the firm’s ‘monthly invoices lacked sufficient detail to substantiate that contracted services were being performed.’”

Think for a moment about legal bills.  If you haven’t paid many, let me explain that when I was going through my contentious divorce in the mid-1980′s, I had so many legal bills that I stopped keeping track after $100,000.

But, each and every bill was itemized down to the tenth of an hour.  In other words, there was an explanation for every six minutes of services rendered.

I have commented previously on how Grafton Township’s Ancel Glink law firm billed in 15 minute increments.  So, no matter how short the phone call, the taxpayers were billed for 15 minutes of time.

How public officials can allow the taxpayers to pay more than they would when using their own money is beyond me.

So, I’m working my way to Special Prosecutor Henry Tonigan’s bills.

To the best of my knowledge, no one on the McHenry County Board has seen an itemized bill from lawyer Tonigan.

Does he bill in six-minute increments, 15-minute increments, charge the same about every day or what?

Yet pretty much all the county board members vote to pay whatever Judge Gordon Graham says to pay.

“Trust, but verify,” was what President Ronald Reagan used to say when talking about arms control agreements with the Soviet Union.  He said it was a Russian proverb “doveryai, no proveryai.”

When county board members vote to pay Tonigan’s unitmized bills they are trusting, but not verifying.

I think they are forgetting that they are the third co-equal branch of government.

What’s the worst that could happen?

When I get some more details, I’ll write another story.

“But that wasn’t enough for him,” said prosecutor Deborah Mayer. “He wanted more. So he took more.”

No, that’s not about disgraced Metra Exec Phil Pagano.

Those are the words of a Federal prosecutor in the Washington, D.C., area after the conviction of the recently-departed U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy’s budget guy.

Ngozi Pole was convicted “of of stealing more than $75,000 from the Senate by giving himself unauthorized salary and bonuses,” as Fox News put it.

The Kennedy aide submitted false paperwork to authorize his thefts.

How like Phil Pagano.

Fox reports,

“It was standard practice to ‘spend down’ any surplus in Kennedy’s annual office budget to a zero balance at the end of each fiscal year.”

The staffer was just doing his part.

Another Democrat who has been known to give Christmas bonuses is House Speaker Mike Madigan.