OPINION: THE METRA MESS

Direct board elections needed

By Ed Collins

It’s high time we make a change in how the eleven Metra regional transit board members are named to office.

The politically - appointed procedure doesn’t work anymore. Metra needs public elections to fill its Board positions, not arbitrary appointments from political hacks and their pals who attempt to manage our $33 million annual commuter railroad operations.

The Board should be chosen directly by the people they will represent. Elective districts should be equitably drawn with specific prescribed terms of office. Recall provisions should be allowed in case of malfeasance in office. Board stipends should be minimal for participation in the half-day monthly meetings.

One has only to reflect upon the current mess now taking place in Metra to realize that such change is essential. It’s the latest of several Metra scandals and public flaps that have occurred in recent years.

This current one has do with Board Chairman Brad O’Halloran abruptly firing Metra’s chief staff executive Alex Clifford, although he had only seven more months left on his three year contract and was aware his contract would not be renewed.  Phil Pagano, the previous long-time CEO, committed suicide after being accused of finagling with Metra’s financials for his own benefit. Not a stellar record of diligent Board oversight, I believe.

You are probably familiar with this latest blunder that has been plastered on page one for several weeks now. Some of the gory details include O’Halloran offering Clifford a $718,000 “severance” package that was approved by ten of eleven Board members to settle Clifford’s quick departure because it was alleged Clifford didn’t fit in with the Illinois “way” of conducting Metra’s business.

Seems Clifford snubbed some powerful people such as Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan after Madigan suggested a pay raise for a crony Paul Ward, one of Clifford’s mid-level staffers who just happened to be a long-time political  campaign worker for Mr. Madigan.

A Better Government Association and Chicago Sun - Times investigation revealed that Mr. Ward had little reason to complain about money.  The study revealed that he not only received a $57,000 Metra salary but also receives more than $60,000 a year from two governmental pension plans. He now works for the Illinois Department of Central Management in Chicago where he obtained a starting salary that was 23 percent higher than his former Metra salary.    

Madigan wasn’t the only politician or influence peddler that sought political favors from Metra - there were several others Clifford also mentioned in testimony at recent state legislative hearings.

But things didn’t go well for Metra Board Chairman O’Halloran! While he had ten of the Board’s votes in his pocket to get rid of Clifford, he had one dissident thorn in Trustee Jack Schaffer, from McHenry.

Schaffer was the only trustee who said “Hell, no!” when the vote on Clifford’s lavish severance package took place. Schaeffer said it wasn’t severance money, it was “hush money” designed to keep Clifford quiet about some of the “funny business” taking place. Schaffer’s Board spark soon exploded into a major public conflagration.

In a recent editorial headlined “Time for Metra Board to get out,” The Lake County News-Sun hit the nail on the head when they wrote: “Fumigation is in order. The smell won’t go away. The Metra Board must go. That’s what happens when a political body loses all credibility and most of its integrity.”

How true. And where’s the Regional Transportation Authority who supposedly is Metra’s fiscal watchdog? No comment.

Trust you are you getting the picture? The whole Chicago metropolitan transit system needs a thorough study, and much needs to be reorganized. It’s monetarily wasteful, inefficient, corrupt at times, and often just plain dysfunctional. No matter how many band aids we apply to this monster it will never stop bleeding.

We need a fresh start. It’s just too important to leave just to the politicians. We the people need to act, and act NOW!

It’s particularly obvious that the Metra Board needs to be thoroughly reorganized. Those of us who live, commute, and pay taxes to support Metra indeed really do need to bring in a fumigator as the News-Sun suggests to clean house and elect honest and impartial Board of leaders – and get rid of the political hacks. Who will step forward to lead us out of this mess?

We don’t need the “good ol’boy” political buddy network that is chosen to the Metra Board by various metro aldermen, mayors, and county board members. Instead, we need competent, knowledgeable leadership at the helm, directly elected by the people, and held directly accountable to the taxpayers who expect them to prudently manage the second largest rail transit district in the nation. No more under the table “hush money” payoffs!

For further details on how the Metra Board is currently picked, check the www.Metra.com website for names and appointment details of each Board member. You’ll be amazed at the political inbreeding.

ooOOoo 

Ed Collins is a professional journalist and freelance writer specializing in public affairs subjects.