Pyke: Metra log details requests for job favors

The days of powerful people asking for favors at Metra aren't over yet, a look at the agency's log of job-related inquiries shows.

But the fact the agency is now recording those encounters, Metra leaders say, and refusing to kowtow is a sign reforms are working.

After a history of politicians using clout to get cronies jobs at Metra and a patronage scandal in 2013, the agency required staff and board members to chronicle all employment-related communications from the outside with the expectation it would deter abuses of power.

A Freedom of Information Act request showed 28 log entries between April 2014 and Jan. 4, ranging from inquiries from private citizens to public officials passing along resumes.

Here are some examples from Metra's employment-related disclosure log:

• On Feb. 11, 2015, State Rep. Luis Arroyo called a Metra employee to ask why a certain applicant was not offered an apprenticeship, the log states. The employee said he couldn't talk to a third party about job applications.

Arroyo denies making the call. He did identify the applicant as an occasional campaign volunteer.

"I didn't call nobody over there. I wouldn't have called on behalf of (the volunteer). Someone else could have called and said they were Luis Arroyo," said Arroyo, a Chicago Democrat. "I don't know if he called or somebody else called. It wouldn't have been me."

Metra officials had no comment on the doppelgänger issue.

• On Nov. 21, 2014, then-Chicago Transit Authority CFO Ron DeNard emailed Metra CFO Tom Farmer and attached a resume he wanted forwarded to the human resources department. He endorsed the woman as a candidate for a labor relations officer job "and asked that she be interviewed," Metra records state. "Mr. Farmer consulted with the ethics officer, did not forward the email, and did not take any additional action."

DeNard, now Chicago Public Schools vice president of finance, did not return requests to comment.

• On Aug. 15, 2014, Denver public transit executive Phil Washington emailed Metra CEO Don Orseno asking for assistance getting his niece an interview and "possible consideration for a position at Metra."

"Mr. Washington was informed that any inquiries about employment should go to Metra's HR Department," the log stated.

Washington, now CEO of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, responded that "being known nationally as a strong advocate of workforce development and recruitment, especially for young people, in the transportation arena, I see nothing wrong in receiving or giving unsolicited recommendations for new hires across the board to any organization that may need to fill a position with a qualified candidate. The hiring authority of the organization ultimately makes the final decision."

One more thing

The records also reference calls in April and May 2014 from state Rep. Jack Franks to Orseno and Chairman Martin Oberman asking the agency's top lawyer be disciplined for writing a letter to the Northwest Herald responding to an earlier letter from a reader about retired board Director Jack Schaffer. General Counsel Sue-Ann Rosen wrote she wanted to clarify the record and that Schaffer acted properly when he forwarded certain policy documents to Metra's former executive director.

Orseno and Oberman said they would not discipline the general counsel for her letter.

Marengo Democrat Franks disagreed, saying he thought it was a waste of money and staff time for the general counsel to respond to a letter to the editor and that Metra was "using tax resources for political gain."

Overall, "we believe all entries in the log show that it is performing as intended, with both board members and employees in compliance and taking the proper action in response to inquiries," Orseno said.

The log was modeled on a similar one instituted at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Oberman said.

"The theory was if you required calls to be logged, people would stop making those calls. We take a flat overall position that whether it's innocently intended or not, we deal with it. We have to change the culture of Metra and we're taking strong actions to change it."

Got an opinion on this or any transportation issue? Drop me an email at mpyke@dailyherald.com.

Gridlock alert

• Sorry, Golf Road afficionados. Watch out for overnight lane closures in each direction from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. starting Monday and ending Wednesday morning on Golf at I-90 in Rolling Meadows. To make things interesting, full closures of Golf Road follow from 11 p.m. through 6 a.m. on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

• IDOT's adding turn lanes at Dundee and North Wilke roads in Arlington Heights and Buffalo Grove starting Monday. Work wraps up this summer.

Upcoming

Pace kicks off hearings on policy updates to service for riders with disabilities starting at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in the Crystal Lake Municipal Complex, 100 W. Woodstock St.