(The following story by Chris Fusco appeared on the Chicago Sun-Times website on September 3, 2010.)
CHICAGO — McHenry County Republican power broker Al Jourdan told a 911 dispatcher she could check his “qualifications” and “credentials” with the county’s sheriff and undersheriff when he called to report his conversation with Metra Executive Director Philip Pagano on the morning Pagano killed himself, a copy of the recording indicates.
Sheriff Keith Nygren, who has known Jourdan for years, released most of the call to the Better Government Association this week after initially rejecting BGA Freedom of Information Act requests for it.
The sheriff’s office at first said the call contained “private information” and couldn’t be made public, but a compromise was reached after the BGA threatened a lawsuit. The recording omits Jourdan’s telephone numbers and address.
“About 10-12 minutes ago, I got a call from a gentleman who was threatening to walk on the railroad tracks. . . . I could hear the train in the background,” Jourdan begins.
“The gentleman is Phil Pagano,” Jourdan says later. “I know where the car is. I know where the house keys are. I know where the suicide note is. And, if he did it, I can be helpful, I think, to the police . . .”
Pagano, who had been friends with Jourdan for about 25 years, was killed instantly about 8 a.m. May 7 when he stepped in front of a Metra train in unincorporated Crystal Lake. Pagano had been the subject of investigations into bonuses and cash advances he had awarded himself at Metra.
Jourdan, a Regional Transportation Authority board member and former head of the Illinois Republican Party, twice indicates he knows Nygren and undersheriff Andrew Zinke during the 911 call, referring to them as “Keith” and “Andy.” The second time, the dispatcher replies, “It doesn’t matter, sir.”
Nygren said Thursday that his office’s initial refusal to release the call had nothing to do with his ties to Jourdan, who backed Nygren in his first run for sheriff in 1998, according to news reports at the time. Attempts to reach Jourdan were unsuccessful.
Also, Nygren has accepted $1,670 in campaign contributions from a business owned by Metra board member Jack Schaffer.
Local law enforcement officials can hand off investigations to State Police if they perceive they have potential conflicts of interest.
Nygren insists that wasn’t the case with the Pagano death probe. He said he has “no recollection of ever having met” Pagano and let his investigators do their jobs.
“There was no conflict there, none at all,” Nygren said.