Carol Marin and My Employment:
David Fagus says....> There seems to be a question about my professional background that I wish to clear up. I don’t intend to have a running conversation about my employment. To some being a public employee is clearly a detriment to being a Committeeman even though it isn’t why anyone votes for me. Nevertheless, it is the case and perhaps those who are reasonable will see there is a difference.
Qualifications: I have a Master of Public Administration degree from Roosevelt University with a concentration in health care. I also have years of education and practical experience in my field, government provided health care, which is a combination of public administration and health care. I have work experience in nearly every facet of running a health care institution. I have never received anything but strong support from my immediate superiors and my employees have always found me to be fair, honest and a good administrator.
Carol Marin Article: I did not get promoted in 2007 or in 2006. I have been in the same job since 2005 in spite of Carol Marin writing otherwise. Additionally, I did not come up from nowhere to be in my current position. I was the #2 prior to being the #1 (Chief Operating Officer) at Cermak and my salary has not changed since I was promoted in 2005. It will not change in 2007 either and with mandatory furlough days it will be less. The salary I make is lower than the last COO, (he was an MD) and the same as the two (non-MD's) before that. For 19 years I have worked hard and been committed. I have progressively and incrementally worked my way up without great leaps up, just hard work and logical steps. I did it the honest way with hard work and commitment to doing a good job.
Finally, I don't work at Stroger Hospital and haven't for years now. I don't and shouldn't have any responsibility for them and only have indirect knowledge about their operations.
18 comments:
Here's a link to a copy of the article in the Chicago Sun-Times by Carol Marin. Our County Commissioner Larry Suffredin keeps a copy on his web site. The excerpt below includes the salary figure Fagus conspicuously failed to deny..
Payroll padding will spark opposition
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Chicago Sun-Times
by CAROL MARIN Sun-Times Columnist
Todd Stroger's new lucky hires along with current, politically connected, highly paid staff he's keeping on.
.
• • David Fagus (49th Ward Democratic committeeman) -- was earning $87,479 as executive assistant at Cermak Hospital, now the COO earning $113,703.
The FBI raided Cermak Hospital where David Fagus was and is Chief Operating Officer (COO), and hauled off hundreds of boxes of hiring records to a federal grand jury.
Here's excerpt from the coverage, again courtesy of our Cook County Commissioner, Larry Suffredin. Commission Suffredin maintains an online archive of relevant articles in order to better inform his constituents as to current affairs in the Count. I urge my neighbors to take advantage of this resource.
Thank you, Commissioner Suffredin!
FBI raids Cook County building for records
Friday, September 22, 2006
Daily Southtown
by Jonathan Lipman
The FBI seized Cook County employment records and subpoenaed more Thursday in a surprise raid on county offices that appears to be part of a widespread grand jury probe of county hiring.
The records sought fueled speculation that the FBI may be investigating a job-rigging scheme similar to the one uncovered at the city of Chicago --one that has already led to four federal convictions.
Although the FBI has served subpoenas on the county before, Thursday's raid was the first sign that federal prosecutors are conducting a major investigation into county hiring practices, on the same scale as state and city probes. ...
Cook County President Bobbie Steele said in a statement that other county departments and the Cook County Forest Preserve District were served with federal grand jury subpoenas asking for documents related to "nonexempt" positions, meaning positions that are supposed to be free of political hiring.
Those other departments included all three county hospitals, the Cermak Hospital that's located inside the Cook County Jail, and the county's purchasing and comptroller departments, county sources said.
The search warrant, issued at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday by a federal magistrate judge, was written broadly to include all employment records from 1998 to present day, according to a county source who saw the warrant.
FBI raid targets county job files
Hospital, forest preserve, highway offices hit
Friday, September 22, 2006
Chicago Tribune
by Mickey Ciokajlo, Robert Becker & Jeff Coen
Tribune staff reporters Brendan McCarthy, Todd Lighty, Laurie Cohen, Dan Mihalopoulos and Gary Washburn contributed to this report
FBI agents fanned out across Cook County on Thursday with grand jury subpoenas and a search warrant, probing deep into the role clout plays in county hiring.
The investigation, quietly under way since late last year, burst dramatically into public view Thursday morning. The flurry of activity indicated that federal prosecutors are now taking a hard look at clout and hiring in Cook County ...
Cheryl Cato, spokeswoman for the county's health bureau, said agents visited a number of its facilities early Thursday, including Stroger, Provident, Oak Forest and Cermak Hospitals. ...
County Commissioner Forrest Claypool ... said he was not surprised that the federal government is now probing hiring at the county.
"County government has been a patronage dumping ground for years, a place where unqualified politically connected people have been dumped by the thousands," Claypool said.
Feds seize county hiring records
Friday, September 22, 2006
Chicago Sun-Times
by A. PALLASCH, S. PATTERSON & N. KORECKI
FBI agents raided at least seven Cook County offices Thursday morning looking for evidence that officials were illegally doctoring tests or otherwise cheating to give government jobs and promotions to politically connected applicants.
"Step away from the computers," one of the 25 FBI agents who massed at the county's Human Resources Department told employees. The agents arrived at 9 a.m. and stayed long past dark poring through records, taking some with them.
The raids came a month after a Sun-Times story quoted county department heads as saying former Cook County Board President John Stroger's patronage chief Gerald Nichols pressured them to hire clouted people for jobs in which political hiring was prohibited. And the raids followed several years of news reports detailing alleged corruption, mismanagement and patronage hiring in county agencies.
FBI agents also appeared at Stroger Hospital, Oak Forest Hospital, the downtown Cook County Forest Preserve offices, Provident Hospital, Cermak Hospital and the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center to serve subpoenas for records.
Suffredin, Jr., Lawrence J.
Occupation: Commissioner
Employer: Cook County
431 Pioneer Rd.
Evanston, IL 60201
$1,000.00 on 10/4/2006, Individual Contribution to the Democratic Party of the 49th Ward
A couple of weeks later. The Friends of Todd Stroger for President of Cook County Board received:
On 10/24/2006, the Democratic Party of the 49th Ward transfered out $1000, to the Citizens to elect County Board President Todd Stroger.
Coincidence?
> totally unsubstaintiated BS
Carol Marin got it wrong
The Sun-Times got it wrong
The Daily Southtown got it wrong
The Chicago Tribune got it wrong
Tell us your side of the story, David. All the writing you do, you have not covered this yet.
What was it like to come to work in the morning and find a team of FBI agents digging around in your executive offices?
Isn't that pretty much the worst case scenario in your line of work?
Keep it real, keep it personal, tell us how you felt, what were your concerns.
Do you enjoy posting here, David?
Why not open YOUR BLOG up to comments and questions?
That's what it's all about for a Committeeman, right, dialog, concensus building?
What are you afraid of?
> This again has nothing to do with being the Committeeman of the 49th Ward
Please confirm.
Your County job and salary and recent raises have nothing to do with your being Committeeman of the 49th Ward?
The financial crisis in Cook County is largely due to billing problems in the County hospitals.
Dear neighbors, here is some recent press coverage to help educate yourself on the ongoing role of gross mismanagement in this terrible crisis.
Stroger passes blame
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Chicago Sun-Times
Cook County Board President John Stroger said he "can't continue to make excuses" for why county hospitals aren't generating more revenue, putting some blame on "people out there who don't know what they're doing." His comments came Tuesday as the board approved a $6.7 million contract with Siemens Medical Solutions to provide patient accounting and billing systems, and a $4 million increase to a contract with Eligibility Services Inc., which helps patients secure Medicaid services. But Stroger said he wants to see more done to collect money, as there's as much as $100 million in unpaid hospital bills owed to the cash-strapped county. ESI and its leaders have contributed a combined $10,000 to the political campaigns of Stroger and Commissioner Roberto Maldonado.
(Article posted courtesy of Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin. THANK YOU! Commissioner Suffredin!)
Why Cook hospitals are losing millions
Poor record-keeping gives free ride to those who can pay
Sunday, February 11, 2007
by Judith Graham, Chicago Tribune
Cook County's three hospitals and 28 clinics often fail to collect payment for medical services--even when patients have insurance and qualify for government health plans, according to almost two dozen interviews with officials, doctors, nurses and other experts.
As a result, taxpayers are underwriting millions of dollars--perhaps tens of millions--in medical care annually for people who could contribute to the county's coffers instead of being a financial drain on the public health system.
Exactly how much money is at stake isn't clear, because no one at the Cook County Bureau of Health Services knows how many patients listed as uninsured in fact have coverage from Medicaid, Medicare or private insurers.
But in the last year alone, patient fees were $97 million less than projected, and $250 million in medical services weren't billed, according to estimates released last month.
SEIU (the Official Union Sponsor of Alderman Joe Moore)
Cook County Health Care Crisis Fact Sheet
Why is there a financial crisis?
The {cook County] Bureau [of Health] has not done a good job of billing Medicare, Medicaid, or worker's compensation. ...
The system for billing is very poor...
Cook Co. faces bigger deficit than earlier estimated
Nov. 09, 2006
By Lorene Yue
(Crain’s) — Cook County’s projected budget deficit of nearly $600 million for the next two years is larger than anyone researching the shortfall initially anticipated.
The final report of the Cook County Transition Team, released Thursday, found a $136-million projected operating deficit for fiscal 2006. For fiscal 2007, which starts Dec. 1, the projected shortfall is $455.5 million. ...
Cook County Board President Bobbie Steele ... blamed the County Health Bureau for its significant role in the county budget shortfall. Last week, health chief Daniel Winship resigned under pressure from Ms. Steele. ...
The transition team report outlined several recommendations on how to remedy the situation, including the “billing and collection of every dollar the Bureau of Health Services is entitled to receive.”
HEY FAGUS,
Where were you last week, man?
Kind of a shocker Tuesday night, huh?
Did you stay up for the late results?
If you had been a little more involved a little earlier, maybe you and your guy wouldn't be in this pickle.
Too bad you did not re-discover blogging until this week, your insightful analysis and biting commentary and rapier wit might have helped Joe out in the primary!
Now you're all over the place!
Are you feeling guilty about Joe still running for his life and overcompensating a bit?
It must be a major embarrassment for a veteran committeeman to not turn out his home ward for a veteran incumbent, especially against such a weak-ass field of challengers, don't you agree? Ouch!
Hey hugh, how could you besmirch the other 79 Democratic Committeemen here in Cook County by implying in any way that the piece of political garbage the 49th Ward has as its committeeman (Fagus) resembles in anymanner of politiical talent the other elected committeemen?
Wow it's the all hugh all day page, I guess somebody is upset, hugh you might take a moment, gather your thoughts and then post, you won't have to keep posting over and over and over.
Remember when our local republicans were upset that former senator Fitzgerld appointed Mr. Fitzgerld as our midwest Elliott Ness now you all seem to like him. Go Fitz go.
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