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Bedridden Metra budget committee chairman Warren Nugent hitched an ambulance ride to Friday's board meeting, his first since February. "I've been missing enough and I have to show up to get my budget passed," he said. But a Cook County commissioner sees a different picture. Elizabeth Doody-Gorman says the 74-year-old Nugent has held his seat in a move to keep embattled Metra board chairman Jeff Ladd in power. Nugent told the Sun-Times Tuesday he wanted to retire in February after multiple sclerosis and back surgery complications confined him to his bed and wheelchair, but Metra bosses wouldn't have it. "When my back broke down I tried to resign but [Metra executive director] Phil Pagano said, 'No.' I thought I wouldn't be able to work for a while and he said, 'You work just fine from home,' " Nugent said. "It was kind of nice to hear." Pagano said his asking Nugent to stay on the board was one of compassion, not coercion. "He approached me in a typical Warren Nugent way, saying, "If I'm too much of a burden, I'll give up the Metra seat.' I said, 'Warren, why don't we wait and make an assessment later so you don't do something you'll regret later on," Pagano said. "Thankfully, he's recovering." But Commissioner Gorman says that's a charade aimed at hiding the political truth: Ladd needs Nugent's allegiance to retain board control. Targeted for opposing CTA plan Ladd is under attack after his vow on Friday not to cooperate with a CTA request for more state transit cash for the Chicago area, and a new formula for dividing that money with Metra and Pace. Ladd claims the CTA plan is an attempt to take funding from Metra. If Nugent were to step down, Gorman would be in position to oversee the appointment of a replacement, almost certainly to share her anti-Ladd sentiments. "They're obviously trying to protect Chairman Ladd's position," she said. Pagano says he'll "swear on a stack of Bibles" there was never a thought of keeping Nugent on the board to protect Ladd. Metra spokeswoman Judy Pardonnet called the allegations "despicable" personal attacks by "cold-hearted politicians." Still, Gorman (D-Orland Park) said she plans to review Metra's bylaws and consider having Nugent removed from his seat, a position he's had since Metra was established 20 years ago. But Cook County Board President John Stroger, who has weathered his own health problems including a bout with cancer, has said he won't allow it. The criticism of Ladd and Nugent came Tuesday after Metra officials presented commissioners with a proposed 2005 budget of $487 million, a formality because no County Board action is required. Commissioners Deborah Sims (D-Chicago) and Larry Suffredin (D-Evanston) lashed out at Metra chief financial officer Frank Racibozynski, who was there in Ladd's stead. "Next year, if Mr. Ladd is still there, he should come and do the presentation himself because he's out of touch," Sims said. "[Ladd] is not trying to slight anybody," Pardonnet said. The controversy doesn't bother Nugent, who says he plans to be escorted to the next meeting in a wheelchair. "I have a vested interest in the railroad. It does mean a lot to me."