If Mad Men has taught us anything, it's this: if you don't like what's being said about you, you have to change the conversation. And Carl Paladino certainly does not like what's being said about him currently. Although he can't just write a ballsy letter to the NY Times and let the chips fall as they may, he can make sweeping statements about NYC transit, and say that we wants to abolish the MTA. "The MTA is horribly mismanaged and it's a sinkhole of money," he told reporters.

Paladino likened the idea to Mayor Bloomberg successfully wresting control of city schools from Albany: "The bottom line is the MTA as we know it today needs to be abolished so the voters can demand that someone can be held accountable for the rampant waste in the system and the taxes and rider fees that feed the bureaucratic beast." He vowed to review all existing MTA senior officers and fire anyone who was found wanting. He also called for a repeal of the payroll tax that has hit businesses in the MTA region.

Paladino has long been an adversary of the MTA; he's bashed the agency several times in the past, vowing to fold it into the Department of Transportation. But he's been decidedly pro-car in his arguments, calling for the removal of the $11 toll on the Verrazano-Narrows bridge, and promising to slash the state gas tax. Maybe this has something to do with his intense dislike of the 3/5 of NYC that relies on subway transportation.