This Man Could Soon Be Running The MTA

Joesph Lhota

It has been almost two months since Jay Walder announced he'd be leaving his job atop the MTA to make some real money in Hong Kong and a little more than a month since Governor Cuomo set up a committee to find his replacement. So how's that going? Pretty well, it seems. The Daily News reports that the running is now down to six finalists with Joseph Lhota, a city budget director under Rudy Giuliani, as the front runner.

Well, Lhota is the front runner according to two of the News' sources. According to an official in Cuomo's office "there is no front-runner."

So what is there to know about Lhota? He's an executive vice president at Madison Square Garden, and was also deputy mayor of operations from 1998 to 2001. When he was budget director, Lhota was in charge of managing the city's $36 billion operating budget and $45 billion capital budget, so he's not unfamiliar with an operation the size of the MTA. Lhota, a trustee at CUNY, also had a career in the private sector before working for Giuliani. He spent 15 years working as an investment banker at PaineWebber and CS First Boston (with a specialization in public finance).

And if our socially lacking governor decides he doesn't dig Lhota? These are the other contenders:

NYC Transit President Thomas Prendergast; Nuria Fernandez, a former deputy administrator with the Federal Transit Administration who has held positions with transit agencies in Washington and Chicago; Daniel Grabauskas, the former general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, and Karen Rae, deputy administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration and a former commissioner of the New York State Transportation Department.

Cuomo is going to have to pick fast though, Walder's last day on the job is October 21.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Garth Johnston in News on October 12, 2011 10:08 AM

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ANGRYGOD11

Louis CK looks much happier with glasses.

MikeHunt25

Dan Grabauskas? You've got to be kidding. He's never worked more than 30 hours per week the whole time he was in state government. He's a political hack who was given these jobs after working on political campaigns. He knows nothing about New York or transportation. He's a political science major and a failed politician. Hire someone who's either a transportation professional, knows New York politics and can get things done in New York or better yet both. Dan Grabauskas went on vacation to Thailand for God knows what right when a major Federal safety review was concluding. He skipped out of Town when blame was being placed upon him for the lax safety culture he created. He was fired from the T and it took him 2 years to even get a consulting job from a company that's just starting a transportation division. He can't even find enough work as a consultant and he's being considered to the largest transit authority in the US!