NY Post: Sander could be replaced soon

MTA CEO and Executive Director Elliot Sander has had a rough go of it since assuming the position in Dec. 2007. A leading transit expert, he is eminently qualified for the top spot, but he inherited an agency fraught with financial problems. When the bad economy and the MTA’s troubles hit, it seemed as those Sander’s days would be numbered.

Last week, word emerged that a Senate bailout may come with the requirement of change atop the MTA leadership structure. I called it a petty and short-sighted move by the Senate. They shouldn’t penalize Sander for Albany’s decades-long neglect of the MTA.

Now, The Post is reporting that Sander could be out soon. In a short, cryptic piece, David Seifman and Tom Namako report that Marc Shaw, a former Pataki aide and one-time executive director of the MTA, could replace Sander soon.

Here’s the entire article. It doesn’t say much more:

MTA chief Elliot Sander’s days could be numbered, and a leading candidate for his job is a close aide to Gov. Paterson who is a former top transit executive, sources told The Post.

Paterson’s senior adviser, Marc Shaw, could replace Sander after state lawmakers decide how or if to fix the agency’s $1.2 billion budget gap and reorganize its management, the sources said. Sander, who took the helm at the MTA in 2007, would be entitled to collect one year’s severance – a cool $343,000, a source said.

An MTA spokesman had no comment.

Basically, this seems like a political move. The Senate would want to remove Sander (and possibly MTA Chair Dale Hemmerdinger) to send some sort of message to the public. Gov. David Paterson, who inherited Sander as MTA head when Eliot Spitzer stepped down, would get to appoint someone of his choosing to head up the beleaguered transit agency.

Odds are, however, that a change at the top isn’t quite what the MTA needs. Rather, they need funding and a renewed commitment from those who hold the purse strings. Petty political revenge does not make for good transit policy.