From the E.R. to the Garden, M.T.A. Chief Holds Unusually Powerful Perch

[GojiMet86]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/22/nyregion/lhota-mta-nyc.html

 

Quote

 

From the E.R. to the Garden, M.T.A. Chief Holds Unusually Powerful Perch

By Brian M. Rosenthal

May 22, 2018

 

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo was in a bind.

The New York City subway system was falling apart and taking the governor’s approval rating down with it. Looming construction at Pennsylvania Station was sparking fears of a “summer of hell” for commuters. And the job of overseeing it all had been vacant for six months, with no clear candidate for the post.

Mr. Cuomo finally found a regional transportation chief last June, tapping Joseph J. Lhota, a respected manager with a spotless résumé, including a widely praised stint in the same position in 2012.

But there was a catch: Mr. Lhota would only agree to return to lead the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on the condition that he could keep his full-time job as the chief of staff of one of the state’s biggest hospital networks — and also retain the prerogative to join any other paid board that he wanted.

Eleven months later, an examination by The New York Times has found that Mr. Lhota’s reach as a power broker has grown with new board appointments in Manhattan and on Long Island, giving him extraordinary sway over some of the most important aspects of New York life. But while Mr. Lhota remains a respected official, his growing web of jobs has led to potential conflicts of interest and competition for his time, complicating the still-flailing effort to resuscitate a transit system used by millions of people every day.

Nobody has ever led the M.T.A. while balancing as many other leadership posts as Mr. Lhota, according to a review of previously unreported calendars and disclosure statements and interviews with more than two dozen authority employees, advocates and experts, including four past transit chiefs.

Mr. Lhota’s primary employer, N.Y.U. Langone Health, is a vast network of 230 hospitals, clinics and outpatient facilities that has been aggressively working to expand. Despite saying that he had not lobbied for the hospital network while leading the M.T.A., disclosure records show Mr. Lhota in recent months has lobbied city officials for better traffic access and talked with state officials about regulations.

Another prominent institution, Madison Square Garden, hired Mr. Lhota as a paid board member last December — just as it was entering negotiations with the M.T.A. and the state about the future of Penn Station, which sits below the Garden. The negotiations could lead to hundreds of millions of dollars’ being paid to the company in return for the removal of a theater from the site, three people familiar with the talks said.

And Mr. Lhota also actively helps lead several other boards that have their own visions for public transit, including the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and the Healthcare Association of New York State. One board, the Friends of the Brooklyn Queens Connector, is seeking support for a city-run streetcar line.

In all, Mr. Lhota earned more than $2.5 million in 2017 for his work at N.Y.U. Langone and on eight different boards — nearly $1 million more than the previous year, before he took the M.T.A. job, his financial disclosures show.

Mr. Lhota’s predecessor, Thomas F. Prendergast, like almost all other transit chiefs in the history of the M.T.A., worked exclusively at the transit authority and did not serve on outside paid boards.

In an interview, Mr. Lhota said that his other jobs did not pose conflicts because he was not actually an M.T.A. official. He said he had forfeited the $300,000 M.T.A. salary he was entitled to and delegated his responsibilities to several other executives, except for chairing the authority’s board of directors and setting its high-level mission.

“The day-to-day operations of the M.T.A. are in other hands,” he said. He compared himself to Peter S. Kalikow, a developer who led the M.T.A. board in the early 2000s and hired a separate chief executive to manage operations.

But records and interviews cast doubt on that comparison. The M.T.A.’s own organizational chart lists Mr. Lhota as “Chairman and CEO.” It also shows that 10 different authority employees report to Mr. Lhota; only one reported to Mr. Kalikow. Mr. Lhota’s calendar shows that he holds two daily conference calls and a weekly meeting with top officials, and several people said that he is the one who makes key decisions, like whether to suspend train service during storms.

In fact, a 2009 state law — written partially in response to concerns about the structure championed by Mr. Kalikow — requires the M.T.A. chairman to also serve as the authority’s chief executive officer.

The governor’s press secretary, Dani Lever, said Mr. Lhota was selected over multiple other candidates “because of his unparalleled expertise running the nation’s largest public transit system.”

“Mr. Lhota is a tested leader who’s widely respected for his policy acumen and commitment to public service and has formed a new leadership structure that includes world-class talents,” Ms. Lever said. “We’re lucky to have him at the helm of the M.T.A.”

A Call for Help

When Mr. Cuomo decided he wanted Mr. Lhota to run the M.T.A. — shortly before declaring a state of emergency on the subway — he did not call him. Instead, he called Kenneth G. Langone, the billionaire co-founder of Home Depot who is chairman of the board of N.Y.U. Langone.

“‘Would it be possible for Joe to help out?’” Mr. Cuomo asked, according to Mr. Langone, who had long been a campaign donor to the governor. “We said, ‘It’s fine with us, as long as it doesn’t compromise his responsibilities at the medical center.’”

Activists applauded the pick, citing Mr. Lhota’s experience as a deputy mayor under Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and as M.T.A. chairman in 2012, when he won so much praise for quickly restoring the subway after Hurricane Sandy that he ran for mayor. After losing to Bill de Blasio, Mr. Lhota joined N.Y.U. Langone in 2014. Even in the private sector, Mr. Lhota has long been seen as a competent manager and a straight shooter.

At Mr. Lhota’s confirmation hearing on June 21, which was hastily conducted via Skype just after Mr. Cuomo made the nomination, State Senator Liz Krueger was the only lawmaker to raise concerns.

“I worry that the N.Y.U. job and this job perhaps is too much for one person,” the Manhattan Democrat said.

Mr. Lhota vowed to spend 40 hours weekly at each job. He once said he slept only four hours a night.

In his first month, as Mr. Lhota crafted an emergency plan to fix the subway, he largely upheld that promise. Calendar records show that he worked an average of 38.2 hours per week at the M.T.A. and 31.3 hours elsewhere, not including unscheduled work at home.

By winter, Mr. Lhota had hired a new management team, and he scaled back his work at the authority. In March, he worked 22.1 hours per week at the M.T.A. and 32.5 hours on other obligations, records show.

Mr. Lhota said his calendar was an incomplete record of his M.T.A. work and that he often sacrificed family time and other interests. “I haven’t played a game of golf since I became chairman,” he said.

Records indicate that Mr. Lhota’s private work has occasionally interfered with M.T.A. responsibilities. Mr. Lhota has a 7:30 a.m. daily conference call with the officials who report directly to him, but his calendars show that he has had another commitment during that call 29 of the last 50 times it has been held. Mr. Lhota also has met with M.T.A. officials at N.Y.U. Langone on at least two occasions.

When a crisis has struck, Mr. Lhota has sometimes been elsewhere. Last July, he was at N.Y.U. Langone when a track fire at a subway station in Harlem injured nine people; last December he was at a meeting at Madison Square Garden when snow snarled service; and last week, he was driving to a Greater New York Hospital Association meeting when a major storm forced the suspension of Metro-North trains.

Mr. Lhota also angered the City Council when he missed a hearing and left another early. “I think if he wants to ask us for funding, he should be here and ask himself,” Jumaane D. Williams, a Council member, said at an August hearing.

Transit activists have questioned Mr. Lhota’s independence from the governor and complained that he does not have time for them. Nick Sifuentes of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign provided emails showing requests for meetings that he said were ignored. “Lhota is totally the ghost in the machine,” Mr. Sifuentes said.

Still, Mr. Lhota has plenty of supporters who believe he is making the subway a priority.

“I marvel at his energy,” said Kathryn S. Wylde, the president of the Partnership for New York City, a business group. “The governor put him in to rebuild trust in the M.T.A., and he’s doing a very good job of that.”

Dovetailed Priorities

N.Y.U. Langone’s main campus is in Midtown Manhattan, occupying a cluster of office buildings overlooking the East River. Access is provided by East 33rd Street, which is a one-way street — for now.

For months, records show, N.Y.U. Langone has been pushing the city to make the street a two-way road. And the charge has been led by Mr. Lhota, a registered lobbyist whose job at the health network includes serving as a “representative and ambassador to external constituents, including government and elected officials.”

The street change is just one of N.Y.U. Langone’s priorities. The team that Mr. Lhota helps lead also has lobbied the state regarding funding for stem cell biology research, school health centers and community health centers, according to disclosure forms. Mr. Lhota said he personally had talked with the state health commissioner about regulations and building construction, although a spokesman said Mr. Lhota had not discussed funding.

Mr. Lhota said he had registered as a lobbyist “out of an abundance of caution.”

Mr. Lhota’s lobbying has occurred quietly. Even the governor’s press secretary said she was not aware of it. “Mr. Lhota is not required to provide us with the details of his matters regarding N.Y.U. Langone as long as they are not in conflict with the M.T.A.,” she said.

State law bars public officials from lobbying other public officials, and ethics experts have warned that any lobbying by Mr. Lhota could be particularly problematic because it could lead to horse-trading with lawmakers seeking better transit access for constituents.

When questioned in the past, Mr. Lhota has denied lobbying while leading the M.T.A., but he has also claimed, nevertheless, that he could lobby without running afoul of any laws because he was not an M.T.A. official. He also has said that the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics had determined that lobbying would be permissible.

Mr. Lhota refused to release the ethics determination to The Times, saying it was “personal.” But he acknowledged that it had come in an email, not through a formal determination. Ethics commission officials said they could not release the email because of confidentiality rules.

The M.T.A. said that in the past 11 months, it had not made any decisions affecting N.Y.U. Langone that required Mr. Lhota to recuse himself.

(A few months before joining the M.T.A., Mr. Lhota wrote an op-ed arguing that improving transit access to neighborhoods like Sunset Park, Brooklyn, that had been “underserved by good medical care” — and where N.Y.U. Langone now has a hospital — should be a “critical city priority.” It is unclear whether the M.T.A. has addressed that issue.)

Over the winter, N.Y.U. Langone bought hundreds of ads at subway stations, but Mr. Lhota said he played no role because the M.T.A.’s ads are handled by a contractor, Outfront Media. An Outfront spokesman declined to say whether N.Y.U. Langone was charged the regular rate.

N.Y.U. Langone paid Mr. Lhota between $2.35 million and $2.45 million in 2017, up from about $1.7 million in 2016, according to disclosure statements. Mr. Lhota and an N.Y.U. Langone spokeswoman both said the raise was “bonus-related.” Neither would elaborate.

Mr. Langone said Mr. Lhota had never missed a meeting at N.Y.U. Langone. He compared him to President Trump.

“When they asked Trump’s doctor, ‘How does he do it?’ What did he say? He said ‘genes.’” Mr. Langone said. “And that’s Joe Lhota too.”

The Garden and Penn Station

To critics, Mr. Lhota’s biggest conflict involves The Madison Square Garden Company and an affiliated entity, MSG Networks.

MSG Networks hired Mr. Lhota as a board member in 2016 and The Madison Square Garden Company hired him to its board last December. He had previously worked as the executive vice president for The Madison Square Garden Company. The two posts are expected to pay about $300,000 combined annually.

The December hire, which was first reported by Politico, stunned transit activists because of the Garden’s reliance on the M.T.A. — Penn Station has six subway lines and houses the Long Island Rail Road, which is also operated by the authority.

Talks have been going on for years about remaking Penn Station into a site that is better for travelers and also takes advantage of the opportunity for development in a thriving real estate market. But negotiations started heating up again late last fall, according to three sources familiar with the process who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.

One of the options, the sources said, is the removal of the 5,500-seat Hulu Theater to make room for a grand entrance to Penn Station from Eighth Avenue. That would require compensating the Garden, and the size of the compensation is a major point of contention.

The Garden’s top executive, James L. Dolan, is a longtime donor to Mr. Cuomo, but advocates said it could not hurt to hire Mr. Lhota during the talks.

Mr. Lhota said he had recused himself from any discussions about the overhaul of Penn Station. A Madison Square Garden spokeswoman said in a statement, “We believe Joe is a valued, independent member of our board who acts with the highest integrity.”

On Friday, the M.T.A. disclosed it was involved in a “planning process” regarding the terminal.

The terminal is not the only conflict involving The Madison Square Garden Company. The company is also an investor in a project to build an arena for the New York Islanders at Belmont Park on Long Island, and project leaders have said the site needs better transit access to be successful.

Mr. Lhota said he had recused himself from that issue, too. But when asked about the proposed arena at a budget hearing in Albany in January, he answered at length.

Though Mr. Lhota said he had avoided talks about renovating Penn Station, he has not hesitated to participate in decisions about improvements to two subway stations that serve the stadium, which arguably would also benefit Madison Square Garden.

In February, he voted for a package before the board that included funding for renovations to the stations. Mr. Lhota said his participation was approved by the M.T.A.’s general counsel.

As a whole, Mr. Lhota said he saw no conflicts in discussing transit improvements near any of the entities that he is involved with, including N.Y.U. Langone.

“Let’s assume the Subway Action Plan is successful, and more people can get to an appointment at the hospital on time,” he said. “Is that a conflict of interest, because I work at a hospital — that I allowed citizens in the city to get there more efficiently? That’s hard to imagine.”

Asked whether it would be a conflict if a subway station near the hospital got increased funding at the expense of other stations, Mr. Lhota paused before answering:

“We’ll have to disagree.”

 

 

[MHV9218]

Insanely damning story. The man makes $2.5 mil for part-time work, lobbies for everybody at once, and then bends over backwards to Cuomo for every damn decision. Embarrassing. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

27 minutes ago, MHV9218 said:

Insanely damning story. The man makes $2.5 mil for part-time work, lobbies for everybody at once, and then bends over backwards to Cuomo for every damn decision. Embarrassing. 

What's embarrassing? Cuomo came to him and asked him to lead the , and Lhota was very clear about the terms, so I don't see the problem.  If there's truly a conflict of interest Cuomo should've found someone else from the start.  Lhota forfeited his entire salary with the  (over $300,000), so even if he is working part-time, he didn't take a dollar home from his part-time position.  Besides he doesn't need the money anyway. NYU Langone is expanding like crazy.  Doing LOTS of business.  

[MHV9218]

23 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

What's embarrassing? Cuomo came to him and asked him to lead the , and Lhota was very clear about the terms, so I don't see the problem.  If there's truly a conflict of interest Cuomo should've found someone else from the start.  Lhota forfeited his entire salary with the  (over $300,000), so even if he is working part-time, he didn't take a dollar home from his part-time position.  Besides he doesn't need the money anyway. NYU Langone is expanding like crazy.  Doing LOTS of business.  

It's embarrassing that Lhota is such a pig, it's embarrassing that Cuomo is such a hack and couldn't look to anybody else, and it all reeks of Ken Langone pushing this all through. It's collectively a sham. More than anything, this looks NYU look wasteful and NYS look corrupt--for the MTA, it's just a shame.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

6 minutes ago, MHV9218 said:

It's embarrassing that Lhota is such a pig, it's embarrassing that Cuomo is such a hack and couldn't look to anybody else, and it all reeks of Ken Langone pushing this all through. It's collectively a sham. More than anything, this looks NYU look wasteful and NYS look corrupt--for the MTA, it's just a shame.

Where's the corruption? I don't see it.  Lhota forfeited his entire salary with the , so he's working essentially for free for the agency.  Ken Langone is a smart man because NYU Langone is positioning itself to become one of the top medical centers in New York.  The amount of research projects that they now partake in has risen considerably and they should be commended if anything for their ongoing work.  Personally, I have no problem with the current NYU given my relationship with them.  Anyone who knows anything about medical research knows that it's all about finding the next big super drug, and I'd say NYU has positioned itself quite well in that area at the moment.

[MHV9218]

Not worth responding to this anymore. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Funny how you're so outraged at Lhota, but when de Blasio was busted doing some under the table nonsense, you didn't say a word.  Shocking.  

[rbrome]

Everything Cuomo touches is corrupt. DeBlasio is mostly just incompetent. NYC deserves what it gets for consistently electing such garbage politicians. As a progressive living in such a progressive state, it's embarrassing. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

7 minutes ago, rbrome said:

Everything Cuomo touches is corrupt. DeBlasio is mostly just incompetent. NYC deserves what it gets for consistently electing such garbage politicians. As a progressive living in such a progressive state, it's embarrassing. 

And corrupt...  But yes, you progressives keep on moving on... All of the quality of life issues that Giuliani worked so hard to clean up, de Blasio is pissing all over them.  Just look at the City. FILTHY, people smoking weed and God knows what else everywhere, and now we have this K2 problem with people overdosing and hallucinating on the streets.  Just what we need.  More nut jobs walking around here, but not to worry. De Blasio will just take more taxpayer dollars and throw them at the problems.  This is the worst mayor we've had in years on so many levels. It astounds me that people were this gullible to re-elect him.  The real scam is his "affordable housing" agenda.  

[Deucey]

7 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Where's the corruption?

The only thing I could see being "corrupt" is if his seats with MSG and NYU Langone resulted in sweetheart deals for them through , but I'll give benefit to the doubt that he's above board in both on the bases of:

1. It potentially makes each negotiating situation less acrimonious since he's a powerbroker in both situations that can cut through bullshit and get fair deals for all sides;

2. The financial impacts and terms of the deals are publicly disclosed before finalization; and

3. It's NY - since the State rejected progressive democracy to go with backroom deals - even after Robert Moses,  this is what we get.

Unlike my former home out West, this is how things get done in NY, and it'll be 20 years before we get a Con-Con to change that, so if it gets critical issues resolved, then I'm pragmatic enough of a progressive to say "So be it."

And I don't think that conflicts of interest necessarily lead to one party losing while others win in a blowout. I'm always more concerned with lack of transparency and actual corruption than perceived corruption. Which is why I'm vicious to the "But her emails crowd" when they justify his emoulments clause violations. (The former being perception, as she was cleared of criminal wrongdoings while he's profiting running that hotel and getting favorable review on a land deal in exchange for rescuing a communication company that's long been a security risk. But I digress.)

[Via Garibaldi 8]

7 minutes ago, Deucey said:

The only thing I could see being "corrupt" is if his seats with MSG and NYU Langone resulted in sweetheart deals for them through , but I'll give benefit to the doubt that he's above board in both on the bases of:

1. It potentially makes each negotiating situation less acrimonious since he's a powerbroker in both situations that can cut through bullshit and get fair deals for all sides;

2. The financial impacts and terms of the deals are publicly disclosed before finalization; and

3. It's NY - since the State rejected progressive democracy to go with backroom deals - even after Robert Moses,  this is what we get.

Unlike my former home out West, this is how things get done in NY, and it'll be 20 years before we get a Con-Con to change that, so if it gets critical issues resolved, then I'm pragmatic enough of a progressive to say "So be it."

And I don't think that conflicts of interest necessarily lead to one party losing while others win in a blowout. I'm always more concerned with lack of transparency and actual corruption than perceived corruption. Which is why I'm vicious to the "But her emails crowd" when they justify his emoulments clause violations. (The former being perception, as she was cleared of criminal wrongdoings while he's profiting running that hotel and getting favorable review on a land deal in exchange for rescuing a communication company that's long been a security risk. But I digress.)

Don't get me started... Lock her up!! Lock her up!! lol Have you ever watched Tina Fey play her on Saturday Night Live? Laughed so hard that it hurt. 

[Deucey]

18 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Don't get me started... Lock her up!! Lock her up!! lol Have you ever watched Tina Fey play her on Saturday Night Live? Laughed so hard that it hurt. 

Her Sarah Palin in the VP debate is almost as great as T'Challa on Black Jeopardy.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

1 minute ago, Deucey said:

Her Sarah Palin in the VP debate is almost as great as T'Challa on Black Jeopardy.

That "casual lean" line gets me every time. So cruel, but oh so funny. 

[Deucey]

In case someone here hasn't seen T'Challa or Sarah Palin on SNL: