If He’s Elected Governor, Spitzer Vows To Oust MTA Head

ALBANY – Hours after state lawmakers confirmed Governor Pataki’s nomination of Peter Kalikow for another six-year term as head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Eliot Spitzer said that if elected governor he would seek to oust Mr. Kalikow.Though Mr. Spitzer, as governor, apparently would not have the power to fire the chairman of the MTA, Mr. Spitzer would pressure Mr. Kalikow to resign from the authority, a spokeswoman for the Democratic candidate said yesterday.Mr. Kalikow has said he intends to remain head of the MTA after Governor Pataki leaves office at the end of the year. And yesterday, Senate lawmakers confirmed him to serve for a period that would extend well beyond the next governor’s first term.Mr. Spitzer is making it clear that he has other plans for Mr. Kalikow, a prominent real estate developer and former owner of the New York Post who has run the authority since March 2001.“He would hope the chairman would give the next governor the opportunity to appoint someone new and to provide the leadership that’s drastically needed at the MTA,” a spokeswoman for Mr. Spitzer’s campaign, Christine Anderson, said.Coming moments after Mr. Pataki in a statement praised Mr. Kalikow for his “outstanding” performance as chairman, Mr. Spitzer’s vote of no confidence pointed to a growing tension between the attorney general, who has vowed to set a new course for Albany, and Mr. Pataki, who in recent weeks has made more than two dozen appointments that expire months or years after he leaves office.While the chairman of the MTA does not technically serve at the pleasure of the governor, Mr. Kalikow would face an up-hill battle working with an administration that is opposed to his leadership, according to a staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign, Gene Russianoff.“It just won’t be a tenable position to hold without the governor’s confidence,” Mr. Russianoff said. “It just doesn’t work.”Previous MTA chairmen have stepped down within months after new governors have taken office. Peter Stangl, an appointee of Governor Cuomo, left the position in 1995 less than half a year after Mr. Pataki was inaugurated. Richard Ravitch, who was appointed by Governor Carey, left less than a year after Mr. Cuomo became governor.The chairman of the MTA can be removed through a hearing process if charged with neglect of duty, malfeasance, or other misconduct, a Pataki administration official said.Even if Mr. Spitzer, the frontrunner in the governor’s race, does not win in November, Mr. Kalikow is not guaranteed to keep his job.The Republican candidate for governor, John Faso, whose campaign has steered a course largely independent of Mr. Pataki, would not say whether he would want Mr. Kalikow to remain chairman.Mr. Faso “has a high regard for Peter Kalikow, but it’s premature and presumptuous to speculate on personnel decisions should he be elected governor,” a spokeswoman for Mr. Faso, Susan Del Percio, said.Mr. Spitzer’s Democratic opponent, the Nassau County executive, Thomas Suozzi, would not comment on whether he would back Mr. Kalikow, an aide to the campaign said.Mr. Spitzer has been a harsh critic of Mr. Kalikow. In comments to the press, the attorney general has blamed the chairman for project overruns and for not installing more security cameras in stations. He told the Daily News that the MTA is the “most mismanaged, least competent one out there, and everybody knows it.”Mr. Kalikow recently told the Daily News that he plans to remain chairman for at least another year. The newspaper reported that Mr. Kalikow said he does not want to step down until he has confidence that major transit projects – such as the Second Avenue subway line and the Long Island Railroad link to Grand Central – will be completed.“I don’t know how long it will take,” he told the newspaper. “I’m not going to say, ‘Only one year or two years.’ It may be longer.”Mr. Kalikow’s tenure has been marked by both successes and frustrations. New Yorkers are making use of public transportation in record numbers and subway crime levels are down.The authority has had financial problems, leading to subway fare hikes and complications that have delayed Mr. Kalikow’s largest projects. In December, Mr. Kalikow’s authority confronted a citywide transit strike that lasted 60 hours, the first such strike in 25 years.

If He’s Elected Governor, Spitzer Vows To Oust MTA Head

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