No sooner had Joe Lhota resigned as MTA chairman yesterday, possibly to pursue the mayoralty, when City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s top political operative chirped:
“Voters aren’t going to forget that . . . Lhota saddled New Yorkers with a bus and subway fare hike just prior to running for mayor,” said Josh Isay.
Translation: Quinn’s own mayoral campaign will do its best to see that, indeed, voters don’t forget.
So, we wonder: What does Isay have against balanced budgets?
More to the point, what does Christine Quinn have against balanced budgets?
Because that’s what is at issue here.
Yes, the MTA board yesterday approved Lhota’s request for measured, publicly debated and quite reasonable fare increases — effective in March.
But Lhota asked for the hikes only after conducting a top-to-bottom scouring of the MTA budget — ensuring that riders will get maximum bang for their extra bucks.
Has Quinn, or any of the Democrats seeking to succeed Mayor Bloomberg, ever exercised such responsible leadership?
Ha.
Isay’s snide sniping speaks volumes as to Quinn’s willingness to confront directly the fiscal storms New York is sailing into.
Lhota will be leaving office Dec. 31 and promises to make a decision on the mayoral race sometime next month.
Here’s hoping he goes for it.
He would certainly raise the level of the debate — and while a Lhota run would be an uphill effort from Day One, New Yorkers deserve more than a barrage of pledges to shackle the NYPD, turn the schools back over lock, stock and textbook to the teachers union and squeeze the rich like grapes to pay for more free stuff.
Which is where that debate stands today.
To be sure, Lhota would have to do more than just run on his record during the course of a campaign
But he’s an adult. He handled the devastating damage visited on the MTA by Superstorm Sandy with grace — displaying leadership and organization skills learned as top deputy to Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
In short, he’s shown he has the skill set to run a city as complicated as New York.
Which probably accounts for the snotty commentary greeting talk of a Lhota run.
Go for it, Joe. Blow their doors off.