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Jay Walder

The Jay Walder Compensation Confirmation Circus Gets Underway

3:32 PM EDT on September 3, 2009

Jimmy Vielkind at the Politicker files a dispatch from the first State Senate hearing about MTA chair nominee Jay Walder's severance package (yes, there will be more than one).

At today's hearing, in Mineola on Long Island, Regional PlanAssociation President Bob Yaro said that Walder's pay is fair (and low,if you compare it based on ridership) and the severance package isjustified "given the volatility that is unfortunately associated withthe position."

"We are also aware that some have questioned the extra compensationMr. Walder would receive in the event that his contract were terminatedprematurely," Yaro testified. "We would argue that this provisionreflects the risk Mr. Walder is taking in coming to the MTA at thistime, with little more than a year to go in the current governor'sterm, and given the volatility that is unfortunately associated withthe position. It will also encourage the MTA Board and the governor tothink twice before discharging Mr. Walder for frivolous or purelypolitical reasons. Keeping him in place for his whole contract wouldprovide the continuity of leadership that this important agencyurgently needs."

If Albany weren't such a cesspool of cronyism, in other words, we wouldn't need to slip such a big hedge into the chair's contract to attract top-tier talent. Meanwhile, is the State Senate even aware that the MTA released its draft capital plan a few weeks ago? There's a $10 billion hole, and the agency is still rudderless. If we're going to have a confirmation hearing, you'd think something like the future of the transit system would figure into it at some point, but I suppose that doesn't have anything to do with "transparency and accountability".

Only a handful of people on the planet have the chops to steer an agency as large and complex as the MTA, and Jay Walder is one of them, by all accounts. We'll know if the State Senate is satisfied on September 10, when they render their final decision.

Ben Fried
Ben Fried started as a Streetsblog reporter in 2008 and led the site as editor-in-chief from 2010 to 2018. He lives in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, with his wife.

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