A Round and a Roundy: A Hot Take on the New DOT Commissioner

Click today’s editorial cartoon by Bill Roundy with oven mitts on — it’s that hot a take!

Like most of us, our national treasure penman was surprised when Mayor de Blasio chose intellectual property lawyer and loyal Democratic donor Hank Gutman to run the $1.3-billion Department of Transportation — especially given that the last three people who ran the agency (going backwards, Margaret Forgione, Polly Trottenberg and Janette Sadik-Khan) were esteemed transportation professionals.

Roundy’s surprise led to this week’s comic rapier thrust, but it’s also a reminder of how professional the DOT has been run over the years. Yes, the agency has had some failures and it has made some decisions worthy of wider scrutiny, but Trottenberg, for example, never showed up at a hearing unprepared, never (like her NYPD counterparts) outright denied information to Councilmembers, never treated opponents as villains, and basically never dodged the press.

How will Gutman do at such times? Only time will tell.

All of Bill Roundy’s cartoons are archived here.