Search for MTA Chief Narrows to One Man

The frustrating search for a new Metropolitan Transportation Authority chief has narrowed again to a single candidate--a New York City transit executive.

Most members of the MTA board, including its chairman, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, met this week with Michael C. Ascher, president of the Bridge and Tunnel Authority for New York City’s MTA.

Riordan “likes what he sees so far,� said an aide, but the mayor was noncommittal Wednesday on whether he will vote to offer the job to Ascher.

Mel Wilson, a Riordan appointee to the MTA board, said, “It’s probably going to be Mr. Ascher if he’s willing to accept our offer.�

Reached by telephone at his New Jersey home Wednesday night, Ascher said the chief executive job has “a lot of appeal.� While the MTA has been checking on him, he said that he is trying to learn more about the agency. “I’m still keeping an open mind and still have a little bit more homework to do.�

Ascher currently is the only candidate being interviewed by the board. One board member referred to him as the “last Mohican,� noting that two other candidates courted by Riordan turned down the politically troublesome job, despite being offered a salary in excess of $200,000 a year.

Ascher is “universally recognized as a solid, hands-on manager of complex construction/engineering projects,� said a confidential report by MTA’s executive search firm. But the report raised concerns about Ascher’s lack of experience in running a bus system--which has been described by Riordan as the future centerpiece of the county’s public transportation system.

“Although he is a very good business and construction manager, it needs to be recognized that he has not been tested for certain aspects of the job he will have in Los Angeles,� says the report.

But MTA board member Larry Zarian was not concerned about Ascher’s lack of experience in bus operations. “It’s difficult to find all in one,� he said. “No one is standing in line knocking our door down.�

The MTA board is scheduled to discuss the CEO search in a closed-door meeting today, but a final decision is not expected for at least a few weeks.

If chosen, Ascher would become the MTA’s third boss in its four-year history and the point man for Riordan, who has promised to shake up the troubled agency. The last MTA chief, Joseph E. Drew, resigned last December after less than a year on the job, saying that political infighting and “public hypercriticism� of him and his staff made the job impossible. The first MTA chief, Franklin E. White, served 32 months before he was fired in 1995.

The search for a new chief comes at a critical time. The MTA is under a court order to improve the nation’s most crowded bus system--with more than 1 million boardings a day--and its $6.1-billion subway construction project has been beset by serious problems.

A former vice president and chief engineer of the New York City Transit Authority, Ascher is credited with helping to rescue a massive New York City subway rehabilitation project from cost overruns and delays a decade ago.

Riordan and his transportation deputy, Jaime de la Vega, dined with Ascher and his wife Sunday night, and the mayor later took the couple on a tour of neighborhoods where they might reside. On Monday, Ascher met with other MTA board members.

A mayoral aide said Riordan is waiting to see if a strong consensus on Ascher’s candidacy develops among other board members. The mayor also reportedly wants to avoid a repeat of the situation in which he publicly backed a Bechtel Corp. executive for the job only to be turned down. He subsequently pursued a New Jersey transit executive to no avail.

Some board members said they reminded Ascher that, if he is selected, he would work for 13 board members. “We’re all very concerned over his ability to withstand being controlled by the mayor,� said one official.

County Supervisor Don Knabe, an MTA board member, said he was impressed by Ascher and may back him, although he wants to see if there are other candidates interested in the job.

Knabe agreed that the next CEO must enjoy strong board support.

That is no small task considering that relations between Riordan and the county supervisors are strained because of the mayor’s support for state legislation to create a smaller MTA board made up mostly of appointees. Under the legislation, the supervisors would be replaced on the MTA board by a single county appointee. The mayor also would lose his personal seat, but would continue to control four votes on the board through appointments.

At the Bridge and Tunnel Authority, Ascher is responsible for running seven bridges and two tunnels and oversees a budget of more than $200 million and a work force of about 1,500 employees. The MTA in Los Angeles has a $2.8-billion budget and more than 8,000 employees.

Ascher is credited with overcoming union opposition and public skepticism to implement an electronic toll collection system that has reduced delays on the bridges and tunnels.

A MTA official said Ascher is a good team-builder who told board members that he has “bloodied� his hands making tough personnel decisions.

When some board members privately expressed their desire for the next chief to “clean house� at the MTA, Ascher reportedly ticked off names of transit executives around the country he would consider bringing aboard.

Those who know him say Ascher is a hard worker.

“I could never beat him into the office,� said Larry Yermack, a former chief financial officer at the Bridge and Tunnel Authority. He said Ascher usually arrives at work at 6 a.m. and puts in the “standard 11-or-so-hour day.�

“He’s not one of these very visible political characters,� said Robert Paaswell, a former Chicago Transit Authority executive director who is a professor of civil engineering at City College of New York. “Nobody probably knows about Ascher other than professionals in the business, who see him as a competent guy.

“The real question is: Why would anybody want to jump into that political maelstrom?�

But Ascher would take over a different MTA from his predecessors.

State legislation signed into law this week by Gov. Pete Wilson establishes a four-year term for the chief executive, who is subject to removal only by a two-thirds board vote. The new law also eliminates the board’s alternate members--generally anonymous political appointees who sat in for absent board members and essentially gave the CEO 26 bosses.

In the executive search firm’s report, references described Ascher as “an effective manager, a consummate professional, ethical and moral, forward-thinking, a manager who gives his staff latitude to do their jobs . . . and able to deal with politicians.�

But the report also said, “He may be ‘a little full of himself’--he has an ego.�

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Profile: Michael C. Ascher

The search for a new Metropolitan Transportation Authority chief has narrowed to New York City transit executive Michael C. Ascher.

* Current Residence: Oradell, N.J.

* Education: Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, City College of New master’s in nuclear engineering, Long Island University; licensed professional engineer in the states of New York, New Jersey and Tennessee.

* Career highlights: Held executive positions at architectural/engineering/construction firm of Burns & Roe Inc. and URS Consultants; later worked for the New York City Transit Authority, where he was commissioned to rescue the then-ailing capital rehabilitation program and subway expansion projects; joined MTA Bridges and Tunnels in 1988 as executive vice president and chief engineer; appointed agency’s president in March 1990.