ער האט פורבירט אינטער צי שמירן די עם טי עי מען זאל אריין לייגן זיינס א מענטש
MTA to probe allegations that Vito Lopez tried to bully Elliot Sander over relative's promotion
BY Pete Donohue
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, May 12th 2009, 4:00 AM
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MTA Inspector General Barry Kluger will probe allegations that powerful Brooklyn Assemblyman Vito Lopez tried to bully the top transit executive into promoting a relative.
Lopez unsuccessfully demanded Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Elliot Sander promote son-in-law Keith Summa to a higher-paying post in the authority's bus and subway division, the Daily News reported Sunday.
One source accused Lopez of using "extremely threatening language" when Sander refused to promote Summa, an engineer, in 2007.
Lopez threatened to derail Sander's career and do unspecified harm to the authority, that source said.
"We're looking into the allegations," Kluger said.
The allegations bubbled to the surface after Gov. Paterson forced Sander out in the wake of the MTA budget gap debacle.
State lawmakers bashed the MTA as an untrustworthy and secretive behemoth in the long-running transit-funding debate in Albany.
On Thursday, Paterson vowed to install new leadership to run the subway, bus and commuter train system.
Hours later, Sander resigned.
Lopez denied urging Sander to promote his son-in-law. Sander declined to comment.
Board members Mitchell Pally and Andrew Albert called for an investigation.
"It seems to me it would be beneficial on everyone's part to have it investigated by the MTA inspector general or the attorney general or somebody," Pally said.
"If it's real, proper actions can be taken, and if it's not real, the people whose reputations have been contested have the opportunity to have it determined it never happened."
The state attorney general's office had no immediate comment.
Assemblyman William Magnarelli, a Democrat from Onondaga County who heads the Assembly Ethics Commission, declined to comment.
The state Legislative Ethics Commission also is empowered to investigate legislators for ethical violations.
Neither the commission, nor its predecessor, have filed ethics violation charges against an Assembly or Senate member in at least a decade.
A majority of the commission must vote to begin a probe. The eight-member panel is split evenly between Republicans and Democratic Assembly members, and their appointees.
Both sides are supposed to jointly approve a ninth member, who could provide a critical swing vote. The seat hasn't been filled.
Lopez is head of the Brooklyn Democratic organization, the largest in the state.
