New York Times: After Ethics Warning, M.T.A. Chairman Gets O.K. for Outside Jobs in an Email

The unusual arrangement that allows the leader of New York City’s transit system to hold other lucrative jobs was initially deemed inappropriate by a state ethics commission, but it was later permitted in a brief email rather than through a formal decision, according to new documents released on Thursday. …

Their correspondence was revealed for the first time on Thursday by Common Cause New York, a government accountability group that has criticized Mr. Lhota’s possible conflicts of interest. …

Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York, said the ethics commission had ceded its authority to Mr. Lhota in the email. She called on the transportation authority to hire an independent auditor to investigate Mr. Lhota’s web of conflicts.

“The situation has evolved so that Joe Lhota himself decides if Joe Lhota has a conflict of interest,” Ms. Lerner said. …

Ms. Lerner said Mr. Lhota had provided the documents to her after her group complained about his outside jobs and she decided to release them to the public. She stopped short of calling on Mr. Lhota to step down as chairman of the transportation authority, but she said he should choose between that role and his work in the private sector.

“It’s up to Joe Lhota to decide which he wants — does he want to be M.T.A. chair, or keep his high-paying jobs, in which case he should step away,” Ms. Lerner said.