Candidate for MTA Post Drops Out

A New York transit consultant who was on track to become interim chief executive of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority withdrew from the race Thursday after a county attorney declared that conflicts of interest would probably bar him from making major decisions.

The withdrawal of former New York City Transit Authority chief Alan F. Kiepper boosted the likelihood that the job will eventually go to his only rival for the interim post--retired Los Angeles County Department of Public Works chief Thomas Tidemanson--according to MTA sources.

Kiepper has been working for the last year as senior vice president at the New York office of Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas, which has been involved in all of the engineering and architecture for the MTA’s Metro Rail system.

Many MTA board members expressed concerns last week that Kiepper’s role in advising Parsons on new transit projects would prevent him from making decisions on the future of Los Angeles’ subway construction--expected to be a major part of the job for any MTA chief executive over the next four to six months.

In a seven-page opinion sent to the MTA board on New Year’s Eve, County Counsel De Witt W. Clinton warned that the state Political Reform Act would preclude Kiepper from participating in, or attempting to influence, “any MTA decision which is reasonably foreseeable to have a material effect on himself or Parsons.”

That would include contract negotiations with his former employer, determination of whether it was responsible for any construction mishaps, and even the long-term focus of the agency.

“He may be precluded from more global budgetary issues,” the counsel cautioned, such as “the recommendation to reallocate funds from bus operations into the Metro Rail project.”

Larry Zarian, a Glendale city councilman who is chairman of the MTA board, said he and Kiepper concluded in a telephone conversation Thursday morning that the county counsel’s opinion would effectively bar Kiepper from applying for the post.

“We both agreed that it’s best for him not to accept the position. He thought his hands would be tied in trying to make necessary decisions, making him an ineffective CEO,” Zarian said.

“I therefore asked him for a letter saying that he would withdraw, and he sent one.”

The job opened up last month after the surprise resignation of Joseph E. Drew. The former Kern County administrator declared after nine months on the job that he had become the victim of unfair “hypercriticism” and political factionalism after his controversial recommendation of a business team to manage subway construction on the Eastside.

Tidemanson, 64, had previously been considered a candidate primarily for the job of interim MTA construction chief, a job that is also open. The current construction head, Stanley Phernambucq, quit late last month with his own blast at board politics.

Tidemanson, a civil engineer and native of Colorado, spent 39 years working for the county’s road, flood control and public works departments.

He said he was interested in taking on both the CEO and construction chief jobs for four to six months while the agency searched for a permanent replacement, but warned Zarian and other MTA board members in interviews last week not to expect miracles.

“I’m not going to turn the world around in four months,” he said.

Tidemanson became the focus of controversy upon his retirement from the county in 1994 when it was disclosed that he would receive an annual pension of $193,000--about $35,000 more than he earned on the job.

Mayor Richard Riordan, an MTA board member, had backed Kiepper for the transit job as far back as last January.

Zarian said he would have liked to have been able to hire Kiepper, but considered Tidemanson “well-qualified” for the role.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, another MTA board member, said Tidemanson has a solid reputation.

The full MTA board is expected to vote on the appointment of Tidemanson to the interim post Jan. 10.