Riordan May Hold the Key to White’s Future as MTA Chief : Transit: The mayor says he is disappointed with the agency but has made no decision on its embattled executive.

As MTA chief Franklin E. White fought hard to hold on to his job Monday, his fate appeared to rest with Mayor Richard Riordan, who said he was undecided whether to support an insurgent effort to fire the transit boss.

As he ponders the issue, Riordan said, he has been “consistently disappointed” with the MTA’s performance.

White declined to comment Monday about the sudden effort by two Metropolitan Transportation Authority board members to terminate his $175,000-a-year contract.

Because the 13-member board appears split over White’s fate, Riordan--through his own vote and those of his three appointees--may ultimately influence the transit chief’s future at a closed session Wednesday.

Riordan and White were involved in a shouting match earlier this year over the MTA’s lobbying effort in Sacramento, according to officials who heard it. Although one White critic claimed to have Riordan’s support, the mayor said: “I have not told anybody how I’ll vote, and I haven’t decided how I’m going to vote.”

“I’m going to be there, and listen and then decide,” Riordan said in an interview Monday. “It would be unfair for me to make up my mind until I’ve heard everything.”

MTA insiders have speculated for months that Riordan might jump at the first chance to push White out because of key disagreements over management style and disappointment over the agency’s lobbying efforts in Sacramento. But now that the opportunity has come, some aren’t so certain he will risk political confrontation.

“I would be shocked if the mayor voted to oust White,” said County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, a supporter of the transit chief. “He would have to explain why he voted to extend his contract just a few months ago.”

Riordan said the move by two MTA board members to fire White came as a surprise.

Board members John Fasana, a city councilman from Duarte, and Raul Perez, a city councilman from Huntington Park, contend that White has failed to demonstrate leadership, particularly over construction of the troubled $5.8-billion subway.

Los Angeles City Councilman and MTA board member Richard Alatorre, a longtime critic of White who has worked closely with Fasana and Perez on some issues, also advocates firing the transit chief.

Several other board members said they were undecided.

“I haven’t made up my mind,” said Carol E. Schatz, president and chief executive officer of the Central City Assn. and a Riordan appointee to the MTA board.

MTA board member Mel Wilson, a Riordan appointee who has generally supported White, said he wants to hear the chief’s critics explain the timing of the move before deciding his vote.

As for whether he feels pressure to vote with Riordan to protect his own job, Wilson said: “This certainly is one of the bigger issues we’ve had to deal with, and I need to speak with [Riordan] and hear where he’s coming from. I feel I owe that to him. But he’s never held my hand and told me to vote a certain way, and I don’t expect him to start now.”

Supervisor and MTA board member Gloria Molina met with White on Monday but remained undecided about how she will vote, an aide said. Supervisors Mike Antonovich and Deane Dana, both of whom serve on the MTA board, declined to comment. An aide to Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke said she supports White.

Supporters and opponents of White--and the transit chief himself--engaged in intense behind-the-scenes lobbying to pick up votes.

Some officials expressed bewilderment Monday at the timing of the move.

“Why now?” said one official. “He’s about to be evaluated shortly. What’s the rush?”

Some officials expressed doubt that Riordan would vote to fire White at this point, noting that the mayor helped establish procedures for a special MTA panel to evaluate the transit chief’s performance.

Riordan said he wants to find out whether White has met some of the goals set down by the board, and if not, why.

Fasana and Perez never brought their motion to the executive committee, routing it instead to the full board in closed session. Some White supporters charged that the move represented an end run around board procedures.

The mayor now must decide whether to debate the hot issue outside the confines of his own committee. “Will Riordan repudiate a process that he created?” asked an aide to one MTA board member.

Another consideration is whether the board is willing to bear the cost of buying out a year of White’s contract.

The 54-year-old White, New York Gov. Mario Cuomo’s transportation commissioner who was hired to lead the MTA in the spring of 1993, has had to deal with a never-ending series of problems, from construction snafus with the subway project to a bus strike to funding shortfalls.

Yaroslavsky said the effort to oust White is “precisely what’s wrong with the MTA.”

“It’s not about mismanagement,” he said. “It’s about a CEO who’s been willing to stand up to board members who want him to do nefarious things. It’s pay-back time.”

“The board is the reason that the agency is in trouble. . . . Members of the board have sat in bid conferences and tried to intimidate staff to recommend contracts for their favorite contractors.”

MTA Board Chairman Larry Zarian, a White supporter, said Monday that he intends to “let everybody speak out and bring the group together so we can go beyond this. I don’t want to do irreparable damage to the organization. I still insist we need to go beyond a person--we need to make sure that any CEO, whether it’s Franklin or someone else, doesn’t have 13 or 26 bosses [on the MTA board]. . . . No one can dance to 13 musicians.”

Participants have been trying to come up with their own tally of how the votes will line up. But the predictions are often at odds and even a board member who is considered one of White’s strong backers equivocated for several minutes with a reporter before ultimately pledging support.

“It reminds me of baseball,” said Richard Lichtenstein, a transit industry lobbyist. “It’s not the manager frequently who’s at fault. But when a team is 0-and-whatever, sometimes you’ve got to shake it up.”