One colorful mayor gone. Comes now the chorus of hopeful mayors.
So who’s Joe Lhota? The former MTA chief. Now a dancing mayoral Rockette.
“ ‘Lhota’ is Czechoslovakian,” he said. “My father’s side is from the Bohemian part, 120 km south of Prague. My mother’s father was Italian. Her mother, Jewish. Like New York, I’m a little of everything, which means alienating everybody else. My great-grandfather came over first.
“I grew up in The Bronx, Pelham Bay. Then the family moved right across from the water in Lindenhurst, a house Sandy destroyed, so I’ve pulled out sheetrock, and we’ve ordered new heaters, driers, everything. Whole basement’s washed away.
“I got my MBA in Harvard and cooked every night for six guys. Shopped at Safeway and made stew, chili, spaghetti, mac and cheese. I hated doing the dishes. I graduated cum laude. I moved to the West Side, worked for Paine Webber, where, believe me, we weren’t paid like today’s guys, and traveled to 39 states. I missed Idaho which, trust me, isn’t on my bucket list.”
Lifestyle today?
“Lights out was always 11. Since the campaign I try for sleep as early as I can. Maybe 10:15. Home’s Brooklyn. The Staten Island Ferry horn wakes me every 4:30 a.m. especially when it’s quiet and no wind. Back to sleep until 5:30. Then it’s coffee on my terrace. Of course, when I’m in City Hall I won’t have that problem.” Of course. “And a hearty, protein-heavy, no-carb breakfast. Cheese omelet. No bread or potatoes.
“I got married in ’88. The most organized person I know, she’s a political fund-raiser. My daughter, a senior at Georgetown, is working on my campaign.”
After 20 minutes of how great he ran the MTA which, he acknowledges, “everybody loves to hate,” I asked how’s he make a living now. Answer: “I live off investment income. It’s costly. Cabs are expensive.”
About other things, he’s evasive. Like, will you keep Ray Kelly? Answer: “He’s magnificent. A friend. We’ll talk. I’m too superstitious to discuss it now.”
Ever screw up? “In college I drank and had a little fun. And kinda stole newspapers thrown at neighbors’ doors, which I read neatly then replaced. Maybe they’d wonder where the coffee stains came from.”
Lhota always wears a blue rubber band. “2005 I was diagnosed with lymphoma. After seven months of treatment, I’m now clean. Friends made me this, and I wore it when I went for chemo. I always wear it. It says, ‘Fear Nothing.’ ”
He’s patriotic. Blue suit, white shirt, red tie. Also wedding band. Also the right phrases like: “I grew up here. I love this city.”
‘JERSEY Boys” runs stronger than the River Jordan. Closing no time soon, tomorrow’s its 3,000th performance . . . The Tippler, on 15th Street, has Valentine’s Love/Hate Day. Free shots if you play games with a stranger, jam to a DJ, and for $10 guzzle punch . . . Update on A-OK Barbara Walters. Besides Nancy Reagan, Barack, Bloomy and the world checking in, her whole household, including her housekeeper of 20 years, Icodel Tomlinson, is giving TLC.
IT’s the 10th anniversary of the crime that jailed record producer Phil Spector, 73. He was found guilty of killing blond actress Lana Clarkson. March 24 Al Pacino is in a TV movie, produced by Barry Levinson, written by David Mamet, about Spector, whom Pacino plays. Her friends will lobby TV academy members to not vote for Emmys for it.
Feb. 3, 2003 a bullet was fired into her face by gun abuser Spector, who claimed innocence yet Debbie Harry, the Mamas and Papas’ Michelle Phillips and others testified he put loaded guns into their faces, too. Spector’s doing another 17 years. But, say Lana’s friends, “People like him can live a long time on hate.”
Chuck Lorre, the genie behind “Two and a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory,” is at it again. Doing CBS’s new comedy pilot “Mom” starring Allison Janney. His successes make him so rich, his wallet now has its own salad bar.
THE Oval Office finding it tough to glue together their new Cabinet. Hard nailing a secretary of commerce. With YouKnowWho’s jihad against the business community, the job is like being a lifeguard on the Titanic. Look, he’s a skilled campaigner. His team well understood the dynamics of America. But he’s not cuddly. Rarely chats with underlings. They can’t get through to him. The talk is he’ll try for a Hispanic as secretary of commerce.
IT’s coming Oscar time. When Nicolas Cage was up for “Leaving Las Vegas,” his next contract promised a bonus if he won the Academy Award. The bonus was the exact amount his then-wife wanted for a diamond trinket. He won the Oscar. They gave the bonus. The wife got the jewelry.
TEN minutes ago Joe Lhota was seen swiping his MetroCard on Lexington Avenue’s M102 bus. Like all of us. Got on at Bloomingdale’s. Next stop — he hopes — is City Hall.
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.