In a nod to improved management practices at the MTA, the New York State Ethics Commission yesterday awarded the transit agency its seventh annual Theodore Roosevelt Ethics Award. The changes at the MTA include mandatory ethics training for all senior staff— a requirement introduced in recent years after the Ethics Commission charged 19 MTA officials with breaking ethics rules. Many of those charges stemmed from accepting inappropriate gifts with contractors, including meals and golf trips. The MTA received a plaque inscribed with the following quote from Roosevelt: "We can afford to differ on the currency, the tariff, and foreign policy; but we cannot afford to differ on the question of honesty if we expect our republic permanently to endure."
-- Justin Rocket Silverman
