The workplace: A tableau for a particular, sordid kind of affair. The intoxicating muddling of the private and the professional. Lines chalked onto the searing blacktop to be crossed. Tentative at first, then with gusto. The illicit, late-night messages filled with heart emojis, the unconsummated relationship that both parties tried to bury, at least at first, lest the secret detonate and plunge both of their careers down, down, like the Hindenburg. The way the flames must have licked at the edges of their exchanges. The way the threat of a fiery spectacle, incinerating them both, wasn't enough to keep them apart.
It's an irresistible story, one that begs to be read and analyzed. And that's what I aim to do. But this drama is laid out most naked and plain—what? No, not that. I'm of course talking about the pages of a report from the MTA Office of the Inspector General, released on Tuesday, detailing the misconduct of an MTA procurement officer, (the Officer) working for Metro-North Railroad, who spent millions of state tax dollars on goods from a single contracting firm, some of which were significantly more expensive than similar items from competing firms. Why? Because he had "a flirtatious personal relationship" with a sales agent (the Agent) at the contracting company from 2023 until 2024.
In short, the Officer did it for love. Call it: a "New York Stanza."
"The Procurement Officer, who is the lead procurement official assigned to Metro-North Railroad [MNR], awarded millions of dollars in purchases – many well above market-rate – to Vendor 1 in 2023 and 2024. The investigation further revealed that, beginning in 2023, the Procurement Officer engaged in a flirtatious personal relationship for more than a year with a sales agent (the Sales Agent) employed by Vendor 1. OIG acted upon a complaint from MTA Vendor Relations received in May 2024 that the Procurement Officer was involved in suspicious procurement activity."
— MTA/OIG Report #2025-12, p. 1
Happiness is a butterfly. Try to catch it, like, every night. It escapes from my hands into moonlight. Every day is a lullaby, hum it on the phone, like, every night.
— Lana Del Rey, "Happiness is a butterfly"
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