Did you miss the state legislature's nine-hour hearing on the transportation portion of the Executive Budget on Tuesday? Not to worry, the best and perhaps most illustrative part is encapsulated in this 76-second clip of the head of the MTA Janno Lieber, Long Island Republican Mario Mattera, and Westchester Democrat J. Gary Pretlow all shouting at each other.
— NY Cookie Monster (@cookiebadger) February 3, 2026
One could plausibly assign blame to Lieber for starting this fight, because as soon as it was State Senator Mattera's turn at the mic, Lieber made fun of him for calling for his head earlier this year.
"I decided not to resign. I ignored your suggestion," Lieber said. (This is the kind of next-level shit talking you'd expect from the C-suite.)
"I never asked that," Mattera replied. (The Post reported that he did, in fact, call for Lieber's resignation.)
Then again, maybe Lieber had Mattera's number, because Mattera immediately began an amusing line of questioning concerning the MTA's 1,000 fare gate guards—the people in the reflective vests who have the job of deterring fare evasion (to mixed success).