Mayoral Hopeful Joe Lhota 'Exceeded' Goals in Private Sector

Joe Lhota wants you to know: He's a good manager. Just ask his colleagues in the private sector, and you'll be overwhelmed. In an interview with Crains New York, Mr. Lhota told Andrew Hawkins he plans to put a spotlight on his work at Cablevision, the MTA, and his previous jobs, placing his experience as a crisis manager at the forefront of his campaign.

"If you talked to anyone that I worked for—clients when I was an investment banker, or senior execs at Cablevision and Madison Square Garden—ask them if I was able to achieve goals," he said. "They will say that I not only achieved them, but I exceeded them."

 Mr. Lhota believes he offers something the other candidates don't: A blend of high-level experience in government and business. "There's an unbelievable lack of understanding on the part of the private sector of how government works, and on the government side of how the private sector works," he told Crains. "And I think bridging that is very, very important."

"He always had a sophisticated, smart, market approach to everything," said Dick Sigal, a lawyer at McKenna Long & Aldridge who worked with Mr. Lhota in the 1980s on municipal finance projects. "He's a very quick study. He pays attention to numbers."

"He's a tough guy. He will make tough decisions," Aaron Hollander, a friend from Harvard Business School, and co-worker at First Aviation Services, said. "He doesn't mince his words, but at the same time he listens to other people's opinions."