Last night the Tri-State Transportation Campaign honored Elliot "Lee" Sander, at its annual gala. Sander was Commissioner of New York City’s Department of Transportation for two years during the Giuliani administration, he is a vice president at DMJM Harris, co-chairman of the Empire State Transportation Alliance, and Director of the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management at NYU’s Wagner School. A lot of the more progressive players and policy wonks I chatted with last night believe — and hope — that Sander will be the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s next chairman.

Just imagine: A transportation policy expert running the region’s most important transportation agency rather than a Republican real estate mogul.