As expected, word came out of Governor-Elect Eliot Spitzer’s headquarters this morning that he will recommend the appointment of Elliot "Lee" Sander as executive director and CEO of the MTA. Sander is currently corporate senior vice president at DMJM Harris, a leading transportation engineering firm and director of the Rudin Center for Transporation Policy at NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

Other Spitzer picks: 

Anthony Ernest Shorris, executive director of the Port Authority. Was senior policy adviser to Spitzer’s gubernatorial campaign and of the transition office. Since 2003, he was director of Princeton University’s Policy Research Institute at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Pat Foye, downstate co-chair of ESDC. There will be an upstate co-chair based in Buffalo, Spitzer said. Foye is president and CEO of United Way of Long Island and deputy chairman of the Long Island Power Authority.

Avi Schick, downstate chief operating officer and president of ESDC. He is currently a deputy attorney general and has been with Spitzer in that office since 1999.

The Observer carries the full press release.