Reuter's Conflict

To the Editor:

It was announced recently that New York City Transit President Lawrence Reuter is leaving his post to take a position with Parsons Brinckerhoff, a huge international engineering firm. This firm has a number of contracts with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, including the East Side Access project.

But NYC Transit's Ethics Policy states that ".. You may not solicit, negotiate or accept employment from any company or individual, which is doing business with the Authority if your job duties involve dealing with that company or individual on behalf of the Authority ..."

It seems to me that all these rules are written exclusively for rank-and-file employees (compare: ".. only the little people pay taxes .."). By the way, Reuter's predecessor, Alan Kiepper, upon his retirement in 1996 was immediately hired by ... Parsons Brinckerhoff, of course.

VICTOR MALTSEV, Retired Transit Electrical Engineer