Off track? The CTA caper . . .
Hmmmm. Sneed wonders if CTA chief Ron Huberman, who plans to cut 100 jobs in the next six months to save money, also plans to tighten his own office budget.
• Translation: A top source tells Sneed that Huberman, unlike past CTA president Frank Kruesi who took the subway everywhere, is a regular user of public transportation -- but also uses an office worker as a driver. And several of his highly paid top aides spent much of their time "doing PowerPoints for Huberman's presentations."
• The down side? "Huberman has done good things, but the CTA has spent money like a drunken sailor during his regime and hired a ton of people," said a City Hall source. "Is Huberman going to streamline a bloated staff of young people who'd go to the Kool-Aid vats for him?"
• The flipside: Huberman told Sneed: "I will use a driver from time to time for operational emergencies, but that person has other responsibilities. I'm not sure how many people we've hired during my tenure, but the jobs which will be cut will come from administrative and management ranks." He also denies his aides spend a lot of time on PowerPoint presentations, "but we do use PowerPoint as a business tool."
• The question: Is Huberman covering up fiscal mismanagement by threatening fare hikes and using increased fuel costs as the main reason?
• Background: Word is that Huberman was one of Mayor Daley's favorites -- until 1,000 CTA passengers were trapped last month for nearly an hour in the Blue Line subway before CTA officials called emergency rescue workers.
Stay tuned.
Word is that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's ex-pastor, was part of the religious contingent (along with the Rev. Jesse Jackson) who ministered to President Bill Clinton at the White House during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Gulp! For a woman who seems to know a lot, Dem presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton claims she was unfamiliar with the energy drink Red Bull. But she did tell People magazine she's never had a face-lift and picked Weight Watchers over the South Beach diet.
• Good grief! Actress Uma Thurman's alleged stalker of two years is a 37-year-old University of Chicago graduate student named Jack Jordan, who is now a pool cleaner.
• The men's room: Not only has TV titaness Barbara Walters disclosed her affair, via Oprah, with African-American/former U.S. Sen. Edward Brooke back in the 1970s, which she describes in her new memoir Audition, but her personal chemistry with her former ABC anchor Harry Reasoner was poison -- and Morley Safer, the "60 Minutes" star, wasn't a big fan.
Super Cubbie Ernie Banks enjoying a four-hour dinner at Harry Caray's Italian Steakhouse downtown Wednesday . . . Dallas Mavericks owner and potential Cubs owner Mark Cuban tippling at Harry Caray's Tavern in Wrigleyville before walking across the street to the Cubs game Wednesday .
Today's birthdays: Bianca Jagger, 63; Lesley Gore, 62; Larry Gatlin, 60; Christine Baranski, 56.
