MTA MEETS WITH HOPEFUL FOR CEO JOB.

Byline: David Bloom Daily News Staff Writer

The man now considered to be the leading candidate to head the troubled Metropolitan Transportation Authority wrapped up a series of meetings with the agency's board members Monday that could pave the way for a job offer.

Officials were generally mum about the meetings with Michael Ascher, chief executive officer of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, one of the component agencies of the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

But Ascher, who has been with the triborough organization for more than a decade, comes highly recommended because of his handling of problems that agency had with its own tunneling construction program, officials said.

The MTA board is expected to meet in closed session Thursday, and sources close to the selection process expect the members to consider offering Ascher the job.

``I think he's very promising,'' said one source who asked not to be identified. ``(His resume is) definitely different, but I heard exceptional things when the agency had a dysfunctional construction program. He came in and hired teams and turned the whole process around. A number of people all characterized him the same way: He can build teams.''

Officials still have concerns whether Ascher is suited for the job.

Because the New York authority is largely funded by the tolls it charges to drivers, Ascher's agency has few connections to the federal government, which funds about half the cost of the MTA's $6 billion rail construction program and tens of millions of dollars more for bus and highway programs.

The triborough agency also does not run bus and rail operations, which are the MTA's main duties. In fact, the low-profile organization's biggest exposure in recent months has been as the quasi-anonymous backdrop for the supersecret headquarters of the protagonists in the film, ``Men in Black.''

Some board members have questioned how independent Ascher can be, given his relative lack of background in transit operations. If he takes over the troubled agency, he may be heavily dependent on subordinates who are blamed by some for many of the agency's problems.

The MTA has been without a chief executive officer since January, when Joseph Drew, who had virtually no transit experience before becoming CEO early last year, quit under fire for his handling of bid awards on a lucrative east-side subway contract.

The agency took three tries before it could find an acting CEO to replace Drew and has already had two other top candidates for the permanent job decline despite repeated wooing by Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and other board members.

The most recent applicant to pull out of the process was Shirley DeLibero, executive director of the New Jersey Transit Corp. The only other candidate left besides Ascher is Lou Gambaccini, formerly general manager of the South Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority.

But Gambaccini has reportedly run into opposition from the Mayor's Office due to compatibility problems between him and Riordan, sources said.

Ascher flew into Los Angeles over the weekend and met with most members of the 13-person board by the time he was to catch a redeye flight back to New York on Monday night, sources said.