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But perhaps his greatest failing came in his role as chief public representative of the agency he headed. The man was consistently arrogant, rude, and contemptuous of anyone he deemed beneath himself — that by and large being everyone he ever met. Over the years I don’t know how many people — aldermen, congressmen, CTA staffers, ordinary riders — told me how much they despised him for his treatment of them — and of the public. One of the most memorable meetings I’ve ever witnessed occurred three years ago at Clemente High School, where dozens of riders turned out to protest yet another one of Kruesi’s doomsday budgets. Kruesi infuriated the long-suffering crowd, spending much of the evening rolling his eyes or whispering to CTA board chair Carole Brown (who apparently couldn’t stand the guy either).
The group he alienated as much as any were the people he needed the most: state legislators he was counting on to send more transportation dollars to keep the trains and buses running. When Daley finally bowed to reality and replaced Kruesi with Ron Huberman last spring, most legislators I know rejoiced that they’d no longer have to deal with him.
