Governor Andrew Cuomo doubled down Thursday on his request to "control" the MTA Board, which by all accounts he already controls with a plurality of votes and influence over its spending priorities. He also served up some word salad, making it difficult for us to not attempt to outdo our previous headline on this topic.

"Who's in charge?" the Governor said. "Who knows! Maybe the county executive, maybe the president, maybe the governor, maybe the mayor." Maybe Curious George. Maybe the Monster at the end of the book.

"If you believe I have control anyway, then it doesn't matter!" Cuomo added. "If you believe I have control with six [voting members of fourteen], then you shouldn't have a problem giving me actual control. And if you have a problem giving me actual control, you know what that means? You were disingenuous when you said I had control."

That last bit of logic falls particularly flat, since posturing as the MTA's knight in shining armor helps Cuomo distance himself from the system's current state of crisis.

Cuomo also placed blame on New York City for the subway's state of disrepair, calling on City Hall to increase its capital and budget operating contributions to the MTA.

"Fundamentally, the subway is in the city, and the subway is in terrible condition," he said. "Everybody loves to say that the subway is in terrible condition, but they don't want to put their money where their mouth is, as we used to say in Queens."

Mayor de Blasio made the city's largest capital commitment to date in 2015—$2.5 billion, compared to the State's $8.3 billion (none of which has been touched yet due to some fine print restrictions on its release). And as the Village Voice recently pointed out, subway fares, paid for by increasingly fed up commuters, cover about half of the MTA's operating budget. Add the $4.8 billion in indirect city fees, like taxes, and that amounts to 68 percent of the MTA's operating budget coming from the city—those who live and work there.

City Hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ("I think if you are a city person you want to count the fares as part of the city's contribution," William Henderson, director of the watchdog group Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA, told Gothamist this morning. "If you are the state you might not.")

To recap, the fact that Cuomo already appoints more board members than any other entity is just one indicator that the governor already exacts the control that he's calling for. He also appoints the board's chair and controls the MTA's budget, often prioritizing major infrastructure projects over nuts-and-bolts maintenance. And even Cuomo himself has boasted about his control when he wants to portray himself as the problem solver.

As Nicole Gelinas wrote in City Journal this week, while the MTA is more independent on paper than agencies of state government, "The MTA's chairmen aren't mythical independent creatures who stand up to elected officials who want to do things that aren't in the MTA's best interests."

So, here we go ladies and gentlemen. We've got all night.

"Somebody has to be in charge" of the MTA, says Gov. Cuomo, who is, in fact, in charge. — Kate Hinds (@katehinds) June 22, 2017

Cuomo 👏 controls👏 the👏 MTA👏 and👏 the👏 subways👏 despite👏 his👏 lies👏 that👏 he👏 doesn't. — Anna Sanders (@AnnaESanders) June 22, 2017

A few MTA Board Members praised Governor Cuomo at their meeting this week, arguing that, in calling for control, he is holding himself accountable to commuters. Scott Rechler, a new Cuomo appointee, said that the current "point of crisis" calls for "actually hav[ing] a strong leader at the front of the battle bringing the accountability and helping us resolve a real structural problem."

But James Vitiello, a Dutchess County appointee, cautioned that in his experience, Cuomo's priorities are out of whack. Citing Cuomo pet projects like the Second Avenue Subway expansion and installation of cashless tolling, he said, "We may have been adding more rooms to a house that has a roof falling in."

Cuomo "sets the priorities in very real ways, he determines the finances in very real ways, and in very real ways controls the messaging of the MTA," Vitiello added. "It is not uncommon as a board member here to find out [about] an initiative of the MTA through a press release from the Governor's Office that you subsequently vote on and, in my experience, universally approve."