Christie bridge scandal: Port Authority executive director said he's proud of stopping lane closings, according to the Associated Press
"I didn't want someone dying in the back of an ambulance," Patrick Foye said during a Q&A session in New York City hosted by the New York Observer and law firm Cozen O'Connor. "I'm proud of the action I took. It was, frankly, a very easy, short decision."
As part of its investigation, the legislative committee released an email from Foye last September that showed him denouncing the lane closings, which he said he didn't know about beforehand. He called them "ill-advised" and "abusive," questioned whether they violated federal law, and ordered them to be stopped. The Port Authority oversees the bridges that link New York and New Jersey.
Foye declined to say if he had been contacted by the U.S. Attorney, and said he welcomes the new attention being placed on the activities of the Port Authority.
"I think the Port Authority, from a transparency/media point of view, has crossed the Rubicon as the result of recent controversies and it's not going to be possible to re-cross it," he said. "The intense media focus, while it may abate to some extent, is likely to continue for a long period of time, and that's a good thing."
I did not see this testimony. This is the only thing I've read so far. I expect Foye must have reiterated the opinion he expressed in memos that the actions of closing the lanes may have constituted criminal violations. I will look for better documentation of the content of his testimony.
3:15 PM PT: Jeff Goldman of the The Star-Ledger writes Port Authority to pay for outside lawyers hired by 15 employees in GW Bridge investigation
TRENTON — The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will foot the legal bills for 15 employees who have hired outside lawyers in connection with the investigation into last year's closure of local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge.
NorthJersey.com reported that the bi-state agency will cover the costs incurred by executive director Patrick Foye and 14 other employees.
Neither David Wildstein nor Bill Baroni will have their fees for private lawyers paid, though, according to NorthJersey.com. Both are former high-ranking Port Authority officials who resigned in the wake of the scandal
The A.G. office is paying lawyers $340 per hour for these defenders.
This gives us an idea of the scope of the investigations.
3:45 PM PT: The New York Times published and editorial today denouncing Gov. Christie’s Pipeline.
Three years ago, Gov. Chris Christie proposed a natural gas pipeline that would run right through the environmentally sensitive Pinelands of southern New Jersey. It was a faulty plan, and the guardians of that area — the Pinelands Commission — wisely rejected the pipeline in January. Now Mr. Christie and his allies are trying to pack the commission with people who will see things his way.
The governor has already made a name for himself as something of an anti-environmentalist in his state. He has cut nearly $1 billion from clean energy funds. He withdrew from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multistate project designed to reduce power plant emissions of carbon dioxide, the main global-warming gas. The pipeline would be another blot on his record.
The Pinelands (often called the Pine Barrens) are not merely scenic, though parts are stunningly beautiful; their rich open wetlands and forests provide clean water to millions of the state’s residents. The last thing the area needs is a gas pipeline running through it.
Since the Pineland Commission rejected the pipeline proposal, Christie has replacd two of thek commissioners who voted no.
The New York Times warns that if Chris Christie is successful in his plan, the next time the issue comes up, the pipeline will be approved, and the people of New Jersey will be the losers.
3:56 PM PT: Charles P. Pierce of Esquire reviews David Sirota's investive journalisim of Chris Christie's Pension fund "maneuverings" in THE PASSION OF BIG CHICKEN: THE PENSIONING
As noted a while back here, Dave Sirota at Pando Daily is all over Chris Christie's dubious maneuverings with the pension money owed to New Jersey's public employees. He's all over it like stupid on Louie Gohmert, Dave is. The scandal has entangled Charlie Baker, the odds-on Republican candidate for governor here in the Commonwealth (God save it!), and Baker lawyered up this week. Which, as a fair-minded blog, we point out means nothing as regards Baker's involvement -- if any -- in the pension shenanigans, but it's not exactly the optic with which you want to kick off your campaign for an office you've already lost once in your life.
This cannot be said of Christie, who is hip-deep in what on the surface looks very much like a pay-for-play scheme by which $200,000 came into his campaign by companies that were doing business in one way or another with the state's pension fund. This, of course, strikes at one of the pillars of Christie's political biography, and at one of the primary applause lines in his regular stump speech, in which he tells the heartwarming tale of how brave Chris Christie got up in front of a room full of firemen and told them that changes would have to be made in their pensions and how, by the end of his speech, they were virtually carrying him down the boulevards in triumph. (I said "virtually," ya bastids. Play along.) Naturally, this narrative suffers a bit if it turns out that the Christie campaign was using the business of those pensions as an ATM.
But, now we learn that New Jersey is going to investigate pension fund irregularities "inhouse," in the state treasurer's office.
Adam Liebtag, a member of the investment council and president of Communications Workers of America Local 1036, questioned why a Treasury Department auditor is handling the matter instead of a deputy attorney general or the state Election Law Enforcement Commission. "The potential violation in question related to the State Investment Council regulation, so it's the State Investment Council's right to make a final determination," McDonough said. "The auditor for the treasurer is simply reviewing the facts and reporting back to help the State Investment Council come to a conclusion." "And you think that the treasurer's determination is conclusive?" Liebtag said. "If they come back and say, ‘Well, we don't think he is. We don't think he meets the definition,' I'm not sure that I would be personally comfortable with that as enough."
I have to bring my s.o. dinner as she is not feeling well so I haven't even been able to read the second half of this article yet, or follow the leaders to David Sirota's site which looks as if it may be an interesting find.
4:08 PM PT: Salvador Rizzo of the Star Ledger reports Christie's pension plan sparks debate at NJ State Investment Council,
In 2011 Christie had promised higher payments to the pension fund in return for "shifting more retirement costs to public workers, raising their retirement age to 65, and freezing their cost-of-living adjustments."
TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie's plan to take $2.43 billion meant for public workers' pensions over two years caused some heartburn today at a meeting of the state Investment Council as members representing unions warned it could have long-term consequences for the troubled fund. ...
State Democrats and public-worker unions have reacted with anger, charging that the governor is breaking a promise from 2010 to increase steadily the state's yearly payments to the beleaguered pension system and bring it back to financial stability after years of neglect by previous governors.
Two unions, the New Jersey Education Association and the Communications Workers of America, have said they will file a lawsuit challenging Christie's move.