The Port Authority has been under scrutiny after Christie allies two years ago closed traffic lanes at the George Washington Bridge, which it operates.
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Dealing with new questions stemming from the George Washington Bridge probe, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie stated Wednesday that the scandal was.
The resignations of United chief executive Jeff Smisek and two other top airline officials this week have renewed interest in efforts to reform the Port Authority.
Prosecutors allege that Baroni and Kelly worked with another Port Authority official, David Wildstein, to close lanes leading from Fort Lee, Bergen County, to the bridge in September 2013 to retaliate against the borough’s mayor, Democrat Mark Sokolich, because he didn’t endorse Christie’s reelection. Around the same time, United was pressing for concessions from the agency, including a new hangar at the Newark airport, rent reductions and a commuter rail-line extension that would connect the airport directly to lower Manhattan.
“Any point out of Bridgegate is one other nail in Gov. Christie’s coffin, ” Matthew Hale, a Seton Corridor College political scientist, stated Wednesday.
Samson, who was appointed by Christie in 2010 and resigned from the Port Authority board in March 2014, regularly flew on United Airlines out of Newark Liberty global Airport – which is managed by the Port Authority – to a South Carolina airport near a second home he and his wife own.
A New Jersey lawmaker says reforms under consideration for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey would have prevented the possible trading of favors at the center of a federal investigation.
“I don’t think we would have seen a “Chairman’s Flight” to Columbia, South Carolina, take place, and there would have been enough public scrutiny to provide a check against this”, Gordon said.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, United Airlines outlined the terms of Smisek’s departure from the company.
“Any mention of Bridgegate is another nail in Gov. Christie’s coffin, ” Matthew Hale, a Seton Hall University political scientist, said Wednesday.
State lawmakers are starting to look beyond the ethical issues plaguing the apparently dysfunctional Port Authority, focusing instead on how the beleaguered agency sets its priorities. Samson headed Christie’s gubernatorial transition team. “But when you have the resignation of a CEO of an worldwide corporation with a very high profile, I think that gives Bridgegate a national prominence that it didn’t have before”. He co-chairs the committee that led to the disclosure of the infamous “time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” email sent to a former Port Authority executive from a former senior Christie staffer. The new trial date means the governor won’t have to battle bridge-scandal news before the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary in February. The flight was nicknamed “the chairman’s flight”, according to reports. And Samson was very much part of Christie’s inner circle.
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In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, United disclosed that Smisek will receive a $4.875 million separation payment and be eligible for a pro-rated bonus, receives health insurance until he is eligible for Medicare, gets to keep his company auto and maintains flight benefits and parking privileges for the rest of his life.
