Bridgegate, the Sequel, 2nd Bridge Inquiry Said to Be Linked to Christie

[Constitutional Paulicy]

Bridgegate, the Sequel
The Christie administration is facing inquiry over a bridge. Again.
By Lucia Graves
June 24, 2014

Investigations into Chris Christie's "Bridgegate" scandal, the politically motivated lane closings at the George Washington Bridge last year, have yielded some decidedly bad news for the New Jersey governor: Another Christie bridge scandal at a completely different bridge.

In this new chapter of the Christie saga, investigators are pointing to securities-law violations in a $1.8 billion road-repair agreement from 2011, according to reporting in The New York Times. This time the inquiries are centered around the Pulaski Skyway, the dilapidated roadway connecting Newark to Jersey City. The Christie administration sought to repair the crumbling thoroughfare by diverting Port Authority funds from a new Hudson River rail tunnel canceled by Christie in the fall of 2010.

Port Authority lawyers warned the Christie administration that the Pulaski Skyway, which is owned and operated by the state, falls outside of the agency's purview. Christie's team justified the spending by calling the road an access way to the Lincoln Tunnel (something that does fall under agency purview), although the two aren't connected. Soon after, Port Authority lawyers changed their tune, altering a memo to say the agency did in fact have authority over the project. "We are now saying we have legislative authority," the revised document read, according to The Times.

more here... http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/bridgegate-the-sequel-20140624


2nd Bridge Inquiry Said to Be Linked to Christie
By MATT FLEGENHEIMER, WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM and KATE ZERNIKE
JUNE 23, 2014

The accuracy of this characterization is now a major focus of the investigations, according to several people briefed on the matter. Under a New York State law known as the Martin Act, prosecutors can bring felony charges for intentionally deceiving bond holders, without having to prove any intent to defraud or even establish that any fraud occurred.

Two veteran prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office public corruption unit are working with two S.E.C. lawyers who are experts in such bond issues, one person briefed on the matter said, and another noted that while the agencies were each conducting separate parallel inquiries, they were working together.

In addition to criminal charges under the Martin Act, the investigations could result in civil action under the Martin Act or by the S.E.C., under federal securities laws.

more here... http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/24/nyregion/2nd-bridge-inquiry-said-to-be-linked-to-christie.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpSum&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1&assetType=nyt_now

 

[presence]

Libertarian utopia of privatizing roads aside... I really don't see Christie at fault here for cutting through some red tape to get funds to repair delapitated public roadways.

The Lincoln Tunnel is 495 crossing the Hudson River. Pulaski Skyway is US Route 1 crossing the Hackensack River into Jersey City.

Big shit... he moved funds from one water crossing to another water crossing a 2 miles away.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Authority_of_New_York_and_New_Jersey

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) is a joint venture between the States of New York and New Jersey and authorized by the US Congress, established in 1921 (as the Port of New York Authority) through an interstate compact, that oversees much of the regional transportation infrastructure, including bridges, tunnels, airports, and seaports, within the Port of New York and New Jersey. This 1,500 square mile (3,900 km²) district is the region generally within 25 miles (40 km) of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.[SUP][1][/SUP]

The Pulaski Skyway is closer to the Statue of Liberty in NY Harbor than the Lincoln Tunnel is.

http://www.panynj.gov/about/facilities-services.html

Today, as was envisioned in 1921, the Port Authority is a financially self-supporting entity. It does not receive tax revenue from either state or from any local jurisdiction and has no power to tax, nor does it have the power to pledge the credit of either state or any municipality. The Port Authority relies primarily on revenue generated from facility operations-tolls from its bridges and tunnels between New York and New Jersey, user fees from the airports and the bus terminals, fares on its rail transit system, and rent from facilities, consumer services and from retail stores.

[]

The Port Authority was created to promote and protect the commerce of the Port District and to undertake port and regional improvements not likely to be financed by private enterprise, or that would not be attempted by either state alone. These include the development of major infrastructure: a modern port for the harbor shared by the two states, tunnel and bridge connections between the states, and, in general, trade and transportation projects that secure the region's economic well-being.

Christie took toll bridge money and used it to improve a roadway, walking distance away, which leads to the toll bridge.

[h=3]General Contact Information[/h] For general comments or inquiries, our mailing address is:
Tunnels, Bridges and Terminals
Customer Services
The Port Authority of NY & NJ
2 Montgomery Street, 4th Floor
Jersey City, NJ 07302

 

[jbauer]

Yup, no smoking gun here. And I hate the guy. All he did was use some tolls from another road to fix the current road. Who cares, it got fixed. Its not like he spent it on bearcats for his swat team.

 

[specsaregood]

Yup, no smoking gun here. And I hate the guy. All he did was use some tolls from another road to fix the current road. Who cares, it got fixed. Its not like he spent it on bearcats for his swat team.

If I am understanding it correctly: the problem is that money wasn't his to use. He took money from a joint venture between NJ/NY and used it to repair a sole NJ venture. That isn't ok, redtape aside.

 

[Acala]

Yup, no smoking gun here. And I hate the guy. All he did was use some tolls from another road to fix the current road. Who cares, it got fixed. Its not like he spent it on bearcats for his swat team.

But it wasn't fungible money. It was money from bonds, the issuance of which was presumably authorized by vote for a specific purpose, and which were then sold to investors as being linked to a specific purpose.

 

[presence]

But it wasn't fungible money. It was money from bonds, the issuance of which was presumably authorized by vote for a specific purpose

Christie's project in Green. 25 mile radius Purple.

The Port Authority is authorized to plan, develop and operate terminals and other facilities of transportation, economic development and world trade that contribute to protecting and promoting commerce in the Port District. [] a region within a radius of approximately 25 miles of the Statue of Liberty. The Port Authority was created to promote and protect the commerce of the Port District and to undertake port and regional improvements not likely to be financed by private enterprise, or that would not be attempted by either state alone. These include the development of major infrastructure: a modern port for the harbor shared by the two states, tunnel and bridge connections between the states, and, in general, trade and transportation projects that secure the region's economic well-being.

http://www.panynj.gov

[h=3]Port district
[/h] Encompassing an area within an approximate 25-mile (40 km) radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, the port district comprises all or part of seventeen counties in the region. The ten that are

completely within the district are Hudson,

Bergen, Essex, Union (in New Jersey), Westchester (in New York), and the five boroughs of New York City, which are coterminous with the counties of New York, Bronx, Kings, Queens, and Richmond. Abutting sections of Passaic, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, and Somerset in New Jersey, and Nassau and Rockland in New York are also within the district.[SUP][11][/SUP][SUP][12][/SUP]


Bodies of water
The Atlantic Ocean is to the southeast of the port. The sea at the entrance to the port is called the New York Bight; it lies between the peninsulas of Sandy Hook and Rockaway. In Lower New York Bay and its western arm, Raritan Bay, vessels orient themselves for passage to the east into Arthur Kill or Raritan River or to the north to The Narrows. To the east lies the Rockaway Inlet, which leads to Jamaica Bay. The Narrows connects to the Upper New York Bay at the mouth of the Hudson River, which is sometimes (particularly in navigation) called the North River. Large ships are able to navigate upstream to the Port of Albany-Rensselaer. To the west lies Kill van Kull, the strait leading to

Newark Bay, fed by the Passaic River and Hackensack River,


and the northern entrance of Arthur Kill. The Gowanus Canal and Buttermilk Channel are entered from the east. The East River is a broad strait that travels north to Newtown Creek and the Harlem River, turning east at Hell Gate before opening to Long Island Sound, which provides an outlet to the open sea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_New_York_and_New_Jersey