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Analysis: Port Authority works under its own set of rules

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Analysis: Port Authority works under its own set of rules

MARCH 16, 2014, 12:01 AM
BY ABBOTT KOLOFF
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

Their bylaws allow spending millions of dollars of public money with just a quarter of their members voting. They almost always agree, but rarely say anything about their decisions in public. Even for people at their meetings, it’s sometimes impossible to know how they vote as individuals.

The Port Authority’s com­mis­sion­ers are under increased scrutiny as their board’s chairman, David Samson, has been the subject of a growing number of reports that he voted for projects that benefited his law firm’s clients. Agency officials recently said he meant to recuse himself two years ago from a vote to give a $1-a-year lease to one of those clients, NJ Transit, even though he was recorded as voting for it.

On Wednesday, sources have said, the Port Authority will put that lease up for another vote in an effort to quell controversies stirred when The Record reported on it last month.

Samson, an appointee of Governor Christie’s and a significant figure in the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal, has not denied some of the other reported votes, including the authorization of $2.8 billion for two bridge projects that reportedly benefited two of his firm’s clients. But he has maintained that all of his actions on the board are for the benefit of the region and not for personal gain.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/analysis-port-authority-works-under-its-own-set-of-rules-1.743343#sthash.5aqmhiOo.dpuf

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