Rachel Maddow Shows the Port Authority Has Become a Political Patronage Job Paradise (updated)

[ProSense]

Rachel Maddow Shows the Port Authority Has Become a Political Patronage Job Paradise

by Puddytat

Stunning - particularly the first 6 minutes (apologies for the ad in the beginning):

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Rachel starts out by pointing out that the annual budget for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is bigger than the entire budgets of 9 states. The Port Authority, The Port Authority, controlling all means of travel between the New Jersey and New York City, is humongous, rich, and has more than 7,000 employees with an average salary is over $140,000 per year.

She then goes on to describe how it has become a hotbed for political patronage jobs particularly under Chris Christie who has placed more than 80 of his loyalists into jobs at the agency even having positions created to accommodate his people.

Other Governors have only their own state governmental agencies to embed their loyalists and supporters, but New York and New Jersey have a BIG MONEY agency with thousands of employees making very nice salaries at their disposal, too. It seems that Chris Christie is making maximum use of this opportunity to reward his loyalists.

Corruption, political payback schemes, rewarding supporters and donors, and punishing political enemies should make us sick because we're the ones paying for it. People who pay taxes and tolls are the ones bankrolling the abused largess that is being exposed in front of us. And there is NO possible excuse for it.

Every dollar that's grifted to pay back a supporter is a dollar that could be used in a program that educates our children, cares for the poor and disabled, improves public services or provides job opportunities for others. It's a dollar that comes from your pocket or mine that could be better utilized than providing a salary for a political hack as a reward for services rendered to a campaign or politician.

Even small scale, squeezing cronies into state or local agency jobs that they may or may not be qualified for, patronage takes a job from a qualified person who would usually perform better in that position. That job becomes a reward or, perhaps, a means of continuing to service the continual political needs of the politician who put them there.

From where I sit, the Port Authority looks like it needs an overhaul in order to represent the needs of the people it should be serving rather than the serving the patronage needs of politicians. And the same holds true for federal, state and local agency appointees, Civil Service, and other jobs under the control of local and state elected officials.

It's well known that George W. Bush transitioned many of his political appointees into federal Civil Service jobs to ensure their continuing employment after he left office. The same is being done in Wisconsin by Scott Walker to ensure continued influence long after he leaves office. And it's not only Republicans who do it, although they seem to be quite good at it.

One needs to be qualified for a job, not stuck in one as payback. Taxpayers and toll payers deserve better. The expansion of these corrupt practices needs to end.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/25/1272456/-Rachel-Maddow-Shows-the-Port-Authority-Has-Become-a-Political-Patronage-Job-Paradise

Port Authority Refuses To Pay Christie Pal's Legal Bills
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024384660

CNN exclusive: Port Authority job created for Christie ally, source says
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024343670


Updated to add:

Embattled Port Authority Still Fighting Toll Hike Lawsuit

Mark J. Magyar

While political attention remains riveted on the Bridge-gate scandal that forced the resignation of Gov. Christie’s top two lieutenants at the Port Authority, the bistate agency remains embroiled in a lawsuit challenging the legality of its massive multiyear toll hike. At the heart of the suit is the allegation that toll revenue is being illegally diverted from transportation projects to pay for billions of dollars in cost overruns on the World Trade Center project...the Port Authority has been battling to block the release of documents showing its internal deliberations leading up to its controversial September 2011 decision -- jammed through after just one day of hearings -- to raise tolls on the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels; George Washington, Bayonne and Goethals bridges; and the Outerbridge Crossing from $8 then to $13 today and $15 by 2015.


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The Port Authority cited the $11 billion cost of rebuilding the World Trade Center as a major fiscal liability in its 2011 press release announcing its decision to seek a toll increase from $8 to $15 on its six bridges and tunnels. Based on that statement, Genovese said, the AAA expected to win a summary judgment on its lawsuit contending that the Port Authority was illegally diverting toll revenues to non-transportation purposes.

But the Port Authority backed off that tack in its response to the AAA lawsuit, insisting that no toll money would be going to the World Trade Center project. The authority asserted that its interstate transportation network, which includes the money-losing Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) rail line, operates at an overall deficit, even with all toll revenue from the six bridges and tunnels included, and therefore no toll money is being diverted to the World Trade Center...that was before Port Authority officials acknowledged that the cost of the World Trade Center project had ballooned from $11 billion to $15 billion -- a massive increase considering that Christie cancelled the Access to the Region’s Core (ARC) rail passenger tunnel project in 2010 because he feared that cost overruns could hit $3 billion.

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Christie diverted $1.8 billion of the $3 billion the Port Authority originally set aside for the ARC Tunnel to provide some of the matching funds he needed to underwrite a five-year $8 billion Transportation Trust Fund plan without raising gas taxes in 2011.

- more -

http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/14/01/06/embattled-port-authority-still-fighting-toll-hike-lawsuit

Note:

Kos Media, LLC Site content may be used for any purpose without explicit permission unless otherwise specified

[BumRushDaShow]

1. K&R

It will be interesting to see what both NY & NJ decide to do about this...

[ProSense]

2. There has always

"It will be interesting to see what both NY & NJ decide to do about this..."

...been a massive power struggle between the two sides. The toll at the GWB and the two tunnels are collected on the NJ side.

[Cha]

7. New Jersey side blowing it ... thanks to

Christie and culture of Bullies.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. The tolls for PA/NJ DRPA Philly bridges are also collected on the NJ side

I.e., for the Betsy Ross, Ben Franklin, Walt Whitman, & Commodore Barry bridges.

It's possible that the attention focused on the PANJNY "development" angle in North Jersey may beg a look at DRPA development scandal in South Jersey.

The DRPA, which operates four toll bridges and the PATCO commuter rail line between Philadelphia and South Jersey, spent nearly $500 million over 15 years to underwrite museums, stadiums, a concert hall, a cancer center, the Army-Navy football game, and other non-transportation projects.

Much of the money went to politically influential recipients, as the Pennsylvania and New Jersey delegations on the DRPA board got equal amounts to spend. Fourteen of the 16 board members are appointed by the governors of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Two Pennsylvania members - the state treasurer and auditor general - are on the board by virtue of their elected offices.

Last year, New Jersey state Comptroller Matthew Boxer issued a report critical of cronyism and mismanagement at the DRPA, saying that "in nearly every area we looked at, we found people who treated the DRPA like a personal ATM, from DRPA commissioners to private vendors to community organizations."

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Economic-development spending by the DRPA has long been controversial, as it contributed to a $1.6 billion debt that now consumes about half of the agency's spending. Motorists and some board members complained that the DRPA should not spend money on non-transportation projects, while borrowing hundreds of millions to maintain its bridges and rail line.

http://articles.philly.com/2013-12-19/news/45340034_1_drpa-board-victor-lofts-nipper-building

Despite the fact that NJ is "one state", the media is missing this other story that has been going on for awhile in South Jersey that is highly analogous - mainly because we're talking about the same NJ Governor and the same issues of "development", "transportation", "port authority" (and its membership), and "patronage". But what makes this a bit more egregious is that the current Governor on the other side of that NJ border is GOP (Corbett) vs NY's Democrat.

[ProSense]

14. Yes, and

Despite the fact that NJ is "one state", the media is missing this other story that has been going on for awhile in South Jersey that is highly analogous - mainly because we're talking about the same NJ Governor and the same issues of "development", "transportation", "port authority" (and its membership), and "patronage". But what makes this a bit more egregious is that the current Governor on the other side of that NJ border is GOP (Corbett) vs NY's Democrat.

...this is why former Governor Rendell said Christie knew.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024325856

Christie's claims are simply absurd.

[pacalo]

3. Just a fraction of the grifter money could have kept the DMV office in Elizabeth open.

...the annual budget for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is bigger than the entire budgets of 9 states. The Port Authority, controlling all means of travel between the 2 states, is humongous, rich, and has more than 7,000 employees with an average salary is over $140,000 per year.

[ProSense]

10. Or to create some damn jobs.

After four years of hype… Here are the facts:

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7th – New Jersey has the 7th highest unemployment rate in the country at 9.3 percent – the worst rate in the region (April 2, 2013)

45,000 – Number of permanent jobs Christie cost New Jersey by killing the Access to the Region’s Core tunnel project (The Star-Ledger, 10/28/2010)

6,000 – Number of construction jobs New Jersey lost when Christie decided to end the Access to the Region’s Core tunnel project (The Star-Ledger, 10/28/2010)

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651 – The number of New Jersey bridges found to be “structurally deficient” by the Federal Highway Administration, up from 620 in 2010, the year Governor Christie took office. (The Star-Ledger, 6/19/2013)

$13 – Record high cash tolls on the George Washington Bridge, Holland Tunnel, Lincoln Tunnel, Goethals Bridge, Bayonne Bridge and Outerbridge Crossing (USA Today, 12/3/2012)

25% – Increase in fares for NJ Transit rail and commuter bus lines since Christie took office (Asbury Park Press, 4/14/10)

10% – Increase in fares for local bus and light rail fares since Christie took office (Asbury Park Press, 4/14/10)

<...>

http://www.onenewjersey.org/christie-by-the-numbers/

[Laxman]

4. This Is Not News...

Christie has raised this patronage to a new level. He filled the PA with his cronies. Using the tunnel money for balancing the DOT budget was the most egregious. ARC was a poorly conceived project, but the Gateway Tunnel is worth the investment and badly needed for the long-term health of the state and the region.

[ProSense]

5. Christie

"Christie has raised this patronage to a new level. He filled the PA with his cronies. Using the tunnel money for balancing the DOT budget was the most egregious. ARC was a poorly conceived project, but the Gateway Tunnel is worth the investment and badly needed for the long-term health of the state and the region. "

...has been using the PA for his political slush fund: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024368746

Other than the $140,00-per-year average salaries, where the hell is the money going?

[Cha]

6. Not news to you, Laxman.. but, thankfully Rachel is

getting this snake-pit more exposed!

What gets me is .. a special job was created for David "I got it" Wildstein at the PA accommodating Gov Christie. And, then in Christie's marathon presser he says he barely knows him. He expects to get away with that lie right off the bat. It's fucking insulting to the people of NJ and everywhere else!

thanks for your invaluable help on the exposure, too, Lax.

[malaise]

8. Thanks

[Cha]

9. I saw that show last night, PS..

I never use to watch any of those shows online.. now with this Christie corruption saga I can't get enough. Rachel and Steve are doing such an excellent job at explaining things!

Thank you for all your work on it too, ProSense! I seem to think it's important. Classic Bully/Smear Jobber/whining Victim gets busted.. what's not to like?

[90-percent]

11. I'm gobsmacked

7,000 employees with an AVERAGE salary of $140,000!!!!!

Is there any other enterprise, public or private, that enjoys such a lavish average salary? Apple? Google? Adobe? Facebook?, General Electric? General Motors? Walmart? Tesla?

Anybody?

That is staggering!

Or is it 6,700 making $55,000 average and the remaining 300 are pulling down an average of 5 million or something?

No wonder it costs $13.50 to cross the G.W.!



-90% jimmy

[ProSense]

12. Amazing, isn't it? n/t

[Omaha Steve]

15. I'm so glad she is on OUR side

K&R!