Get it done, Jersey
John Degnan, the Port Authority chairman from New Jersey, really, really doesn’t like Gov. Cuomo’s idea of installing his own new supercharged inspector general with criminal prosecutorial powers at the Port. Last week, he stopped by the Daily News Editorial Board to tell us just how much he hates the concept, on the belief that Cuomo will surely use the watchdog as a henchman to threaten staff, throw weight around and bend the bistate PA to his will.
There’s a simple way to calm Degnan and all others worried about an unchecked watchdog at the authority: Get the New Jersey Legislature off its duff, and pass necessary reforms that have stalled there for months now.
Degnan, picked by the now-all-but-absentee Chris Christie, has plenty of support from Trenton lawmakers who think that a Cuomo-appointed IG would be an invitation to abuse, one that’s illegal, and it’s unconstitutional to boot.
He has a point there; the PA, to its great discredit, is by design not directly accountable to anyone, not even to the governor of the state that represents two-thirds of the people it serves.
It’s unlikely an IG appointed by one governor, and neither ratified by nor accountable to anyone else, would pass legal muster. Especially since Cuomo wants to invest the office with full criminal prosecution powers. Other IGs must make cases in cooperation with local or federal prosecutors, of which there are plenty.
But while Cuomo’s plan may overreach, it is immensely useful for focusing minds in Trenton, where worthy reform has shamefully stalled.
After Bridgegate exploded in Christie’s face in 2013, exposing criminality at the top ranks of the Jersey side of the Port, the Assembly and Senate in both states voted, 612 to 0, in 2014, for a series of improvements. The two governors vetoed.
The legislatures then passed a slightly trimmed-back package. Cuomo signed it. Christie wisely signed only those portions that identically matched New York’s.
Smart, because the passage of identical legislation in both states is the only way to reform the otherwise change-resistant monstrosity.
All that’s left to do is for the Jersey Assembly and Senate to give consent to reforms that they have already passed twice before, as has Albany.
Once Trenton says OK, all commissioners would have a fiduciary duty to the agency.
There would be better financial reports and audits. Greater transparency and public input. All future toll increases could only follow a needs assessment and public hearings.
Whistleblower protections would A new code of ethics, too.
The chairman’s gavel would alternate every two years between New York and New Jersey, an arrangement far more fair than the current one.
And the PA would see its own IG get full subpoena power — the current IG lacks that authority — which means Cuomo would surely drop his much-hated IG push. Hop to it. be enshrined.