By Erin Delmore
Correspondent
The Bridgegate trial is over, but the controversy continues. The Port Authority is taking steps to dig into testimony from the six weeks in court.
“The Port Authority is not conducting an investigation into Bridgegate or its aftermath. Instead, the operations committee of the Port Authority, which is the sole committee under our bylaws that has personnel management functions, has asked general counsel and outside counsel to conduct within 90 days a review of the Bridgegate testimony with respect to every current employee or board member of the Port Authority,” said Port Authority Chairman John Degnan.
Degnan said steps could include things like whistleblower statute, a revised code of ethics and a commitment to increase transparency.
Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye said the Bridgegate controversy has had a lasting impact on the agency.
“Bridgegate was an incredibly sad, profoundly disturbing episode for the Port Authority,” Foye said.
Over the same period of time, the bi-state agency has come to loggerheads over competing projects and how to fund them. So much so that one top appointee didn’t come to today’s board meeting, stoking rumors of a resignation.
“Steve Cohen isn’t with us today for reasons related to his frustration with negotiations over the capital plan, including issues with respect to the bus terminal,” Foye said.
Weinberg took the mic during the board meeting to renew focus on the aging Port Authority Bus Terminal.
“People complained about leaky ceilings, unclean bathrooms, unbearable heat barely mitigated by tiny portable fans. Most people complain, however, that they could not count on the bus to work on time. Pretty simple request,” Weinberg said.
Weinberg expressed her dissatisfaction with a letter signed by Congressman Jerry Nadler and other New York elected officials urging Degnan to recuse himself from the new Port Authority Bus Terminal project, claiming the chairman, “skewed the terminal planning process, putting his personal priorities above the public interest and good governance.”
“To suggest that Chairman Degnan is acting for political or personal reasons is downright insulting,” Weinberg said.
One reporter asked, “Do you stand to gain financially from a new bus terminal?”
“Absolutely not,” Degnan said.
Degnan told the press assembled after the board meeting, he thought the Port Authority was moving forward on the new bus terminal and that while he was disappointed in the setback posed by the letter, “We can overcome this.”