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" This post is one of an ongoing series by Scott Raab, an Esquire writer at large and New Jersey resident who has covered the Port Authority for years. Read the entire series here. Credit where credit is due: Chris Christie crowing over his vindication by the Chris Christie Report was delusional -- even Nixonian -- but it was a stroke of genius to use it to bury the news that his old friend and political mentor David Samson has decided to step down as chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority of New Jersey vs. New York. As part of Christie&amp;#039;s crew at the PA, Samson has worked hard to enrich his own law firm and its clients while simultaneously bringing to near-total ruin the Authority itself. Samson somehow also found the time and energy to directly help Christie&amp;#039;s crew retaliate against the PA&amp;#039;s executive director, Pat Foye, for Foye&amp;#039;s furious public response upon discovering that Christie&amp;#039;s goons had turned Fort Lee into a parking lot. And all you really need to know about the Chris Christie Report is that the crack squad of five -- count &amp;#039;em: FIVE! -- former federal prosecutors in charge of it never spoke with David Samson, because...Samson preferred not to. David Samson is 74 years old, and no fig leaf of professional integrity -- vouched for by none other than former federal prosecutor Chris Christie -- remains attached. He was part of the Great Fort Lee Clusterfk, and of the alleged threat to withhold relief funds from Hoboken, and of a number of PA business deals that enriched his firm and clients -- and he&amp;#039;s under investigation by federal prosecutors in both New Jersey and New York now. The bad news is that Governor Chris Christie -- and his ever-complicit, sadly under-investigated Port Authority partner, Governor Andrew Cuomo -- are now proposing, at least in theory, that the Port Authority be split into two separate agencies. It won&amp;#039;t happen, and I doubt that either governor truly wants that; it would be tougher to loot and weaponize a legitimate state agency than a quasi-governmental Kremlin on the Hudson. And while there&amp;#039;s no evidence that either Christie or Cuomo actually gives a shit about the need for regional coordination of transportation based on a long-term regional vision -- which is precisely why the PA was created in 1921. Destroying the agency once and for all will make that vital mission impossible. The only real solution is for lawmakers in both states to jointly enact genuine reform that insulates the PA from Christie-Cuomo politics -- which would require first of all that the Port be led by folks with expertise in transportation systems and planning, not plunder and political jihad. And what finer time to dream of it than now, as David Samson slinks slowly into the sunset. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a28136/port-authority-split-040114/>