New Leaders for the Port Authority

by Bob Hennelly —

This week, both Governor Eliot Spitzer and Governor Jon Corzine picked new people to head the Port Authority. But, as WNYC's Bob Hennelly reports, legislators in the state capitals want to reform how the agency works.

REPORTER: Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, chairs the Independent Authorities Committee. He says New York state has recently enacted major reforms for its independent authorities that have been mired in perennial scandal. But he says reforming the Port Authority, which he describes as secretive and unaccountable, remains elusive.

BRODSKY: The Port Authority remains the last of the rogue authorities because we can't reform it without both New York and New Jersey passing identical laws.

REPORTER: Brodsky has enlisted several colleagues from New Jersey, including State Senator Ellen Karcher. She has introduced legislation that mirrors Brodsky's in Trenton hoping to open up the agency's books and governance. In recent years, top campaign donors were often made commissioners.

KARCHER: I think there are some things that have existed unfortunately on the New Jersey end of it that they look and say, “Ok this is a patronage parking place for someone who has been a good partisan and we will put them there.’”

REPORTER: Port Authority Chairman Anthony Coscia says he's open to the calls for change. For WNYC, I’m Bob Hennelly.