Report: Port Authority confirms subpoenas issued regarding Pulaski Skyway repairs

Documents from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey confirm that they are being investigated by the Manhattan District Attorney and the Securities and Exchange Commission over the way the Pulaski Skyway – which connects Jersey City to Newark – was issued money for repairs, The Star Ledger reported last week. 

By John Heinis/Hudson County View

The Port Authority confirmed via a bond prospectus, also known as an “offer document,” that they had received grand jury subpoenas on a number of issues, including the George Washington Bridge closure, Governor Chris Christie’s proposed rail tunnel that would run from Hudson County to Manhattan and the Pulaski Skyway repairs, the Ledger wrote.

“The Port Authority has received and is responding to several grand jury subpoenas for the production of records from the United States Attorney’s office for the District of New Jersey and the District Attorney of the County of New York,” reads a section of the $833 million bond prospectus headed, “Certain Subpoenas and Other Matters.”

The New York Times broke the news in late June that the Port Authority, as well as Christie, were being investigated for the $1.8 billion Pulaski Skyway repairs that were approved in 2011 and commenced in April.

The dual investigations by the New York federal regulators allegedly center around the fact that the Port Authority took jurisdiction over the Pulaski Skyway repairs by calling the roadway a “Lincoln Tunnel access road.”

Reports from various media outlets have cited anonymous sources who say the Port Authority was hesitant to make such a designation, but eventually caved to continuous pressure from Christie’s office.

Also worth noting from the Star Ledger article is that the Port Authority received subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney’s Office regarding a redevelopment project in Hoboken – then-Port Authority Chairman Davis Samson’s law firm, Wolff & Samson, was hired for the project.

Back in January, Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer told MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki that Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno said that the city would not receive Hurricane Sandy relief funds unless a politically connected developer’s project in the North End of the Mile Square City was approved.