At the very least it was a bipartisan effort!

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I concur. Business as usual, but should still be reported and discussed.

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I don't think anyone is shocked.. but it still should be reported.

This is shocking to anyone? Everybody does this - Car salesmen, NJ Transit, Walmart....quote an artificial high price and then apply a "special discount". I clearly recall thinking that was the game the PA was playing when they proposed those ridiculous increases. It's just American business as usual.

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FAB, you should actually read the article. It's about events years before the lane closures.

And this is a new scandal??? Politician's do this all the time when they raise taxes and they take credit , saying they earned their pay by strict budget negotiations. Nothing new here

christie - "I'm in the shit with this lane closure business on the bridge - can you help?"
Port Auth. Buddy - "Sure can - We'll announce that tolls are going up so you can publicly protest and force you hand to stop it"
christie - "Fantastic, it we show that I still have the power to stop it from happening and here to protect the people of NJ"
Port Auth. Buddy - "You will be a hero - but we must not let the 'cat out of the bag' that its all BULLSHIT" ... "you owe me big time"

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Can't argue with that.

It's not a lie if you believe it. - George Costanza

I am not defending Christie but I bet if you took any high level politician and put them under a microscope, you would find tons of corrupt, shady dealings.

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Which makes him supremely qualified to be a politician.

Christie is a pathological liar.

Awesome. I recall back during the episode a JCLister said exactly this, that it was all theater, and the lower raise was the goal all along while making the new Governors look like "men of the people".

Port Authority officials: Battle over toll hikes was all for show

By Steve Strunsky/The Star-Ledger
on March 02, 2014 at 6:02 AM, updated March 02, 2014 at 7:11 AM

On Aug. 5, 2011, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey issued a jaw-dropping proposal to immediately raise bridge and tunnel tolls by $4 for E-ZPass subscribers and $7 for cash customers, followed by another increase in 2014. The proposed hikes amounted to a 75 percent increase for E-ZPass users and 112.5 percent for those paying cash.

The authority also proposed PATH fares go up $1, from $1.75 to $2.75.

The reaction was swift and angry, with commuters and lawmakers blasting the increases.

Gov. Chris Christie, who said he had no advance knowledge of the proposal, was among them.

?You?re kidding, right?? Christie told reporters three days after the announcement, describing what he said when briefed on the proposal.

But within two weeks, after a blizzard of 36 press releases by the Port Authority on behalf of toll hike supporters and after public hearings packed with union laborers backing the plan, Christie and his New York counterpart, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, consented to a more modest increase. Even then, the governors conditioned their approval on a top-to-bottom financial review of the agency.

The thing is, a former Port Authority official told The Star-Ledger, ?It was all bullshit.?


Read more here:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2014 ... _show.html#incart_m-rpt-1