Rarely used gubernatorial veto power threatened by NJ Gov could paralyze tollers (ADDITIONS)

New Jersey's dynamic Republican governor Chris Christie is threatening to deploy a rarely used lever of power - the veto of public authority board minutes. He is quoted as saying in an interview at the state house in Trenton today that if opposition Democrats in the state legislature keep blocking his appointments he is going to "start vetoing."

The dispute focuses on state and bistate toll authorities, initially PANYNJ, SJTA and NJTA.

The first public authority minutes he says he'll veto are those of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the second largest toller in the US. Most state and bistate authorities have their own governing board of directors but also a requirement that their 'minutes' or formal record of decisions be signed by the governor or governors of the states involved. Some give the governor a power of veto over minutes, a similar power.

This reserve power is intended to provide a check on independent state agencies, but it also gives the governor discretionary power to immobilize an agency by vetoes.

A veto of the minutes effectively nullifies a board of directors meeting and all the decisions made.

Throwing a little Christie weight around

Christie who became governor in January makes clear he is threatening vetoes in order to pressure recalcitrant legislators into approving his chosen appointees to the boards of state agencies.

He was quoted as saying today: "If I don’t start to get my people on these boards I’m just going to start vetoing. I think I’ve been pretty patient.”

Christie said his veto power would not interfere with routine operations but it would block state agencies' ability to execute new contracts, and issue bonds.

Christie said the state Senate’s failure to approve his board candidates has left him responsible for the actions of boards that are still filled with appointees of previous governors.

He said the nominees awaiting action by the legislature include:

- one candidate for the board of the PANYNJ which operates four NJ-NY toll bridges and two toll tunnels

- three nominees to the New Jersey Turnpike Authority that also operates the Garden State Parkway

- two at the South Jersey Transportation Authority which manages the Atlantic City Expressway

“This is just a wholesale refusal to move things,” Christie said of the Democrats in the legislature.

Other toll agencies that could be affected by the dispute include:

- Delaware River Port Authority which has no port but four important PA-NJ toll bridges near Philadelphia

- Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission that operates eleven PA-NJ mostly toll bridges in the white water section of the Delaware north of Trenton including several interstate highways

- Delaware River and Bay Authority which runs the important Delaware memorial toll bridge NJ-DE on the main highway between New York and Washington DC

Christie vetoed Turnpike and DRBA contracts back in March

March 19 this year Gov Christie used his veto power over the New Jersey Turnpike to block five professional services contracts approved by the Turnpike board of directors February 23. And he also vetoed minutes of the bistate DRBA toll bridge authority.

In the case of the Turnpike Christie said the contracts "ignore New Jersey Administrative Code guidelines for negotiating fair and reasonable fees."

The $5m of contracts were engineering supervision contracts involving fees higher than those bid by competitors - 85% higher in one case.

In the case of the DRBA Delaware Memorial Bridge the governor vetoed a contract for legal services by a law firm that has been a prolific funder of Democrat Party candidates and has family connections to Democrat Parrty politicians.

A Christie spokesman said the contract vetoed by the governor was open-ended with no limit on costs.

Governor Christie said in a statement: "We simply can no longer tolerate this unreasonable spending and must hold these agencies accountable for their actions."

TOLLROADSnews 2010-08-23 ADDITION ON EARLIER VETOES 2010-08-25