XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: kunsthallen@bkunsthal.dk   
      
   Maybe when they fail this time they can investigate the Fuddy   
   murder in Hawaii.   
      
   NEWARK, N.J. - Already embroiled in a criminal probe over lane   
   closures at the George Washington Bridge, Gov. Christie's   
   administration is facing an investigation over a second bridge.   
      
   The Manhattan District Attorney's Office and the Securities and   
   Exchange Commission are investigating whether $1.8 billion in   
   funding to repair the Pulaski Skyway and related projects -   
   pushed by the Christie administration - was misrepresented in   
   bond documents by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey,   
   a person familiar with the investigation told the Associated   
   Press.   
      
   The person was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and   
   spoke on condition of anonymity.   
      
   A government official with direct knowledge said the District   
   Attorney's Office is investigating.   
      
   Besides federal laws and regulations, New York state has its own   
   securities law, called the Martin Act. It allows for criminal   
   charges for making false statements when selling bonds and some   
   other financial instruments; the charges can be felonies. The   
   law also allows authorities to bring civil suits.   
   In an e-mailed statement, the Port Authority said the agreement   
   for the bridge project "was analyzed and negotiated by lawyers   
   on all sides," and the bond disclosures were reviewed by a law   
   firm that has served as underwriters' counsel for the authority   
   for 25 years.   
      
   A spokeswoman for District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. declined   
   to comment Tuesday, as did representatives for Christie and the   
   SEC.   
      
   The New York Times first reported the investigation.   
      
   The decaying, 82-year-old Skyway connecting Newark and Jersey   
   City carries 70,000 vehicles daily. The Skyway is owned and   
   operated by New Jersey and offers a direct route to the Holland   
   Tunnel.   
      
   The inbound lanes were closed in April for two years for the $1   
   billion project.   
      
   The 3.5-mile steel truss bridge is a New Jersey symbol, featured   
   in Orson Welles' 1938 broadcast of The War of the Worlds, and in   
   the opening credits of the television series The Sopranos.   
      
   Christie began to push for the project after he pulled the plug   
   on a $9 billion rail tunnel from New Jersey into Manhattan in   
   2010 - a project that was to have used $3 billion from the Port   
   Authority.   
      
   But the agreement signed in 2011 between the Port Authority and   
   the New Jersey Department of Transportation labeled it an   
   approach to the Lincoln Tunnel, which is several miles away.   
      
   According to published reports, the Port Authority is not   
   authorized to pay for work on access roads to the Holland Tunnel   
   because the tunnel predates the authority's 1921 formation. The   
   agency can pay for roads leading to the Lincoln Tunnel.   
      
   The Bergen Record first reported on the Port Authority's mention   
   of the Lincoln Tunnel in the Skyway documents.   
      
   Christie's administration also is the target of state and   
   federal investigations over lane closures at the George   
   Washington Bridge last fall that appear to have been ordered as   
   political payback.   
      
   Several Port Authority officials have resigned and Christie   
   fired a staffer who apparently was revealed to have ordered the   
   closures in an e-mail.   
      
   Christie has denied any advance knowledge of the lane closure   
   scheme. A taxpayer-funded report prepared by a law firm   
   commissioned by Christie is said to have absolved the governor   
   of any wrongdoing.   
      
      
   Read more at   
   http://www.ph   
   illy.com/phil   
   ly/news/polit   
   ics/20140625_   
   A_second_N_J_   
   _bridge_is_said_to_draw_probe.html#qXTSbubuCZdEwzWb.99   
      
   http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20140625_A_second_N_J__b   
   ridge_is_said_to_draw_probe.html   
      
       
      
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