NJ closer to withdrawing from port watchdog commission
The state of New Jersey has moved closer to withdrawing from a bi-state commission formed to monitor corruption at the New York region’s ports.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a lawsuit filed by the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor that had sought to block New Jersey’s move. If the state of New York doesn’t step in to file a legal challenge, the commission would effectively be dissolved. A message was left Tuesday with the New York state attorney general’s office.
The commission was formed in the 1950s to combat entrenched organized crime influences at the ports. But in recent years, New Jersey has contended that organized crime has largely been driven out of the ports and that the commission was impeding job growth by over-regulating businesses there and making hiring more difficult. Under New Jersey’s plan, state police would take over investigating criminal activity at the ports.