Tensions Rise Between Christie, DRBA Reps
By David Madden
NEW CASTLE, Del. (CBS) - The Delaware River and Bay Authority -- which runs the Delaware Memorial Bridges and various entities in New Jersey and Delaware -- wanted to give workers their first pay hikes in several years.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie vetoed that idea, prompting a blistering response from some Delaware board members and catching the board chair, a Christie appointee, in the middle of it all.
Jim Hogan, in his second term, says he's "frustrated" with tensions on the panel. He says they've made reforms sought by Christie, but saw this idea rejected over the size of healthcare contributions DRBA workers make.
The rejection prompted three Delaware commissioners to bemoan what they called Christie's "New Jersey way or the highway" approach. Whatever you want to call it, Hogan says that approach makes his job more difficult:
"I'm there to do a job till '16, at which time I would decline reappointment."
As for the aftermath of the veto, Hogan says the agency will continue to lose people vital to the operation, particularly on ferries and in the police department.