tunnel. the lincoln tunnel. below the lincoln tunnel your next option is another tunnel. the holland tunnel. below that, you have three bridge options all of which go from new jersey not to manhattan but rather to staten island. first you get to the baon bridge. beyond that, the goethals bridge and there s an outer bridge crossing. holds a romantic place in my family because my partner, susan, was born under the bridge in perth amboy. something really bad happened on the outer bridge, it was a huge screwup, and it got people really mad. port authority says staffing shortages are to blame for the massive backup for staten island residents trying to get home on easter sunday. drivers say only one cash lane was open at the toll booth which backed up traffic for all the other lanes.
authority had talked about it. the article, confirms evidence of pat foye being the leak, stirring up trouble. in this case, he s playing in traffic. made a big mistake. so in the earlier bridge backup, david samson s mad at the executive director because of the backup and he says so. in the more recent one, the ft. lee one, there s nothing said publicly, the only thing david samson is apparently mad at the executive director about this time is that he s talking to the press about it. he s playing in traffic, he s the leak, stirring up trouble. he s made a big mistake. that s when some of the first press about the ft. lee disaster came out. during the ft. lee disaster itself, during the shutdown itself. on the final day of the shutdown. when that executive director who leaked to the press had intervened to ungridlock ft. lee and re-open the bridge, david samson turns up again in the documents that have been released thus far under subpoena.
after some initial conflicting and confusing information that night, the port authority did issue a statement, apologizing statement on monday. the port authority apologizes for the disruptions that travelers faced. that was not good enough. the written apology was not enough. ultimately they had the executive director of the port authority get out and make a public apology to the people of staten island. i will start by apologizing to staten island residents and everybody affected by the extraordinary delays. april 20 11 this was. that was an apoll write from the port authority executive director after that agency closed down all but one cash lane between new jersey and new york and caused a big backup. that was an apology at a public meeting called to apologize. apology to the public came after that executive director had already met with local officials
governor christie s deputy chief of staff. joining us now is steve, reporter covering the port authority for new jersey star ledger newspaper. thank you for being here. thanks for having me, rachel. you are more informed on these matters. you ve been covering the port authority for a long time. you seem to be doing pretty well. having covered the backup when it happened, did i screw anything up there? is it pretty much how it happened? you got both the ft. lee backup and the goethals pretty on the mark. excellent. tell me what you think people should understand about david samson, about his role in this agency but also his role in new jersey politics? samson is a longtime player in new jersey politics. not only on the republican side with christie, but he was named attorney general originally by a democrat, jim mcgreevey. he s a partner in a prominent law firm.
sampson s complaint was that the executive director of the port authority talked about it. pat foy is the leak, stirring up trouble in this case, he s playing in traffic, made a big mistake. in the earlier bridge backup, david samson s mad at the executive director because of the backup, and he says so. in the more recent one, the ft. lee one, there s nothing said publicly, the only thing david samson is mad about this time is that he s talking to the press about it. he s playing in traffic, he s the leak, stirring up trouble. he s made a big mistake. that s when some of the first press about the ft. lee disaster came out. during the ft. lee disaster itself, during the shutdown itself. when that executive director intervened to ungridlock ft.