| Notes |
Almost immediately after Christie appointed David Samson as chairman in early 2011, according to former top Port Authority officials, Samson and the Port’s political staff began meeting with United officials privately, shutting out the professional aviation staff. Included in some of those meetings were Bill Baroni and David Wildstein, since charged by federal prosecutors as two of the Bridgegate co-conspirators.
In September 2011, records show, Samson and Baroni sat down for dinner with Jeff Smisek, United’s CEO, for dinner at Novita, a haute Italian restaurant in Grammercy Park.
[. . .]
Over one week in June 2013 – Christie’s re-election year – individual United managers gave $24,000 to his campaign; they’d never given anything like that before. McCarthy wouldn’t discuss the contributions.
That same week, United lobbyist Jamie Fox met with Christie’s top staffer at the Port Authority, Bill Baroni, who was then the deputy executive director.
[. . .]
Two months later – in August 2013, three months before Christie was up for re-election – Smisek and Baroni met over lunch at Vic & Anthony’s steakhouse in Manhattan. Later that month, Smisek, Samson and Christie met. Shortly afterward, according to letters, calendar entries and interviews with people familiar with the talks, United worked quickly to secure a deal to lower the fees. By Nov. 13, a week after the election, a deal appeared to be at hand.
“We are grateful to the Port Authority leadership for being willing to address the long-standing inequity in flight fees paid by carriers serving the Newark airport and those serving the New York airports,” United’s Executive Vice President Nene Foxhall wrote in an email to Baroni. The email was accompanied by 12 detailed questions on how United’s cost would be lowered if it was given the same rate as carriers at JFK and La Guardia airports.
Just a few hours after that email was sent, Baroni, Christie, Samson and Smisek all met at Newark Airport for a press conference announcing that United would fly to Atlantic City, another cherished Christie goal, because of its potential for boosting business in the downtrodden gambling town, and its importance to the South Jersey political bosses. |