Sherrill wins first battle with Hochul over Port Authority post

Mikie Sherrill has been the governor of New Jersey for less than three weeks, and she’s already won a significant skirmish with her counterpart across the river.

Last week, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey voted to appoint former acting Assistant U.S. Secretary of Transportation Jean Roehrenbeck, a Sherrill loyalist, as the new deputy executive director.   But that didn’t come without a tussle.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul initially opposed the restoration of the deputy executive director position, but New York’s decision to leak the spat to the New York Times – and a Daily News editorial that backfired — simply expanded Sherrill’s resolve.  The fledgling governor wouldn’t sign off on Hochul’s pick for executive director, Kathryn Garcia, until New York agreed to Roehrenbeck.  And Sherrill didn’t care at all about what the Daily News had to say.

So at the end of the day, it was Hochul, not Sherrill, who blinked.  Sherill got what she wanted, and demonstrated that she wouldn’t get pushed around.

With an increasingly strong alliance with longtime Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole – the two speak frequently, and the New Jersey governor joined him to tour Port Authority facilities a few days ago – Sherrill seems to have secured a strong hold on the byzantine bi-state agency.

Roehrenbeck served as Sherrill’s chief of staff on Capitol Hill and as an aide to Rep. Steve Rothman before joining Pete Buttigieg at the Department of Transportation.  She comes with policy chops.  And her husband, Phil Murphy, works for the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.

“The Port Authority succeeds when New York and New Jersey work together with focus and purpose,” said Sherrill.  “And the coming years must bring meaningful progress on the two biggest transportation infrastructure projects in the country: the Gateway Project and the rebuild of the Midtown Bus Terminal. Jean Roehrenbeck has the experience, judgment, and commitment to public service that this moment demands. I look forward to working closely with Kathryn, Jean, and the entire leadership team to modernize our infrastructure, improve reliability, and keep costs down for commuters and taxpayers.”

O’Toole praised Garcia, a former New York City mayoral candidate, as “an extraordinary public servant and the right leader to guide the Port Authority at this pivotal moment.”

“Over the past several weeks, I have had the opportunity to work closely with Kathryn, and her command of complex operations, her collaborative leadership style, and her unwavering commitment to accountability have been evident at every step. She brings a rare combination of vision and execution that will be essential as we deliver the largest capital plan in the agency’s history,” said O’Toole.  “Jean Roehrenbeck will bring valuable experience in transportation policy and intergovernmental affairs and the agency’s mission. Together, working with the Board of Commissioners and our dedicated workforce, this leadership team will continue building a more effective, transparent, and forward-looking Port Authority for the region and the millions of people and businesses who rely on us every day.”

Governors have just two statutory powers at the Port Authority: they can appoint commissioners, with the advice and consent of the State Senate, and can veto the minutes of any action by the commissioners.

Since the war between Governors Christine Todd Whitman and George Pataki in the late 1990s kept the Port Authority from taking any action for more than a year, agency bureaucrats have created an intricate, almost secret system that allows most business to continue without the governor’s monthly consent.