No "Shut Up and Sit Down!" to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and his cozy little hook up with Port Authority Contract awarder Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey.
Less than two years before Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry
Jones paid for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s tickets and travel to NFL
games, government documents show Christie personally pushed the Port Authority
to approve a lucrative contract for a firm part-owned by Jones. Christie
nonetheless accepted the gifts from Jones, despite New Jersey ethics rules
barring gifts to public officials from persons or entities that those officials
“deal with, contact, or regulate in the course of official business.”
On March 19, 2013, Christie and New York Gov. Andrew
Cuomo issued a press release announcing their selection of Legends Hospitality
LLC to operate the observation deck on the top floor of One World Trade Center.
The next day, the Port Authority board -- which is appointed by Christie and
Cuomo -- specifically cited the governors’ announcement in voting to approve
the contract for the company, which is jointly owned by the Dallas Cowboys, New
York Yankees and Checketts Partners Investment Fund.
The Port Authority
press release announcing the vote quotes Dallas Cowboys executive Jerry Jones
Jr. as saying: "We are humbled to have been chosen to operate the
Observatory Deck."
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