As Cuomo settles in, police tensions sure to arise

At last month's Hofstra University debate, the sign-waving supporters of Democrat Andrew Cuomo for governor included a group from the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association.

This was unsurprising. On July 9, the union stepped forward to slam Rick Lazio, then the expected GOP nominee, for "exploiting" the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center by using "scare tactics" surrounding the planned Cordoba House Islamic center near Ground Zero. The union had already donated scores of thousands of dollars to Cuomo's campaigns. And on Oct. 28, its president, Paul Nunziato, hailed Cuomo in an endorsement for his "character and experience."

As Cuomo's transition takes shape, however, a thousand governance issues take center stage and the recent campaign fades. At some point along the way, an unresolved tension in law-enforcement circles over the role and practices of the bi-state Port Authority's police seems assured to come up.

Among those Cuomo has tapped for his transition team's public safety group is Ray Kelly, the New York City police commissioner under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who also backed Cuomo.

Kelly and allies have long believed his NYPD - which he's credited with building into a major, sophisticated anti-terrorism agency - should play a direct role at Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in Queens. Those airports, along with Newark International, as well as the cross-Hudson bridges and tunnels, and Ground Zero and the midtown Manhattan bus terminal, fall squarely on P.A. turf.

The ad hoc panel is due to meet Thursday in lower Manhattan. City and state insiders alike said they seriously doubt any linkage between Kelly's advisory role will develop between the transition and the many turf tangles involving the P.A.

Still, New Jersey's Republican governor, Chris Christie, is only a year into his term. With Cuomo just settling in, security issues seem salient as ever. So, the time for revisiting bi-state P.A. arrangements may be at hand in the next year or two - regardless of what's ironed out in the transition panel.

Four years ago, in his final year in office, Gov. George Pataki vetoed Bloomberg-backed legislation that would have expanded the authority board to include the city's police commissioner. Could the bill, which the state Legislature approved, make a comeback?

"Kelly is always trying to poach our property. That's no secret," Nunziato of the PA-PBA said. "The way he polices and the way we do is a little different. If something is going on, he'll flood the place with thousands of cops from all over the city. . . . We do more specialized training, patrolling the prime terrorist targets.

"Anything he does doesn't surprise me," Nunziato said.

These days the P.A., controlled jointly by the governors of New York and New Jersey, is moving to trim some of its highest-paid police brass through buyouts and other cost cuts. Nunziato's PBA has a 400-plus-page work contract that is known around the region for rigid rules and overtime extras.

"Nobody should be surprised," said a law enforcement official well-versed in P.A. operations, "if they see Ray Kelly's NYPD take over the New York airports."

The Cuomo administration in formation may present itself as a big tent. But no shelter of any size will guarantee harmony within.