David Samson, Port Authority chief, resigns after report on bridge lane closures

TRENTON -- Port Authority chairman David Samson resigned Friday, a day after a report commissioned by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to investigate lane closings at the George Washington Bridge recommended changes at the agency.

Samson, a Christie appointee, was linked by emails to efforts to contain political damage after the September traffic jams at the foot of the bridge in Fort Lee. The bridge is run by the Port Authority.

In one message obtained under subpoena, another Port Authority official, David Wildstein, told Bridget Kelly, an aide to Christie, that Samson was "helping us to retaliate" after the authority's New York-appointed executive director, Pat Foye, ordered the closures lifted.

Foye told the New York Daily News editorial board in February that Samson lacked the moral authority to run the agency.

Christie announced Samson's resignation during a news conference in Trenton but did not cast blame on him. He said he had asked Samson to stay on through last year's election.

"He's 74 years old and he's tired," Christie said. The resignation was "no shock," the governor said. According to Christie, Samson said the move was needed to alter the direction of the agency, which needs "fundamental structural change."

Christie wasn't opposed to some changes at the Port Authority, including possibly splitting the organization in two.

Samson, a former New Jersey attorney general, was the subject of reports this year that found businesses he represented may have benefited from Port Authority actions.