Carrying crooks’ water: While New Jersey tries to kill the Waterfront Commission, the docks are getting corrupt again

Three months ago, on May 16, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said after the resignation of Trenton’s member on the bistate crime-fighting Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor: “I will be nominating his successor shortly.” Never happened. Since then, six regularly scheduled Monday meetings have been canceled. But last Wednesday there was an emergency session because there is an accused violent felon, longshoreman James Tyliczka, working on the docks.

Tyliczka has been arrested for drunk driving a few times and had his driver’s license suspended, but this April he was arrested for assaulting a woman (who appears to be either his wife or girlfriend). Then on June 30, say Middlesex County prosecutors, Tyliczka violated a court order to stay away from her and imprisoned her in her own home and hit her with a wooden object and a hard plastic object in the head and face, knocking her out. He is out on bail awaiting trial.

Under longstanding practice, once the commission learned of this, it moved to immediately suspend Tyliczka from his sweetheart job on the docks, where he earned $301,541.26 last year. The New York commissioner voted for the suspension, but the order can’t be finalized since there is no Jersey commissioner. Thanks, governor.

Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone was appointed by Murphy and is two years into her five-year term, having been confirmed by the state Senate in 2020. And while the Senate had a session last week where they confirmed a number of Murphy nominations, there’s still no one tapped for the Waterfront Commission.

It’s even worse because New York is suing New Jersey in the U.S. Supreme Court for trying to quit the agency and the court forbade Jersey against “taking action to withdraw unilaterally from the Compact or terminate the Commission.” But by not having a commissioner, Jersey has effectively killed the panel and let bad apples stay on the job. Jersey’s high court papers are due on Monday, the same day of another canceled meeting. Maybe they’ll have the fortunate Mr. Tyliczka file an amicus brief.