About the waterfront: Gov. Hochul must fight New Jersey’s attempt to dismantle a corruption-fighting agency

Gov. Hochul showed necessary mettle in saying no to New Jersey’s illegal and unconstitutional attempt to quit the bistate Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, which battles mobsters and the mob-influenced International Longshoremen’s Association for control of the docks on both sides of the Hudson. She must now stay firm as Jersey tries to press ahead with its dirty work.

Ever since the agency was created by the two states and blessed by Congress in 1953, the ILA has been trying to wiggle out from under the watchful oversight of the harbor cops. For decades, the union and the legislators in Trenton it pushes around tried repealing a dual-state law requiring that all hiring be “made in a fair and non-discriminatory basis in accordance with the requirements of the laws of the United States and the states of New York and New Jersey dealing with equal employment opportunities.” Thankfully, New York would never agree and fair hiring has remained.

So in 2013, the ILA sued the agency in federal court and lost, then lost again on appeal. The union’s next step was getting Jersey to walk away by passing a law, even though the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services wrote a memorandum saying that under the U.S. Constitution, New York needed to agree.

When Gov. Chris Christie vetoed it in 2015, he wrote, “I am advised that federal law does not permit one state to unilaterally withdraw from a bi-state compact approved by Congress.” Christie wound up signing the same unconstitutional bill — on his last day in office.

Now, after a long court fight that the U.S. Supreme Court didn’t want to get involved with, Jersey again insists it has the right to quit. Gov. Phil Murphy announced that the commission is kaput as of March 28, with Jersey taking over policing of its docks, and abolishing the fair-hiring rules so hated by the ILA. Fortunately, on Wednesday afternoon, Hochul’s top lawyer Liz Fine wrote the commissioners that the Jersey law is void. Two hours later, Murphy told the agency that it must shut down on March 28. The next move is Hochul’s.