Christie ally guilty, squeezed airline for route to 2nd home

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The former chairman of the agency that controls New York City-area airports pleaded guilty today to using his post to get United Airlines to run direct flights to South Carolina so that he could more easily visit his vacation home.

David Samson, a political mentor to Republican Gov. Chris Christie, pleaded guilty to a corruption charge that he wrongfully used his Port Authority of New York and New Jersey post.

Former United CEO Jeff Smisek and two government relations executives left the airline last September after United conducted its own investigation. None of them has been charged with any criminal wrongdoing.

Samson admitted that he used the flight from Newark to Columbia, S.C., 27 times between October 2011 and January 2014.

He admitted that he pressured United to reinstate the flight to Columbia, not far from his vacation home in Aiken, by removing a hangar that United wanted at Newark Liberty International Airport from a board agenda.