Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey have fumbled a great opportunity to reshape the notoriously secretive, patronage-ridden Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Rather than approve fundamental reforms passed by near-unanimous votes in both state legislatures, the two governors are proposing a weaker set of changes that would leave largely undisturbed their iron grip over the authority. For good measure, they have demanded the resignations of all present commissioners, which would give them even greater control going forward.

The authority has been a major embarrassment for too many years, most recently when Mr. Christie’s staff and appointees at the Port Authority engineered a traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge in a bizarre act of political revenge.

That scandal that ensued was quickly followed by revelations of other abuses. These included repeated failures by former Chairman David Samson, a Christie appointee, to recuse himself from voting on projects that could help clients of his New Jersey law firm and benefit his business interests. The agency also approved a $200-million-plus deal for land worth less than half that amount negotiated behind closed doors and over the protests of Port Authority staff to bail out the city of Bayonne, N.J.

The legislative reform would have made it harder for the governors to pack the authority with their friends and political cronies. It would have required the commissioners to swear that their duty was, first and foremost, to the Port Authority’s mission of running the bridges, ports, airports and other major facilities in the two states. It would have mandated more public involvement in the agency’s decisions, including more public warnings and hearings before any toll increase.