Before John Degnan showed up in July 2014, the Port Authority was a national punch line, awash in toll hikes, patronage, corruption, and hubris.

Before Degnan, the PA was a gridlocked, $8 billion agency hip-deep in the muck of politics, serving the leisure interests of the previous chairman as much as the transportation interests of the region.

Before Degnan, public access to board meetings was as common as an open seat on the 8 a.m. PATH out of Journal Square.

And before Degnan, tear-downs and renovations of decaying facilities such as the Port Authority Bus Terminal and Terminal A at Newark Airport seemed beyond reach.

Problems, usually of political origin, will always be endemic at the PA, and it will be up to former state Senator Kevin O'Toole to shepherd the agency through an overdue schedule of reforms as it tries to shed its vampiric image as our transportation-industrial complex.

But it is better positioned to take that step now, thanks to Degnan, and his departure as Port Authority Chairman may be the fulcrum between the agency's sleazy recent history and a future that does honor to its original creed.

For ministers in search of homilies, start there: Degnan restored some semblance of integrity to the PA, a place where such an aspiration would have elicited laughs and groans three years ago.

That could not be done without putting commuters first. From the moment Sen. Loretta Weinberg gave him the grand tour of the PA Bus Terminal, which has the continental charm of a gas station restroom, Degnan got to work fixing small but significant problems such as leaking ceilings, ventilation, bathrooms, and bus logistics, which shortened lines and wait times.

And then he insisted that a new terminal receive the lion's share of the $32 billion capital plan, despite hostility and interference from Gov. Andrew Cuomo - who still does not "give a damn" about the terminal on Manhattan's West Side - and political cheap shots from New York's congressional delegation.

For this alone, Degnan will be remembered as "the greatest friend that commuters from New Jersey ever had," Weinberg (D-Bergen) predicts.

And he did it while Cuomo and Chris Christie pulled the plug on reforms and couldn't settle on a management structure for their cash cow.

Senate president Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) cut to the chase: "New Jersey has had no better champion than John Degnan."

Assembly Transportation Committee chairman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), a notoriously tough grader, concedes that Degnan "had the credibility to lead the PA in a direction that made me believe he wanted to reverse a trend of corruption. But it's not something a single chair can accomplish in a few years, which is why legislative reform is so critical."

The predictable calumny chases him to the exit. The Twin Towers Alliance isn't wrong when it suggests that the PA is "still an opaque, secretive, wasteful and arrogant agency that continues to roll over for the Governors."

The diesel emissions around Port Newark, which the PA controls, still damage the health of children. The PATH extension to Newark Airport, which Degnan endorses, is still a $1.7 billion boondoggle. And Degnan never closed a deal with unions, so the next settlement will include hefty retroactive back pay for PA cops who are already enriched by excessive overtime.

But it is undeniable that Degnan imposed administrative reforms and upheld New Jersey's interests, after both were compromised by the criminal behavior of other Christie appointees.

O'Toole, an effective legislator, has big shoes to fill, and he'll always face questions about his relationship with Bridgegate figures such as Bill Baroni and David Wildstein, and his partisan leanings during the debacle that brought shame to the PA. But at least he'll have a touchstone in the man he succeeds.

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