Bidding for a 10-year contract to provide ferry service to Lady Liberty and Ellis Island has closed, but a war of words between Rep. Anthony Weiner and current contract holder Circle Line is just heating up.
The National Park Service must decide whether Circle Line – often criticized for long wait lines, old equipment and high ticket prices – will hang on to the contract reportedly worth up to $350 million. It’s not known when a decision will be made, or how many bidders came forward by Friday’s 4 p.m. deadline.
But now Weiner (D-N.Y.) is releasing documents from a 2005 inspector-general report critical of the friendly relationship between a former park service director and a Circle Line lawyer – and showing that funds earmarked for improvements to the Statue of Liberty monument were used to pay the lawyer and his firm thousands of dollars.
The report found nothing improper, and Circle Line officials are fuming over the timing of the documents’ release.
“To bring up these charges from an old report when Circle Line was cleared by the inspector general shows how desperate Weiner is to undermine Circle Line,” said spokesman George Artz.
Circle Line President and CEO J.B. Meyer said Weiner had “gone too far . . . and I’ve got to wonder if Weiner has a horse in the race that he’s favoring.”
Weiner said, “It’s not personal,” and added, “They’ve got a lucrative contract, and they’ll do anything they can to keep it.”