35. Patrick Foye

Gov. Andrew Cuomo knew what he was doing when he put Patrick Foye in charge of some of the most critical transportation infrastructure in the nation. Every day the bridges, tunnels and airports his authority oversees affect the lives of millions of Americans in our region. They go to work, they come home, they go to places around the world. Let’s face it. The Port Authority’s scope is huge. Yet Foye, who recently announced he’ll be stepping down, seems to keep it all in stride without losing his professorial cool. One minute he’s honoring the anniversary of the Beatles arriving at JFK’s Pan Am terminal, and the next, he’s opposing the abuse of power at Newark Airport perpetrated by David Samson, whom Gov. Chris Christie made Port Authority chairman. Samson sought to strong-arm United Airlines into running a flight to South Carolina, where he had a vacation home. Once he caught wind of this scheme, Foye clipped Samson’s wings, and he subsequently resigned. From everything we’ve learned, Foye was the one of the most ethical officials to stand up for commuters—and good government advocates—during that Christie-inspired traffic jam scandal at the George Washington Bridge. Now, if we could just get Foye to knock a few bucks off the tolls, we’d be in heaven. Getting from LI to New Jersey is very expensive.