Ah Chris Christie. Allow me to refer to you as piblic bully number one.
By now everyone’s heard of Bridge-Gate, where the busiest bridge in the nation – the George Washington – was mysteriously closed back in September on the first day of school, right before the election in 2013.
No one seemed to know the reason for the bridge closing and although questions were asked, answers were few. The answer that initially came forth – the closure was a traffic study – made no sense.
Then it was revealed that the closure to the bridge happened in the town of a Democratic mayor who endorsed Chris Christie’s opponent in the gubernatorial election. Then more questions were asked. Did Chris Christie ordered the bridge closing to cause havoc in this town of Fort Lee, thus, causing unnecessary problems for Mayor Mark Sokolich – the man who refused to endorse him?
Christie denied it of course, then today, the emails were made public.
“It will be a tough November for this little Serbian,” wrote David Wildstein, one of Christie’s appointees to the agency responsible for maintaining the bridge. His comment, apparently referring to Mayor Mark Sokolich.
The emails show that Bridget Anne Kelly, a deputy chief of staff in Mr. Christie’s office, gave a signal to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to close the lanes about two weeks before the closings occurred.
“Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” she emailed David Wildstein, Mr. Christie’s close friend from high school, and one of his appointees at the Port Authority, which controls the bridge.
After the emails were released on Wednesday, Mr. Christie canceled his one public event for the day, which had been billed as an announcement of progress in the recovery from Hurricane Sandy. His office had no immediate comment.
Mr. Christie’s handpicked chairman of the Port Authority, David Samson, was also involved in the closings, according to the emails, which describe his efforts to “retaliate” against New York officials who had not been told of the changes and sought to ease the gridlock.
A text between Christie affiliates went like this.
“Is it wrong that I am smiling?” Mr. Wildstein texted Ms. Kelly.
“No,” she texted back.
“I feel badly about the kids,” he texted.
“They are the children of Buono voters,” she said, referring to Mr. Christie’s Democratic opponent, Barbara Buono, who was trailing consistently in the polls and lost by a wide margin.
Christie’s canceled all appearances today after these emails were made public. He might as well cancel his plans to run for president in 2016.
