Chris Christie is presently embroiled in a huge scandal in New Jersey. The scandal, affectionately dubbed BridgeGate, is big enough to oust Christie if the claims that he had something to do with the lanes closure, turns out to be true. But BridgeGate is a small potato compared to what Christie did in Hoboken.
New Jersey got billions from the Federal Government to help the state recover from the Hurricane Sandy devastation. One of the cities that suffered was Hoboken and Chris Christie promised the people of the city that he would do whatever he can to help them recover. But when Hoboken’s mayor refused to endorse Christie’s re-election, Christie refused to help the people of Hoboken.
If it is determined that the people of Hoboken did not get the recovery funds allotted to them from the federal government because of Christie’s political retribution, then this could be a criminal act.
Chris Christie was in the middle of a reelection campaign. In this country, there is a law that governs campaign finance and all indications are that Chris Christie violated the campaign finance law when he took federal funds and distributed those funds based on political endorsements. That’s against the law.
You you cannot bribe someone to endorse you. Federal funds, intended to offer relief to those affected by a federally declared natural disaster, cannot be doled out to your political buddies or your endorsers alone, and when Christie shortchanged Hoboken because the mayor of that city chose not to endorse him, that’s a form of bribery using federal relief funds, and that’s against the law.
Hayes explains more about Hoboken.
