Tag: Chris Christie

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Politics

Another of Chris Christie’s Friends with Ties to Bridge-Gate Scandal

A Port Authority police officer with personal ties to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was at the George Washington Bridge when access lanes were closed last September and personally drove David Wildstein, the Christie appointee who supervised the closings, on a tour of the area as traffic brought it to a standstill.

Documents submitted to a New Jersey legislative committee by Wildstein also show that the officer,  Lieutenant Thomas “Chip” Michaels, appears to have sent periodic text messages to Wildstein updating him on the effects of the lane closures and their crippling impact on the town of Fort Lee. In one message, on the first day of the lane closures, Michaels told Wildstein he might have an idea to “make this better.” It is not clear what he meant

Michaels, who joined the Port Authority Police Department in 1998 according to payroll records, grew up in Christie and Wildstein’s hometown of Livingston, N.J. In recent years, he coached Christie’s son at little league hockey. Michael’s brother, Jeffrey Michaels is among the most powerful Republicans in New Jersey politics – a lobbyist whose practice has soared in value during the Christie years and who has donated heavily to pro-Christie organizations.

Michaels’ presence at the lane closures with Wildstein is an important new detail because it places another person with long-time ties to the governor, this time in the Port Authority Police Department, at the scene witnessing the traffic surge that has since come to engulf Chrstie’s administration in legal inquires.

The revelation is also important because Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich had earlier questioned the Port Authority Police Department’s actions during the closures. In a September 12 letter, Sokolich wrote to Port Authority deputy executive director Bill Baroni, a Christie appointee who has since resigned, that residents had told him that “Port Authority Police Officers are advising commuters in response to their complaints that this recent traffic debacle is the result of a decision that I, as the Mayor, recently made.” There is no evidence that Michaels was one of these officers.

Christie emphatically denies taking part in or having any knowledge of the decision to close the lanes leading onto one of the busiest bridge in the world. He has said he doesn’t know why members of his inner circle would have ordered the lanes closed.

Video at MSNBC

Categories
Politics Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin Throws Chris Christie Far Under The Bus – Runs Over Him a Few Times

Oh wow, just wow!

Sarah Palin answered a few questions about Chris Christie on Tuesday, and to hear the quitter from Alaska say it, Christie’s claim that he knew nothing about what was happening under his own nose is just about impossible. In an interview with Inside Edition, Palin held Christie by the back of his pants waist and with a swing, tossed the governor under the bus.

“When I was mayor and manager of this city, and then governor of the state, certainly you know what your top aides are up to.”

The New York Daily News thought this statement was a tad bit disingenuous, considering the fact that she claimed ignorance when she dealt with her bit of office scandal better known as Troopergate. The News explained Troopergate:

Palin caught heat for firing Alaska Commissioner of Public Safety Walt Monegan in July 2008, allegedly because he refused to fire State Trooper Mike Wooten.

Palin, her family and aides reportedly had pressured Monegan, a member of Palin’s Cabinet, to get rid of Wooten, who was divorced from Palin’s sister Molly McCann.
Categories
News Politics

Star-Ledger to New Jersey: Oops.

We’ll get right to it.

Tom Moran, the Editorial Page Editor of the Newark Star-Ledger, is now regretting the paper’s endorsement of Chris Christie for Governor in 2013. Am I supposed to feel bad? Reassess my political beliefs? Cancel my subscription?

I will do none of those, but I will shake my head and lament the media landscape that deigns to recognize Chris Christie as a politician worthy of a second term. Or a first term for that matter. Many other writers have already pored over Moran’s writing, and if you want a blisteringly accurate analysis of his blindness on Christie’s educational policies, then please take a detour here.

I have two favorite passages from Moran’s article. Here is the first:

Yes, we knew Christie was a bully. But we didn’t know his crew was crazy enough to put people’s lives at risk in Fort Lee as a means to pressure the mayor. We didn’t know he would use Hurricane Sandy aid as a political slush fund. And we certainly didn’t know that Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer was sitting on a credible charge of extortion by Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno.

With all due respect to Moran, and I do agree with him on many issues, I knew that Christie was a nightmare way before he actually lulled the rest of New Jersey to sleep. He did put people’s lives in danger by cutting programs to the poor, the less fortunate, and to schools by making cuts that could have been alleviated with a small increase in revenue. He did treat Sandy as a political event right after it happened and rode that wave all the way to this past November since he didn’t have an economic record he could successfully run on. His YouTube videos also showed that he had no patience for anyone who disagreed with him and that he would not take any responsibility for the negative aspects of his policies. I can’t speak for Kim Guadango, but she and Christie do make a wonderful team.

So when Moran says that we didn’t know, he’s wrong. Many of us did know and tried to make it clear what was happening. But the Christie ad machine was too well-oiled and too loud. Blame yourself, Mr. Moran. Leave the rest of us out of it.

And now for the second:

And let’s not forget his opponent, Sen. Barbara Buono. She was not up to the job of being governor — even in the view of many Democrats. She got the party’s nomination because more credible candidates, including Cory Booker, backed out in the face of Christie’s strength.

I have not forgotten Barbara Buono and the ethical, caring campaign she ran. Nor have I forgotten that she spoke about the people who make up the majority of New Jersey; people who need to work for a living and whose lives have not benefited from the governor’s policies and, indeed, are being asked to give more while the wealthy are not. She was, and is, certainly up to the job of being governor.  The problem is that Moran cannot recognize the difference between a noise machine and beautiful music. That the Democratic Party did not support her is a problem that I recognized and wrote about. President Obama could have come to New Jersey, and he abdicated his responsibility. But you can’t make the connection between Barbara Buono’s ability to run this state with the lack of endorsements.

Governor Chrisite has always been an ego-driven bully and he has now been wounded politically. What was going to be one of his main campaign weapons, his outrageously inappropriate berating videos, will now be his greatest liability. He’ll need to come up with a different persona in order to reclaim the political middle if he wants to be president, and that will be extremely difficult. Will the core conservative Republican voter shun him? Probably not, but that’s not where elections are won.

Chris Christie has won his final election victory. He was always as he appears now, and it was always apparent to those of us who looked hard at his record and actions. That the Star-Ledger is just noticing tells us all we need to know about its myopia.

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Categories
New Jersey Politics

New Jersey Tax Payers to Get The Bill – $650 per Hour For Christie’s Defense

Now this one I cannot understand. If Christie has nothing to hide, if he did nothing wrong, if he is innocent on any wrong doing and really had no knowledge of Bridgegate, then why has he lawyered up at a rate of $650 per hour? You would think that the self-proclaimed “Conservative” would want to save the taxpayers of his state that money by providing the subpoenaed documents but alas, there is something the governor doesn’t want us to see.

 Governor Christie’s office has agreed to pay a high-powered attorney $650 per hour to represent it in a series of investigations into the George Washington Bridge lane closures.

That’s more than a 40 percent discount off attorney Randy Mastro’s normal rate, he wrote in a letter to state officials, and 20 percent less than the average amount charged by attorneys at the New York office of his firm, Gibson Dunn.

The terms of Mastro’s agreement were laid out in documents released by the governor’s office late Thursday in response to a public records request. A retention letter states that Mastro will help Christie’s office in several ways — including producing documents in connection with an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The reference to producing documents for the U.S. Attorney’s Office is the clearest indication that Christie’s office either has received, or anticipates receiving, a subpoena from federal prosecutors looking into whether a crime was committed. The state Republican Party and Christie’s re-election campaign confirmed earlier this month that they had received federal subpoenas but there has been no public confirmation of others.

Several people within Christie’s inner circle have also received subpoenas for documents by a joint legislative panel investigating the lane closures. The responses to those subpoenas are due on Monday. The attorney advising the investigative legislative panel, former federal prosecutor Reid Schar, is charging $350 per hour, also a discounted rate.

The biggest political crisis of Christie’s political career has also provided work for some of the biggest names in the region’s legal circles. Much of the cost is likely to be borne by taxpayers, although the Port Authority announced earlier this month that it would not pay the legal bills of the Christie ally and Port Authority executive who implemented the lane closures, David Wildstein.

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Mitt Romney Politics

Breaking News: Lying Mitt Romney Says Chris Christie is Telling The Truth – Video

What If a known liar tells you that the sky is falling, would you look up to verify?

What if he tells you that on the President Obama’s watch we have lost jobs. Would you believe him or would you check the recorded facts showing that under this president we have gained almost 10 million jobs so far?

And what if that same liar told you that he believes Chris Christie is telling the truth about Bridgegate? Would you believe him?

Those are some of the questions to ask yourself as you watch Mitt Romney in this recent interview on CNN.

Video

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Bridget Kelly Politics

Bridget Kelly Invokes 5th Amendment – Will Not Produce Documents

Governor Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, Bridget Kelly, will not turn over documents in response to a legislative subpoena, her lawyer said Monday, making her the second person to invoke constitutional protections against self-incrimination.

The information demanded by a legislative committee about the George Washington Bridge lane closures “directly overlaps with a parallel federal grand jury investigation,” a letter from attorney Michael Critchley, Sr. to the committee’s special counsel states. The letter, obtained by The Record, also cites her right to privacy.

“Moreover, providing the Committee with unfettered access to, among other things, Ms. Kelly’s personal diaries, calendars and all of her electronic devices amounts to an inappropriate and unlimited invasion of Ms. Kelly’s personal privacy and would also potentially reveal highly personal confidential communications completely unrelated to the reassignment of access lanes to the George Washignton Bridge,” Critchley wrote.

Already released records show that Kelly sent an e-mail to a Port Authority executive weeks before the lane closures: “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” it said. Christie fired Kelly last month after the e-mail surfaced. He also cut ties with his former campaign manager, Bill Stepien, whose attorney last week also declined to produce the documents requested by a subpoena

Categories
Politics

Chris Christie Shows Up at Boomer Esiason’s Roast

Roast… Roast… Roast… No, this is not a cheap joke about food because I’m talking about Chris Christie, I just love saying the word Roast.

Roast…

Video.

Categories
bridgegate Domestic Policies News Politics

Christie Forecast: Cloudy With a Chance of Falling Sky

Forget about rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain or any other objects that might be falling down over the next few days in New Jersey. The real forecast is that the sky is falling on Governor Chris Christie and he has little time, and no room for error, if he wants to regain his reputation as a bully leader anytime soon.

The problem isn’t that he’s an able politician, because he is whether you disagree with him or not, or that he can get the Democrats to sign on to what will be his signature accomplishment, which was to raid public employees’ pockets and blame them for the recession enact a pension and benefits bill that made public employees pay more for their pensions and benefits (discovered the strike through key, didn’t I? OK, I’ll stop).

No, the problem with Chris Christie is that his style finally caught up to him. He is a big guy with a big personality who doesn’t suffer people whom he considers fools very patiently. Now his main personal strategy has him gasping for clean political air, which is usually in short supply in this state, and it’s choking him.

The latest example is a memo the Governor’s Office released in response to former Port Authority official and main player in the GW Bridge traffic scandal, David Wildstein, who said that he had evidence, still unreleased, that shows Christie knowing about the lane closings as they happened. That contrasts with what the governor told the public at his two hour news conference after the scandal broke.

Now, I understand that both parties play the blame game and the strategy has always been that if you’re accused of something to deny it, either truthfully or to stonewall and hope the investigation shows nothing, and to attack your opponents. This memo, though, is officially in the Hall of Fame for its vacuous and lame attempt at slurring Wildstein. From the article:

The memo listed five incidents as evidence, saying that “as a 16-year-old kid,” Mr. Wildstein had sued over a school board election; that he had been “publicly accused by his high school social studies teacher of deceptive behavior”; that he had a controversial tenure as mayor of Livingston, N.J.; that he had been an anonymous blogger; and that he “had a strange habit of registering web addresses for other people’s names without telling them.”

I’m assuming that you’ve stopped laughing.

Suing over a school board election? Doesn’t that qualify you to be in the  He-Man Government Hater’s Club? What about being accused of deceptive behavior in social studies class? As a social studies teacher, I now have ultimate political power over most of the approximately 2,500 students who have sat in my classes over the years. Can’t wait for some of them to run for office. Controversial politician? Like you, Governor? Anonymous blogger? Not anymore.

In sum, the governor has bupkis on this guy. If he did, he would have released it weeks ago and would have gone on the offensive as he did in most other cases. If he wanted to play hardball, he would have offered to pay Wildstein’s legal fees so he could defend himself without having to out Christie with what they both know is true. Firing Wildstein, and former Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly,  has now opened the governor to all kinds of problems, because those people are now trying to save their lives. Some of what they say will be wrong, but much of it will be true. And Christie knows that.

The Bridge is not the only problem the governor has because there are reports that he didn’t implement the reconstruction aid program from Sandy until a full 10 months after the money was delivered to NJ. My sense is that this is going to be a bigger problem than lane closures. That was done for political payback; stalling aid to people whose houses were now in the Atlantic is far worse.

And pundits said the President had a rough fifth year. Christie’s win in 2013 will be his final election victory.

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Categories
Politics

Chris Christie’s Office Writes Letter Slamming David Wildstein – The Letter

The good thing about a he saud, she said situation,  is that the truth will eventually come out.

After a New York Times report stating that David Wildstein had information showing Chris Christie knew about the lane closings on the George Washington Bridge last September, Christie is firing back on all cylinders.

His office released the following letter.

Things You Should Know About The Bombshell That’s Not A Bombshell

1. New York Times Bombshell Not A Bombshell. A media firestorm was set off by sloppy reporting from the New York Times and their suggestion that there was actually “evidence” when it was a letter alleging that “evidence exists.” Forced to change the lead almost immediately, the Times was roundly criticized, and its editor was forced to issue this extraordinary statement to the Huffington Post:

• “We’ve made probably dozens of changes to the story to make it more precise. That was one of them. I bet there will be dozens more.”

2. As he has said repeatedly, Governor Christie had no involvement, knowledge or understanding of the real motives behind David Wildstein’s scheme to close lanes on the George Washington Bridge.

• GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: “So what I can tell you is if people find that hard to believe, I don’t know what else to say except to tell them that I had no knowledge of this — of the planning, the execution or anything about it — and that I first found out about it after it was over. And even then, what I was told was that it was a traffic study. And there was no evidence to the contrary until yesterday that was brought to my attention or anybody else’s attention.” (Press Conference, 1/9/14)

3. The Governor first learned lanes at the George Washington Bridge were even closed from press accounts after the fact. Even then he was under the belief it was a traffic study. He first learned David Wildstein and Bridget Kelly closed lanes for political purposes when it was reported on January 8th.

• GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: “And I knew nothing about this. And until it started to be reported in the papers about the closure, but even then I was told this was a traffic study.” (Press Conference, 1/9/14)

4. In David Wildstein’s past, people and newspaper accounts have described him as “tumultuous” and someone who “made moves that were not productive.”

• As a 16-year-old kid, he sued over a local school board election.
• He was publicly accused by his high school social studies teacher of deceptive behavior.
• He had a controversial tenure as Mayor of Livingston
• He was an anonymous blogger known as Wally Edge
• He had a strange habit of registering web addresses for other people’s names without telling them
• Thomas L. Adams, Wildstein’s Council Running Mate: “It Was A Tumultuous Time.” (Shawn Boburg, “Ex-Blogger Is Governor Christie’s Eyes, Ears Inside The Port Authority,” Bergen Record, 3/3/12)
• Robert Leopold, Livingston’s former Democratic Mayor: Wildstein Was “A Political Animal” Who “Frightened People.” (Shawn Boburg, “Ex-Blogger Is Governor Christie’s Eyes, Ears Inside The Port Authority,” Bergen Record, 3/3/12)
• “He Was A Very Contentious Person.” (Shawn Boburg, “Ex-Blogger Is Governor Christie’s Eyes, Ears Inside The Port Authority,” Bergen Record, 3/3/12)

Wildstein Created “Culture Of Fear” Within Port Authority. “He and others referred to a ‘culture of fear’ within the authority, reflected in testimony from other authority officials about their reluctance to report to Mr. Foye or others what they considered an ‘odd’ request from Mr. Wildstein—to abruptly realign lanes that had been in place for decades and to tell no one about it.” (Ted Mann, “Port Authority Chief Testifies in George Washington Bridge Flap,” The Wall Street Journal, 12/9/13)

5. David Wildstein has been publicly asking for immunity since the beginning, been held in contempt by the New Jersey legislature for refusing to testify, failed to provide this so-called “evidence” when he was first subpoenaed by the NJ Legislature and is looking for the Port Authority to pay his legal bills.

• Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich: “Look, from my perspective and Fort Lee’s perspective, we have credibility issues with Mr. Wildstein…He is certainly bucking for immunity.” (Susan K. Livio, “GWB letter raises credibility questions for Chris Christie, Port Authority official, politicians say,” Star-Ledger, 2/1/14)
• Assemblyman John Wisniewski: “‘I am curious (Wildstein) has documents … he did not provide them to the committee when he was subpoenaed,’ Wisniewski added.” (Susan K. Livio, “GWB letter raises credibility questions for Chris Christie, Port Authority official, politicians say,” Star-Ledger, 2/1/14)

Bottom line – David Wildstein will do and say anything to save David Wildstein.

Categories
Politics

More Christie Trouble – Sandy Money Went to Apartment Building Not Affected by Sandy

Another report showing misuse of Federal relief funds.

According to the report filed by NBC, $4.8 million in federal relief funds were used by the Christie administration in the renovation of an apartment building not affected by the storm.

New Jersey’s Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency approved the disbursement as part of the state’s Fund for Rebuilding Multifamily Housing. The program is intended to speed the construction of new affordable housing in communities ravaged by the storm.

But New Brunswick lost relatively little of its housing stock when Sandy stormed through the state, and a Rutgers University study ranked New Brunswick 188th on a list of communities that suffered the most hardship due to Sandy.

“They’re not spending the money on the people that they’re supposed to be spending,” said Doris Narkum, a storm victim whose family lost their house on the Jersey Shore.

Categories
Politics

Calls For Christie Resignation or Impeachment Already Being Heard

Forget about the White House in 2016. The question now is whether Gov. Chris Christie can survive as governor.

David Wildstein, the man who ordered the George Washington Bridge lane closures, is now pointing the finger directly at Gov. Chris Christie, saying the governor knew about the lane closures in September when they occurred.

That directly contradicts Christie account at his Jan. 13 press conference when he made this statement: “I had no knowledge of this — of the planning, the execution or anything about it… I first found out about it after it was over.”

If this charge proves true, then the governor must resign or be impeached. Because that would leave him so drained of credibility that he could not possibly govern effectively. He would owe it to the people of New Jersey to stop the bleeding and quit. And if he should refuse, then the Legislature should open impeachment hearings.

By the governor’s own standard, lying is a firing offense. Here’s what he said about his deputy chief of staff, Bridget Kelley, at the same press conference: “There’s no justification for ever lying to a governor or a person in authority in this government. As a result, I’ve terminated Bridget’s employment.”

One hopes that he would consider lying to the people of New Jersey as an offense of equal magnitude.

Categories
bridgegate Politics

New NBC/WSJ Poll – It’s Not Looking Good For Chris Christie

Chris Christie’s political future looks to be in serious danger with more Americans believing the embattled New Jersey governor is lying about the bridge closure scandal than telling the truth, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.  Christie’s overall standing has taken a major hit in the survey, with just 22 percent of Americans viewing the Republican New Jersey governor favorably — down from 33 percent in October.

Twenty-nine percent now view Christie unfavorably, versus 17 percent a few months ago.

NBC News and our partners at NowThisNews break down the main facts surrounding the Chris Christie bridge controversy.

Christie has denied ordering or knowing anything about the traffic jam-inducing George Washington Bridge lane closures, but 44 percent believe that Christie mostly is not telling the truth. By comparison, 42 percent say he’s mostly telling the truth.

That’s a significant shift from an NBC/Marist poll taken earlier this month, when 44 percent of respondents said he was mostly telling the truth (compared to 33 percent who said he wasn’t).

The governor is also dealing with a second allegation – that his administration threatened to hold up Hurricane Sandy relief aid to Hoboken unless the Democratic mayor supported a private development project.

Christie, who was recently considered a front-runner for the 2016 presidential nomination, has a lot of work to do to make up ground if he decides to run.

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