Chris christie's traffic jam - Part 2

[rednoise]

the twins might not be letting him sleep

[schneibler elf]

Stop

[Old Dan]

Let's talk about Chris Christie bein a bully, yall. It aint just his political adversaries. Christie is fuckin with chronically ill folks, too.

The brunt of NJ Gov Chris Christie's curious brand of vengeful politics is not limited to Christie's actual rivals

(Camden County, NJ) -- Now that the entire universe knows about Chris Christie's insatiable appetite for recriminations, it's a good time to reexamine the scandal-plagued Governor's role in destroying NJ's medical marijuana law. Why? Because the five-year-old program -- signed into law shortly before Christie took office -- has been a case study in big-government incompetence. Chris Christie never liked New Jersey's medical marijuana law and he's never been shy about saying so. From day one, the governor has attempted to strangle the medical marijuana program with impractical regulations and exorbitant taxes and fees. Chris Christie even slapped a 7% tariff on its distribution to patents. Medicine in NJ isn't typically taxed. And Republicans aren't usually so caviler about creating new-fangled taxes out of thin air but that's exactly what happened. Now think about that: Governor Chris Christie -- who campaigned to get government out of our lives -- has proved himself a perfectly capable tax-happy over-regulator. Why? Just to spite previous Governor Jon Corzine for signing a law Christie didn't like. That's how I see it anyway, and I've been fighting for NJ's medical marijuana program for about a decade. (Go ahead, click that last link and watch the video. It's pretty epic.)

"Time for some traffic problems in Ft. Lee"

Ft. Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich landed on NJ Governor Chris Christie's bad side for failing to endorse the Governor's reelection campaign. Punishment was decisive: the Christie administration choked off access to Manhattan via the George Washington Bridge causing colossal traffic headaches, reducing all of Ft. Lee to a veritable parking lot. For 96 hours. This ghastly, punitive action -- designed to hurt Mark Sololich -- had a lot of collateral damage. Namely the tens of thousands of commuters ensnared in a four-day-long traffic jam because Team Christie decided it would be cute to disrupt traffic into the nation's largest city via the busiest bridge on the planet. Ironically, it wasn't Mark Sokolich who ended up bearing the brunt of Chris Christie's wrath. Instead it was tens of thousands of toll payers. And hundreds of Ft. Lee schoolchildren whose first day of school was spent on a school bus in a traffic jam. Or possibly even the lady who died waiting for an ambulance (that was stuck in traffic.)

These actions lie at the feet of the Chris Christie administration. Demonstrably so .

Mayor Sokolich was joined on this particular Chris Christie hit-list (apparently he's got a few...) by Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop. NJ.com: "Fulop was persona non grata for Christie’s office, the mayor says, because he declined to endorse the Republican governor’s reelection bid last year. Fulop told The Record this week that after he told Christie’s political team that he wouldn’t endorse him, the governor’s office canceled a host of meetings the new mayor had scheduled."

yadda yadda yadda...

Lots of questions remain, but we do know is this much: whether it's toll-paying commuters in Ft. Lee or Hurricane Sandy victims in Hoboken or hospice patients in Tom's River who can't access their meds, if Chris Christie has an axe to grind, the Little Guy always gets screwed.

(Case in point: on the very last day of Christie's first term in office, he considered a bill that would ensure the state's medical marijuana patients remain eligible for organ transplants. By vetoing that bill, Chris Christie made at least two things crystal clear 1) he's incredibly petty and 2) if you legally consume marijuana for medical reasons you can't be a transplant organ recipient in Chris Christie's New Jersey.

[Old Dan]

This here just got reported by WNYC News, yall, it aint nowhere else except Daily Kos.

Christie's Biggest Sandy Contractor Fired
Homeowners, Legislators Had Bitter Complaints About Firm

The Christie administration has quietly cut its ties to an embattled company that had New Jersey's biggest contract for getting Sandy victims back in their homes. Homeowners and legislators had widely criticized the company's performance, taking some of the gloss off Governor Chris Christie's signature project: Sandy recovery.

Christie officials - who as recently as two weeks ago gave legislators in Trenton no hint that the contract had been cancelled - wouldn't say on Thursday why the deal with Hammerman and Gainer, or HGI, was terminated more than two years before completion. Last week, Gov. Christie touted the successes of the Sandy recovery at an event on the Jersey Shore.

HGI won its contract last May shortly after its New Jersey law firm, Capehart, made a $25,000 donation to the Republican Governors Association, which is now headed by Christie. The RGA contributed $1.7 million to Christie's re-election campaign.

The state was to pay HGI $68 million in fees to administer a $780 million Sandy program. But the Christie administration terminated that contract in December, and the termination took effect - unannounced - on Monday. Documents posted on a state website say the company was to be paid $10.5 million as an "unpaid balance" — and for work performing during a "transition period" following termination.

Among the various programs implemented after Sandy, HGI's Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation (RREM) grant program, which provided up to $150,000 per home for reconstruction, was widely panned. Homeowners complained of long wait-lists, lack of transparency, stonewalling, and lost paperwork. Much of this criticism surfaced during legislative hearings over the last several months.

HGI was also criticized for how it implemented a home reconstruction program in Louisiana after Katrina, according to the Wall Street Journal. Company officials have said they were improving operations.

Welp!

The termination of the state's biggest Sandy contract comes as two major scandals loom over Christie's political career: the charge that Christie officials threatened to cut Sandy relief funds to the town of Hoboken unless its mayor supported a redevelopment deal - a charge the administration adamantly denies; and investigations into Christie's aides ordering George Washington Bridge lane closures to exact political revenge - something the governor says he knew nothing about.

[rednoise]

Stop

no u

[Old Dan]

Why aint this a surprise, yall?

I reckon because Republicans.

Christie administration stiffed blacks and Latinos on Sandy relief money

Lest you doubt that people of color get special treatment when it comes to climate-induced disasters, I bring you this recent story from The Root:

It’s not a good look for the guy who until recently was the Republican Party’s best hope for a solid presidential contender come 2016.

Remember Gov. Christie taking that walk with President Obama during Sandy’s aftermath, lifting the spirits of the thousands of people who had been affected? That scene may have played a role in the 51 percent of Latino votes Christie got in his re-election last year. But after getting cold-shouldered by the Christie administration for rebuilding funds, people of color may be reluctant to show him that kind of support in the future.

Now, here's the full story from The Root:

Under Chris Christie, Blacks and Latinos Got Shorted on Sandy Relief

For Christie, this scandal is especially treacherous. He’s been talked about as a favorite for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016—in part because of his appeal across racial, ethnic and party lines in the generally blue state of New Jersey. He was re-elected last year with 51 percent of the Latino vote and 21 percent of the African-American vote. Compare that with Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s 27 percent of the Latino vote and just 6 percent of the black vote in the 2012 presidential election.

Voters of color will be watching closely how Christie responds to this latest crisis. Will he belittle the concerns and attack the messengers, as he initially did with the George Washington Bridge scandal? Or will he take in the evidence of unequal opportunity—derived from the state’s own data—and develop a plan to correct it?

The state will soon release, for public comment, amendments to its action plan for $1.4 billion in additional federal Sandy funds. The governor should follow the recommendations of the Fair Share Housing Center, the NAACP New Jersey State Conference and others by adopting new, clear rules for the fair distribution of funds to all communities affected by Sandy.

eta: I reckon that Latinos vote Republican because they're Catholic, and the Republicans "save babies" while the Democrats are "pro-aborts." If yer Catholic and ya voted fer a Dem, ya done broke Jesus's heart, yall, because of all the preborn children murdered by the Holocaust against babies.

[Pingu]

There might be a Pope Francis effect among catholic voters.

[Old Dan]

The Star-Ledger done published a poll sayin that NJ Governor Christie's bully problem is gettin bigger. Some folks see him as a "fighter," which I reckon aint a compliment for everybody, but more folks see him as a "bully" now than they done before BridgeGate.

Chris Christie's perception as a 'bully' increases amid bridge scandal, poll shows

A new poll shows that two-thirds of New Jersey voters still see Gov. Chris Christie as a "fighter" amid the George Washington Bridge scandal — but the percentage of those who view him as a "bully" has reached an all-time high.

The Rutgers-Eagleton poll, released today, reveals that 67 percent of voters say the word "fighter" fits the Republican governor very well. Another one in five say it's somewhat fitting, while only 8 percent say they don't see him that way at all.

But the survey — which asked voters to rate Christie on a number of traits — shows that 43 percent say the word "bully" suits him very well. That's a nine-point increase from the group's last poll, in October. Another 21 percent say the word fits somewhat well, while about a third do not see him that way at all.

The poll was conducted about a week after Christie publicly apologized for the GWB controversy.

"Bridgegate has taken a toll on perceptions of Christie," said David Redlawsk, the poll's director and a political science professor at Rutgers University. "Positive views of his leadership buoyed ratings post-Sandy, but negative traits are becoming more prevalent in light of recent events."

Christie was asked during a TV interview last Septmber whether he is a "bully" — a term critics have often used to describe him.

"No, I am not a bully," the governor told "CBS Sunday Morning. "But what I am is a fighter."

As for whether the governor is "trustworthy"? Today's poll shows an all-time low of 27 percent say that term applies very well — a 16-point drop.

"Trust in most politicians has been very low in recent years, but Christie has enjoyed comparatively high trust post-Sandy," Redlawsk said. "That appears to have evaporated outside of the GOP while dropping significantly among Republicans as well."

Sixty-fort percent say "stubborn" fits Christie very well — up 10 percentage points. Half view him as arrogant (a five-point increase) and "self-centered" (an 11-point uptick).

[Old Dan]

The Star-Ledger sure is goin after Chris Christe with this Hoboken story, yall. Here goes their latest post:

WHY BELIEVE ZIMMER? Columnist Tom Moran offers 5 reasons why Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer's allegations that the Christie administration threatened to withhold Sandy funding to get its way on a local development project are credible.

Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer is probably telling the truth for these reasons: Moran

We may never know whether Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer is telling the truth.

She could be a psychotic liar. We have plenty of those in the world of New Jersey politics.

She could have misunderstood. Zimmer remembers Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno shaking her down, saying she would not get Hurricane Sandy aid for Hoboken unless she approved a big real estate deal the governor favored. But maybe Guadagno was only suggesting that more downtown development would improve her odds in the competition for Sandy aid.

Maybe when Zimmer heard Guadagno say, "I know it’s not right," the real words were "Have a good night."

And why didn’t Zimmer object right away? Instead, she continued praising the governor, even a few months after that bare-knuckled showdown with Guadagno.

A good lawyer might be able to mix those ingredients to create reasonable doubt about Zimmer’s account. And with no recordings of the conversation, that might be the end of it.

But let’s look at the other side, the reasons we should believe Zimmer, and why her shocking story is probably true.

Tom Moran gives 5 dang good reasons why yall oughta believe Zimmer about the Hoboken shakedown.

[Old Dan]

I reckon yall aint carin too much about NJ Governor Christie's ongoing scandals, but here goes a new one. It's reported in Daily Kos, yall, but they link to a longer New York Times story that's worth the read.

Leading New Jersey paper calls for investigation of yet another potential Christie scandal

As if New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie didn't already have enough problems, the editorial page of the The Star-Ledger of Newark has set its sights on yet another incident involving accusations about his administration's ethical standards. The incident in question took place in 2010 and centers on a former local prosecutor who says that he the Christie administration stopped him from pursuing an indictment against a county sheriff and ultimately fired him over the case. The New York Times wrote about it last October:
Prosecutors sent tremors through rural Hunterdon County when they announced a sweeping indictment of the local Republican sheriff and her two deputies in 2010.

It's worth reading the entire article in full — although it acknowledges that no evidence links Christie directly to what happened, it highlights some details that may seem more interesting today than they did when the article was first published. For example, Christie's Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno had a relationship with Trout and had thanked her for supplying deputies to help out the Christie campaign. And Christie later appointed the attorney general who quashed the case to a $215,000 per year job at — where else? — the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

At this point, this story is just yet another cloud of smoke around the Christie administration. But the central allegation is so serious that The Star-Ledger makes a pretty good case for why it warrants further official investigation:

It's hard to argue with that.

I wonder if Chris Christie is still stronger than the shitstorm, yall. So far, he's made of teflon.

[VoxRat]

I reckon yall aint carin too much about NJ Governor Christie's ongoing scandals, but here goes a new one. It's reported in Daily Kos, yall, but they link to a longer New York Times story that's worth the read...

I care.
I live there.
I posted about this, somewhere here at TR, but I can't seem to find the post.

ETA: Found it:

There was another instance reported in the NYTimes a few months back, of what looks like massive Christie administration corruption:

The Quashing of a Case Against a Christie Ally

... that got less attention than I thought it deserved. Maybe, in light of recent developments, interest will be rekindled.

It contains a link to a much more informative NYTimes article than the Star Ledger one on the details of the case.

[Old Dan]

I care.
I live there.
I posted about this, somewhere here at TR, but I can't seem to find the post.

ETA: Found it:

It contains a link to a much more informative NYTimes article than the Star Ledger one on the details of the case.

Ohh, I aint seen this yet... thank ya.

[daap-umop-bnp]

I care. The FB memes bore the fuck out of me and the idiots who think the issue is Christie being mean ought to be taken out back and shot, but the real stories are great.

[Old Dan]

I reckon I got 6 tabs open with links to Christie stories from the past 3 days, yall, but this here's some hard-hittin news from the NYT:

eta: here's the NYT's FB status:

The former Port Authority official who personally oversaw the lane closings on the George Washington Bridge in the scandal now swirling around Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said on Friday that the governor knew about the lane closings when they were happening, and that he had the evidence to prove it: http://nyti.ms/1aNBtHm

Christie Knew About Lane Closings, Ex-Port Authority Official Says
By KATE ZERNIKE
JAN. 31, 2014

The former Port Authority official who personally oversaw the lane closings on the George Washington Bridge in the scandal now swirling around Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said on Friday that the governor knew about the lane closings when they were happening, and that he had the evidence to prove it.

In a letter released by his lawyer, the official, David Wildstein, a high school friend of Mr. Christie’s who was appointed with the governor’s blessing at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which controls the bridge, described the order to close the lanes as “the Christie administration’s order” and said “evidence exists as well tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures, during the period when the lanes were closed, contrary to what the governor stated publicly in a two-hour press conference” three weeks ago.

“Mr. Wildstein contests the accuracy of various statements that the governor made about him and he can prove the inaccuracy of some,” the letter added.

The letter marked the first signal that Mr. Christie may have been aware of the closings, something he repeatedly denied during a two-hour press conference earlier this month.

Somebody better grant this feller immunity, yall.

[daap-umop-bnp]

YES

[sanshou]

called it

[daap-umop-bnp]

I thought it would be the deputy chief of staff he threw under the bus.

[Old Dan]

Call the Governor?

When was the last time you got asked by the Democratic State Committee to call Governor Christie? Well, there's a first time for everything. Today, in response to reports that the governor is setting pre-conditions for radio interviews, State Democratic Chairman John Currie put out the call in an email message to supporters:

The email goes on to list ways NJ residents can set their own conditions for what they want Christie's radio appearance to look like:

On New Jersey's 101.5 FM radio program, there are five ways to "Ask the Governor" a question, which can be found here:

▪ Call 800-283-1015

▪ Join 101.5's live interactive blog

▪ Text your question by texting "GOV" to 89000. You will receive a bounce back message asking for your question.

▪ Twitter: #AskGov

▪ You can SUBMIT your question for Gov. Christie in advance.

Is there a cancelled radio appearance in someone's future?

[PerseusOmega9]

lol

[sanshou]

i'm guessing some federal investigators showed up to 'question' this guy and he lawyered up, and rolled right on over

[daap-umop-bnp]

He's been lawyered up for a while. But yeah it sounds like he is fishing for immunity and this is his bait.

[sanshou]

indeed

[Old Dan]

He's been lawyered up for a while. But yeah it sounds like he is fishing for immunity and this is his bait.

I think he straight out asks fer immunity in the last paragraph of the letter, there. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...ge-letter.html

[daap-umop-bnp]

Whoa. I just read the letter. That looks like a bundle of implied threats.

I don't think he's fishing now. I think he's threatening.

[Old Dan]

NBC News: Christie, ex-official clash over when governor learned of bridge lane closings

In my breaking news alert, this here story was titled Christie's office says governor had 'no prior knowledge of lane closures before they happened'.

In a statement Friday afternoon, Christie's office said that rather than call Christie's behavior into question, Wildstein's letter actually "confirms what the Governor has said all along — he had absolutely no prior knowledge of the lane closures before they happened and whatever Mr. Wildstein's motivations were for closing them to begin with."
The disagreement appears to stem from the sequence of events: Christie's statement makes a point of saying he didn't know about the closings "before" they happened, while Wildstein alleges that he knew about them "during the period when the lanes were closed."

Christie's statement goes on to say he denies "Mr. Wildstein's lawyer's other assertions," which primarily have to do with Wildstein's attempt to force the Port Authority to pay his legal bills.

Christie — who's considered a serious contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination — has repeatedly denied having ordered the closing of two of three local access lanes from Fort Lee, N.J., to the bridge, which is one of the busiest in the world. The closing froze traffic for four days — allegedly in retaliation over the mayor's refusal to endorse him in the 2013 governor's race.

"Mr. Wildstein contests the accuracy of various statements that the Governor made about him and he can prove the inaccuracy of some," the letter says, although it provides no hint of what that evidence might be.