A series of newly obtained emails and text messages shows that Gov. Chris Christie’s office was closely involved with lane closings on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge in September, and that officials closed the lanes in what appeared to be retribution against the mayor whose town was gridlocked as a result.Mr. Christie has insisted that his staff and his campaign office had nothing to do with the local lane closings, and said that they were done as part of a traffic study.But 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 bridgeAfter 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.
I'm sure Christie's cancellation of his public appearance was due to the weather, not the growing scandal that just moved right into his office.
This is one time Cuomo is no doubt happy Christie stole his spotlight.
As this scandal grows, it reinforces Christie's rep as a vindictive man who lacks the temperament to be president.
Certainly today's news does not help him in a 2016 run.
I worked for a Principal who'd been the mayor of a corrupt city called Lackawanna which meets Buffalo on its southern edge. He told me as we stormed through the hallways once Politics is a game where you take care of your friends and stick it to your enemies. And don't think one isn't as important as the other. I have seen this maxim played out more times than I can count and once again Eclipse Christie has demonstrated the spiteful imperatives of the political bully in office.
ReplyDeleteThe first week I moved to Jersey, they arrested the Hoboken mayor, the Jersey City deputy mayor, another mayor from a town close (can't remember which) - for bribery and corruption. That was my Jersey politics initiation. It's only gotten better since.
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