Gov. Chris Christie took nearly a year to implement a law he signed that would require close oversight of federal Hurricane Sandy recovery money, a report this morning said.
Christie signed the "Integrity Monitor Act" in March — a bill that would require independent monitors to oversee how the state government distributes billions in aid. The monitors would be assigned to all projects of $5 million or more.
But integrity monitors weren't put in place until January 2014, according to a report by MSNBC's Steve Kornacki. And, the report said, a company given a prominent role in the monitoring employs Christie's brother, Todd.
Todd Christie keeps showing up in some of these stories:
Gov. Chris Christie's brother was part of a group that bought properties near the Harrison PATH station before a $256 million renovation of the facility was publicly approved, according to a report on NorthJersey.com.
Todd Christie and his partners then renovated and flipped the lots for almost triple their purchase price after the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey gave its OK to the project, the report said.
One of Todd Christie's partners in West Hudson Properties LLC owns Ferreira Construction, which has gotten "tens of millions of dollars" in work from state agencies since the governor took office in 2010, NorthJersey.com reported.
Port Authority chairman David Samson has also been linked to land around the PATH station. Sampson's law firm, Wolf & Samson, has a client that wants to build luxury apartments where a warehouse stands.
Commissioner David Steiner also voted for renovation, four months after he purchased the rights to build an apartment complex on land along the Passaic River, just blocks from the train station.
The renovated PATH station is slated to open in 2017. Chris Christie has been a major proponent of building up the Hudson County town.
These are the sorts of things that nobody would blink at if BridgeGate and the Hoboken extortion story weren't going on at the same time for Chris Christie.
But now everything Christie has done as governor is getting scrutiny.
Hard to see him remaining head of the Republican Governor's Association much longer because he is damaged goods and the drip drip drip of scandal news is solidifying the meme that he's a dirty pol.
From the cover of TIME as the future of the GOP just a couple of months ago to poster boy for scandal - that's Chris Christie's journey these past couple of months.
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