Saturday, January 18, 2014

Daily News: Bully-Boy Christie Sends "Sopranos-Style Shakedown Message" To Hoboken Mayor in A Parking Lot

This Hoboken/Sandy relief story was first broken by Steve Kornacki at MSNBC, then picked up by the NJ papers.

Now the New York Daily News is covering the story - and take a look at how Zuckerman's paper writes it up:

A pair of bully-boy Gov. Chris Christie’s top lieutenants delivered a “Sopranos”-style shakedown message to the mayor of Hoboken, MSNBC reported Saturday.

Mayor Dawn Zimmer, in an exclusive interview with the cable channel, said Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno told her that Hurricane Sandy relief funds for Hoboken were tied to the approval of a city redevelopment plan.

In true Jersey fashion, the conversation occurred last May 13 in the parking lot of a Hoboken ShopRite, according to Zimmer.

Guadagno “pulled me aside ... And she said, ‘I know it’s not right, I know these things should not be connected, but they are. And if you tell anyone, I’ll deny it,’” Zimmer said in a Saturday interview.
“I mean, the bottom line is it’s not fair for the governor to hold Sandy funds hostage for the City of Hoboken because he wants me to give back to one private developer.”

A second administration official delivered a similar message four days later. Zimmer made it clear that she believed Christie was behind both meetings.

“What they want me to do, what the governor is pressuring me to do, I can't do that,” she said.
Zimmer said the city, which was seriously flooded by the 2012 hurricane, requested $127 million in Sandy funds — and received a total of $342,000.

"Bully-boy Gov. Chris Christie's top lieutenants delivered a Sopranos-style shakedown message to the mayor of Hoboken...in the parking lot of a Hoboken ShopRite..."

Yeah, something tells me this story is going to have legs.

No comments:

Post a Comment