I made a bet with a friend a few weeks back that Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey would not get the republican nomination for president in 2016 because of the unfolding scandal of political revenge, dubbed “Bridgegate.” With all that has unfolded since then, including accusations made by the mayor of Hoboken of withholding federal Hurricane Sandy relief money to leverage political favor to developers, AND, with this week’s release of a New Jersey tax payer funded 1 million dollar public relations scam put out by Christie’s chosen lawyers, I would like to make my prediction officially public: Governor Chris Christie’s political aspirations to be President of the United States will never be realized, and his remaining future as governor of New Jersey in his second term is in real jeopardy.
A quick recap: Last September 9th, a Christie appointed friend at the Port Authority, David Wildstein, ordered the closing of two of three access lanes on our country’s busiest bridge, the George Washington, that connects New Jersey to Manhattan. The closing of the lanes resulted in a massive traffic jam that gridlocked the town of Fort Lee, New Jersey, particularly hard. This went on for four days, and accusations emerged that this was some sort of act of political revenge against Fort Lee’s mayor, Democrat Mark Sokolich, for not endorsing Governor Christie for re-election – the Christie campaign aggressively sought democratic endorsements to bolster his image as a bi-partisan politician for his future 2016 presidential bid. Governor Christie responded to these accusations with mockery at a press conference, joking that he had actually worked the cones himself, suggesting that such accusations were the ridiculous fantasies of political enemies. This is against the backdrop of increasing reports, including in the New York Times, of Christie’s petty revenge and bullying tactics in political circles. To make a long story short, it turns out the traffic jam was deliberately caused by David Wildstein and Governor Christie’s then deputy chief of staff, Bridgette Kelly, as revealed in now made public emails of the investigation. Kelly and Wildstein were caught red-handed, and the fallout began. Governor Christie fired Bridgette Kelly (Wildstein had already resigned) and held a bizarre, extra long press conference in which he denied having any knowledge of the affair, even though it was carried out by his innermost circle.
In the aftermath that followed, both a bipartisan state legislature investigation and a federal investigation have been enacted. Piling on to this scandal, even more serious accusations were soon leveled by the mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, Dawn Zimmer, that Governor Christie’s lieutenant governor, Kim Guadagno, told her in a private conversation that federal relief money from Hurricane Sandy would be released to Hoboken as soon as the mayor agreed to a real estate development deal that the Christie wanted. Hoboken was one of the hardest hit communities in New Jersey from the hurricane. Of course the governor’s office denied this, and now federal investigators are looking into that claim as well. Subsequent reporting in the press showing where Sandy relief money has gone paints a disturbing picture of communities with very little damage receiving large chunks of relief money for special, private real estate development, while communities such as Hoboken, who actually suffered severe damage, receiving very little in comparison.
When the shit originally hit the fan, Governor Christie said he had ordered an internal investigation into his administration to find out who knew what. This week, the public learned the details of that internal “investigation.”
The internal “investigation” was conducted by the law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, who charged $650 an hour for their services, for a total bill of 1 million, that was billed to the tax-payers of New Jersey. The law firm has close ties to the Christie administration, both political, and having done work for it in the past. Also, one of the firm’s senior partners, Debra Wong Yang, is reportedly close friends with Governor Christie. And, surprise! The law firm released what they call a “comprehensive and exhaustive” report that clears Governor Christie of any wrong doing. The law firm boasts that it conducted over 70 interviews related to the case, and does this with a straight face, admitting that they did NOT interview the four key players most directly involved: Bridgette Kelly, David Wildstein, Bill Stepien, and Mayor Dawn Zimnmer.
The law firm’s lead lawyer, Randy M. Mastro, defended the “findings” of his law firm’s “investigation” with a narrative that says that poor Governor Christie was blindsided by his staff and new nothing of it. It concludes that almost all the blame lies with Wildstein and Kelly, and goes so far as to speculate that the motive of what they characterize as a “lane re-alignment” incident is Bridgette Kelly’s disappointment at being dumped in a romantic relationship by Christie’s campaign manager at the time, Bill Stepien. Even though neither of these people were interviewed by the law firm, they have concluded that the wrath of a scorned woman is to blame. This is interesting, given that the revenge was taken out on the town and mayor of Fort Lee, not Bill Stepien. As for Mayor Zimmer’s accusations that are still being investigated by federal prosecutors, they are dismissed as completely false, without providing clear evidence as to why, and even though she of course was not interviewed either by Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher.
The million dollar report, conducted by close friends of Governor Christie, and paid for by the citizens of New Jersey, is less than a thinly veiled preview of Governor Christie’s future defense. It is an absolute farce, and a terribly executed public relations stunt that is guaranteed to blow up in Mr. Christie’s face and make his huge mess even more of a mess before it is over. We already know that his close staff deliberately closed lanes on the George Washington Bridge to punish the town of Fort Lee, stranding millions of commuters in the process for a long, four day period. We also know that Sandy relief money has not been directed to the communities most devastated, especially Hoboken who got shafted the most. The mayor of Hoboken appears to be a very credible witness who we will hear from again once the real investigations draw to a conclusion. The real legal process and investigations being conducted will take longer than the sham report of a publicly funded investigation/opening defense arguments of Governor Christie’s cronies, but by the time they are complete, Governor Christie will have been completely discredited, if not impeached or prosecuted. I only hope that the public will become as informed and as outraged as I am at the newest scandal from the governor, which is the transfer of tax-payer funds into the pockets of his lawyer friends, attempting to cover up the Christie administration’s crimes.
The following is a link to a detailed timeline for the Bridgegate scandal:
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Timeline-George-Washington-Bridge-Scandal-Chris-Christie-Fort-Lee-Bridgegate-239431091.html