Chris Christie hires Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher to review administration's role in 'Bridgegate'

[herding cats]

TRENTON — A former federal prosecutor will head up an internal review by the administration of Gov. Chris Christie of his staff’s involvement with the politically motivated lane closings on the George Washington Bridge in September 2013.

The administration this morning announced the hiring of the Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher law firm and specifically Randy Mastro to assist both with the review and an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s office into the closings, which snarled traffic for four days in Fort Lee.

Mastro, a former assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, specialized in organized crime and racketeering cases.
http://www.app.com/article/20140116/NJNEWS1002/301160030/Chris-Christie-hires-law-firm-to-review-administration-s-role-in-Bridgegate-?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Frontpage|s

He's hired some famous "fixers", Ken Starr and Ted Olson are some of their heavy hitters.

I knew of the firm before this but wasn't familiar with who Mastro was. He appears to be a heavy hitter in the "fixer" world.

From Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher's website.

Mr. Mastro has represented such clients as Amazon.com, Bank of New York Mellon, Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield/Well Point, Daimler, Chevron, Wynn, JPMorgan, GE Capital, Estee Lauder, Park Place/Caesar’s/Harrah’s, Madison Square Garden, Cablevision, Dow Jones, Verizon, Home Depot, Quest Diagnostics, IAC/Home Shopping Network, Bear Stearns, Empire Merchants, Edison Schools, Edison Properties, Forest City Ratner, Georgetown, Peter Kalikow, Saks, Ziff Davis, UBS Financial Services, Hewlett Packard, Prudential Securities, Lehman Brothers, Xerox, Octagon, Martina Hingis, Anna Kournikova, and Steffi Graf.

Before returning to Gibson Dunn in 1998, Mr. Mastro served as Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s Chief of Staff and then as New York City’s Deputy Mayor for Operations. In that capacity, he was responsible for overseeing all of the City’s operating agencies and budget, and served as the Mayor’s chief liaison with elected officials. In the Mayor’s absence, he was authorized to act on the Mayor’s behalf. During his years in the Giuliani administration from 1994 to 1998, Mr. Mastro spearheaded the City’s initiatives to remove organized crime from the Fulton Fish Market, the private carting industry, and the San Gennaro Festival. He also oversaw the successful turnaround of New York City’s Off-Track Betting Corporation. For two consecutive years, NY1-TV named Mr. Mastro one of City government’s “Winners of the Year,” and Manhattan File magazine featured him as one of the “45 Most Powerful New Yorkers 45 and Under.”

http://www.gibsondunn.com/lawyers/rmastro

[riverwalker]

1. Randy Mastro is Giuliani crony

Before returning to Gibson Dunn in 1998, Mr. Mastro served as Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s Chief of Staff and then as New York City’s Deputy Mayor for Operations. In that capacity, he was responsible for overseeing all of the City’s operating agencies and budget, and served as the Mayor’s chief liaison with elected officials. In the Mayor’s absence, he was authorized to act on the Mayor’s behalf.

http://www.gibsondunn.com/lawyers/rmastro

[herding cats]

3. He's also the one who fixed Chevron's $19 billion judgment for polluting the rainforest in Ecuador.

He's not someone you call in unless you have a major problem you need gone.

[msanthrope]

2. Mastro is a fixer of the first order. His hiring is an indication of how much shit Christie

thinks he is in. NJ taxpayers will be paying a premium to Mastro to shield the governor.

[global1]

5. My First Thought Was How Much Is This Going To Cost The Taxpayers Of NJ.....

it would have been an unnecessary spend if Crisp Crispy was a good administrator and could control his people.

Or is he really lawyering up and making the taxpayers of NJ pay his bill?

[msanthrope]

11. The taxpayers of NJ ought to ask just how much this will cost them. nt

[herding cats]

8. I was just reading a bit about Mastro.

He has an impressive resume representing the upper echelons of power, talent like that doesn't come cheap. Hopefully NJ taxpayers won't mind paying obscene amounts of money to protect Christie's political future.

[calimary]

9. Welcome to DU, herding cats!

Glad you're here! I saw that and thought - "lawyering up!" Game on! I'd guess that he'll go to his fatcat benefactors and hit them up, too. Some sort of george zimmerman legal defense fund type of thing. Which is galling in one way, but then again, every dollar with which they have to help him buy lawyers - is a dollar diverted from some teabagger's campaign to oust another Democrat from the House or Senate or state legislature. There's a good side to all these sudden, unexpected expenditures that start popping up.

I bet they don't budget for that kind of contingency - because they never expect to get caught.

[herding cats]

10. Thank you!

I'm glad to be here.

Yeah, Christie is lawyering up. Let the rich Republicans throw money at his cause, as you said every dollar spent on his legal defense is one less dollar supporting a Teabagger campaign. At this point I'm wondering if he's trying to clear his name for his future in politics, or if he's trying to keep himself out of jail?

[sendero]

4. "review role"?

Yeah. Right. Christie is "lawyering up", pure and simple.

[malaise]

6. Ding ding

We have a ROFL

[jsr]

7. The "thorough" "independent" "review" will conclude that Christie acted "appropriately".