RandySF
RandySF's JournalLA Times: Chris Christie bridge scandal only underscores his bully image
The Web is awash in videos showing the glowering governor venting at teachers, reporters, the Navy SEAL — Christie later called him a jerk, refusing to apologize — and the Jersey Shore antagonist. The Democratic National Committee quickly spliced together a compendium, juxtaposing some of those moments with Christie's rebuke of his now-fired staff members. "Governor," it said in a freeze-frame, "the tone is set at the top."
Beyond such verbal sparring, Christie has retaliated against critics and others who crossed him in more substantive ways, stripping security from an ex-governor whom Christie deemed "combative and difficult" and ending state funding for programs run by a Rutgers University professor who angered him over redrawing the state's political boundaries.
At his Thursday news conference, Christie denied using the powers of his office for political retribution. "Will we fight sometimes and will things get sharp-elbowed? You bet," he said. "It goes both ways, but, you know, retribution as the word? No."
Christie's marathon question-and-answer session was his introduction to many outside New Jersey — his response to the bridge scandal was the top story on nightly news shows and generated headlines across the country — and his humble apology and forceful action could help him politically, assuming there are no more damaging revelations.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-christie-bully-20140111,0,3128420.story#ixzz2q3pJZXy2
Port Authority Police Blamed Mayor For Christie's Traffic Jam
Fort Lee, N.J. Mayor Mark Sokolich (D) wrote a letter to a top Port Authority official on Sept. 12 complaining that the agency's police officers were telling commuters it was the mayor's fault that lanes were closed on the George Washington Bridge, causing massive traffic jams.
Documents revealed this week made clear that Gov. Chris Christie's (R-N.J.) appointees were responsible for the closures, along with at least one member of the Governor's senior staff.
The state of New Jersey released hundreds more pages of documents Friday surrounding the "Bridgegate" scandal, including the Sokolich letter to Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni.
The release of these new documents comes two days after the revelation that top Christie aides were involved in the lane closures on the George Washington Bridge. Christie held a press conference on Thursday apologizing for the scandal and said he didn't have any knowledge of or involvement in the decisions.
http://www.businessinsider.com/fort-lee-mayor-port-authority-blamed-me-for-the-traffic-jam-2014-1#ixzz2q3nJF0sD
Kelly was messaging about GWB lane closures on day she accompanied Christie to Seaside fire.
Bridget Anne Kelly, the aide Governor Christie fired for her role in manufacturing a Fort Lee traffic jam apparently as political retribution, was receiving messages about what to tell reporters before she accompanied him to the Seaside Heights boardwalk fire, newly released documents show.
On the fourth day of the traffic jam, the governor - accompanied by Kelly - rushed to the scene of the inferno raging in Ocean County. The pair arrived at the boardwalk on Sept. 12 at about 6:25 p.m. The fire was first reported at about 2:05 p.m.
Ocean County photographer, Phil Stinton, snapped photos of Christie and Kelly — a Ramsey resident with deep Bergen County political ties — at about 7 p.m. walking and talking with firefighters. In one photo, Christie is strutting, fist clenched, absent his suit jacket, sleeves rolled, tie and hair wind blown. Kelly, wearing a mauve blouse, black skirt and pearl necklace, stands alongside him. She is looking down at her smartphone.
About four hours earlier, at 3:18 p.m., Kelly received an email from Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive David Wildstein, who resigned after months of dogged questions about his order to close toll lanes leading from Fort Lee’s local streets to the George Washington Bridge. Michael Drewniak, the governor’s spokesman, was also sent a copy.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/state/CHRISTIE_KELLY_gwb_lane_closures_seaside_emails.html#sthash.vK0ONMfD.dpuf
IL Gov. Candidate Sorry For Call To Lower Minimum Wage
The Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate who said the state's minimum wage should be lowered is now backtracking.
A day after an interview surfaced in which equity investor Bruce Rauner, one of a handful of Republicans in the gubernatorial race, said that the minimum wage should be lowered by a dollar rather than raised, he backtracked.
"I made a mistake. I was flippant and I was quick," Rauner said in an interview with The Chicago Tribune. "I should have said, ‘Tie the Illinois minimum wage to the national wage and, in that context, with other changes in being pro-business, I support raising the national minimum wage.’ I’m OK with that."
Specifically, Rauner argued that Illinois' minimum wage should be lowered from $8.25 to $7.25. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. That proposal contrasts with calls by Gov. Pat Quinn (D), who Rauner is hoping to replace, to raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour. President Barack Obama and national Democrats have also called on raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/il-gov-candidate-apologizes-for-call-to-lower-minimum-wage
Former Port Authority exec files lawsuit to quash subpoena in GWB probe
David Wildstein, the executive at the center of the decision to close lanes at the entrance to the George Washington Bridge, filed a lawsuit in superior court today trying to quash the Legislature's subpoena of his testimony, according to a spokesperson for the court.
The lawsuit said the subpoena is invalid for a number of reasons. Wildstein's lawyer, Alan Zegas, questioned the validity of Assemblyman John Wisniewski's signature on the subpoena.
The lawsuit also said Wisniewski’s original subpoena power did not include the lane closure issue and said Wisniewski, D-Middlesex, had a conflict of interest in the case. The alleged conflict of interest pertained to a client of Wisniewski’s that had a business interest with the Port Authority.
“The entire process is political,” Zegas said.
A hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Thursday. Wildstein is subpoenaed for noon later that day.
ttp://www.northjersey.com/news/Former_Port_Authority_exec_files_lawsuit_to_quash_subpoena_in_GWB_probe.html#sthash.RD2MNYRg.dpuf
“It will be a tough November for this little Serbian”
[A]s it became clearer that the lane closures were a surprise to local officials and police, the media began asking more questions. Wildstein sent a message to Former Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni on the afternoon of Sept. 17 telling him a Wall Street Journal reporter had called him on his cell phone.
“Jesus,” Baroni responded, before advising Wildstein to call Drewniak, Christie’s spokesman.
Christie’s campaign manager exchanged messages with Wildstein the next day, and he blamed the Fort Lee mayor.
“The mayor is an idiot,” Bill Stepien, Christie’s campaign manager, wrote to Wildstein on Sept. 18, in reaction to the Wall Street Journal story about local officials’ complaints.
“When (sic) some, lose some,” Stepien wrote.
Wildstein responded to Stepien: “It will be a tough November for this little Serbian,” an apparent reference to the Fort Lee mayor, who Baroni also referred to as “Serbia” in text messages.
http://www.salon.com/2014/01/08/emails_show_christie_aides_planning_gwb_gridlock/
Christie's high school buddy implicated in GWB blockade.
Bully-boy Gov. Chris Christie’s White House hopes hit a massive roadblock after emails implicated a top aide in a punitive George Washington Bridge traffic nightmare.
“Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” read the damning Aug. 13 email made public Wednesday — the political payback to the mayor of Fort Lee, N.J., for his refusal to endorse the GOP incumbent last year.
“Got it,” shot back Christie’s high school buddy David Wildstein to the message from Bridget Anne Kelly, the governor’s deputy chief of staff for legislative and intergovernmental affairs.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/emails-link-chris-christie-aides-bridge-lane-closures-article-1.1569740#ixzz2psLzTWhl
Christie Aide: "They are the children of Buono voters."
When the bridge closings had gridlocked Fort Lee for days, mayor Sokolich texted Deputy Director of the Port Authority Bill Baroni, asking for help because the lane closings were keeping children from getting to school on time.
David Wildstein texted Kelly, "Is it wrong that I am smiling?"
"No," Kelly replied.
"I feel badly about the kids."
Kelly responded, making reference to Christie's Democratic gubernatorial foe: "They are the children of Buono voters."
http://www.heavy.com/news/2014/01/bridget-anne-kelly-christie-aide-fort-lee-scandal/
Lane Closures Delayed EMS Response to 4 Calls in Fort Lee and doubled response time.
North Jersey.com has obtained a letter sent by EMS coordinator Paul Favia to Mayor Mark Sokolich on September 10, 2013, noting four instances in which emergency medical services were delayed due to the lane closures. In two instances, response time doubled, including the case of a 91-year-old woman who lay unconscious for seven minutes, before paramedics were able to reach her ambulance. Heavy traffic prevented the paramedics from treating the woman on the scene, and she ultimately died of cardiac arrest after reaching the hospital.
Considering the woman's age, its seems doubtful that three and a half minutes would have meant the difference between life and death in this instance, but it may have. Regardless, the case illustrates the grave consequences Kelly's alleged conspiracy could have wrought.
http://www.heavy.com/news/2014/01/bridget-anne-kelly-christie-aide-fort-lee-scandal/
Christie Administration's Bridge Lane Closure Slowed Search for Missing 4-Year-Old, Says Official
Private messages released on Wednesday strongly suggest that a top adviser to Republican Gov. Chris Christie orchestrated a massive traffic jam in Fort Lee, New Jersey, as political retaliation against the city's Democratic mayor.
Calling the messages "astonishing" and "unconscionable," members of the Fort Lee borough council described the mid-September traffic disaster, caused when the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey unexpectedly closed two of the town's access lanes to the George Washington Bridge, as having dire consequences.
"There was a missing child that day. The police had trouble conducting that search because they were tied up directing traffic," says Jan Goldberg, a Fort Lee councilman who works with local emergency personnel. Police found the missing child, a four-year-old. "But with the streets in the condition they were, I would venture to say that the search took longer," Goldberg says.
Ila Kasofsky, a Fort Lee councilwoman, tells Mother Jones that ambulances and other emergency vehicles could not get through the gridlock. In the aftermath of the lane closures, Kasofsky says she spoke with a Fort Lee resident who couldn't get over the bridge to support her husband through major surgery. Another Fort Lee woman was unable to pick up her son after his dialysis session.
Police Chief Keith Bendul cited these problems when he spoke to New Jersey press in September. "On Monday, while all this was going on, we had to contend with a missing four-year-old, a cardiac arrest requiring an ambulance, and a car running up against a building," he said. "What would happen if there was a very serious accident?"
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/01/chris-christie-bridge-lane-closure-slowed-search-missing-child
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