Goodbye Chris Christie, and Hello Scott Walker [View all]

[Ellipsis]

At this point, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is probably toast. According to the New York Times, the former Port Authority official who oversaw the lane closings on the George Washington bridge, David Wildstein, says that the order to close the lanes came from the Christie administration, and that he has evidence to prove that the governor knew as much. This, it’s worth noting, comes from a letter demanding that the Port Authority cover Wildstein’s legal fees.

In any case, it flies in the face of Christie’s claim, during a two-hour press conference earlier this month, that he had no knowledge of the closures prior to revelations that his officials were involved. “I was blindsided,” he told reporters, as he denied any “knowledge or involvement” in the incident.

If Wildstein has this evidence, and if it shows that Christie knew, then that’s it. The game is over. Not only will Christie have to abandon his presidential ambitions, but given the scope of his dishonesty, there’s a decent chance he’ll have to leave office.

In which case, the Republican Party will have lost its most electable candidate for the 2016 cycle. Which raises the question: Who else does the GOP have?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/31/goodbye-chris-christie-and-hello-scott-walker.html


YA THINK?





Walkergate 2: The Sons Of Doe Ride Again


After the Walkergate investigations ended with the conviction of six of Scott Walkers aides and supporters, many people thought that that was it.

But in October, news broke that there was another John Doe, or to be more accurate, five more John Doe probes, being conducted. Precious little was known about these newly discovered investigations. What we did know was that the investigations involved possible illegal collaboration between the Koch Brothers - Bradley Foundation-supported front groups such as the Wisconsin Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity and the political campaigns of at least one of the recalled Republicans.

Trying to get a grasp of what was going on was greatly hindered by the fact that the possibilities were so vast and the network of these front groups and the politicians were so immense, it was hard to keep it all straight. Another issue was that the credibility of the sources of information was dubious at best. Unlike Walkergate, these investigations started to leak like a sieve. Sadly, the leaks were all right wing operatives, some who were claiming to be the subjects of the investigations. To complicate things further, they were leaking to the right wing front groups and propagandists, adding to the doubt.

Fortunately for us, Lisa Kaiser of the Shepherd Express was digging into it already. Kaiser was the first to point to some of the central people/groups that were part of the investigation. She pointed out that Eric O'Keefe, who has claimed to be one of the subjects of the investigation, was the head of Wisconsin Club for Growth and has ties to the Sam Adams Alliance, which in turn funds the Franklin Center and by extension, Wisconsin Reporter.

Kaiser also pointed out the enmeshment of R.J. Johnson, who was a consultant to Scott Walker's campaign as well as involved with Wisconsin Club for Growth. Johnson was one of the people regularly copied into the emails that were flying between Walker's campaign and his county staff.


http://cognidissidence.blogspot.com/2014/01/walkergate-2-sons-of-doe-ride-again.html