Chris Christie, Disaster Governor or..... [View all]

[Laxman]

is it "Disaster of a Governor"? I'm sure you know where I stand on that question-and my conclusions certainly have a sound foundation in facts. So excuse me, but it's time for another rant.

It's very easy to fall into the trap of making fun of the boorish fat man, well frankly because Mr. Christie is indeed a boorish fat man. Like an aging rocker waddling out on to the stage to perform his greatest hits to an adoring audience, he never disappoints his fans as he unleashes a predictable set of arrogant, snide, rude and confrontational remarks. But this performance art masks a much deeper problem; that his reign has been horrible for New Jersey and his persona as a hero in the face of disasters is nothing more than a ginned-up circus act. Let's consider that aspect of his carefully crafted facade.

When Hurricane Sandy hit NJ, he actually had to ask Jeb Bush if touring the damaged areas of the state was a good idea before venturing out. He courted the President and advocated for disaster aid-which was the right thing to do. But, having received billions in assistance, Christie decided it would make a much better slush fund to reward his allies and curry favor with potential endorsers than to actually use this windfall of cash to help his impacted constituents and reduce vulnerability to future storms. He opted instead to re-build in place and turned to his tried and true strategy of insults and bullying towards anyone who didn't immediately fall into line. So, more than three years later, there are still people not back in their homes after Sandy and, more alarmingly, no comprehensive strategy to protect the large areas of the state that are at-risk to the dangerous combination of sea level rise and future storms. He has never really been called to task for what, at best, could be described as bungling the recovery effort. His fleece clad T.V. tour was nothing more than a cover for him to fleece the taxpayers.

However the good governor wasn't done inflicting damage on his former home state. While off gallivanting around his new home in New Hampshire things continued to go awry back in the Garden State. It's not just the threatened record 10th credit downgrade the state now faces. Last week, before the blizzard hit, New Jersey was notified that it had gotten a bare minimum award in the competitive grant program designed to encourage innovative projects, increase resiliency and reduce risks of future disasters. That program was created with the intent of steering large sums of money to New Jersey (similar to the $175 million awarded to NYC) because that's where millions of people are at-risk. Instead, due to the Christie administration's stubborn refusal to acknowledge or react to climate change, sea level rise and the vulnerability of his state, NJ lost out to places like Minot, ND. Now no disrespect meant to North Dakota, but one well-designed project in New Jersey could theoretically protect millions of people and billions of dollars in property while a hundred projects in sparsely populated North Dakota couldn't give you nearly that same "bang for your buck". So, thanks to Christie's presidential ambitions and his lack of vision, a once in a lifetime grant program that was rigged to send money New Jersey's way, ended up diverting those funds elsewhere.

A week later, the blizzard hits and Christie actually has to be shamed into returning to the state that actually pays him to be governor. I guess he didn't ask Jeb for advice this time. Now, if you're not from this part of the country you might be inclined to say "it was just a big snowstorm, what's the big deal". Aside from the fact that 30 million people or so were buried under 2 feet of snow, a couple of days of persistent onshore hurricane force winds has a particularly nasty affect on coastal states like NJ. Since our great leader decided that resiliency and reduction of vulnerability wasn't really a priority for him, there were parts of the NJ coast that never addressed these isssues and as a result, suffered particularly bad flooding. This was inconvenient for Christie coming just before the New Hampshire primary and all. So hoping to take advantage of a good crisis, he patted himself on the back, touted how nobody died in his state (except for those 5 dead people), declared everything was under control and high-tailed it back to the Granite State to resume trying to bamboozle the voters there into believing he was a competent governor. But, reality can be a bitch.

Here on Earth, places in New Jersey's southernmost coastal counties experienced flooding that was over a foot higher than what they saw in Sandy. (In fact, a bit farther south in Delaware they experienced flooding that exceeded the Ash Wednesday storm of 1962 that was formerly the storm of record). News footage of snow and ice floating through the flooded streets of places like Stone Harbor and Wildwood contradicted Mr. Christie's claims. While bloviating once again at a "town hall" meeting in New Hampshire that included his false claims that there was no flooding damage back home, a young woman had the temerity to ask Mr. Christie about the actual flood damage that had indeed occurred. Like the 60-year olds in KISS launching into a stirring rendition of I Want to Rock N Roll All Night Christie went to the old reliable combination of sarcasm, snark and bullying. Not content with merely lacing into his nervous young questioner, he went on to refer to the mayor of the heavily damaged town of North Wildwood as "crazy". The mayor, a republican and Christie supporter (hopefully now formerly) was at least in a position to fight back, unlike the young woman at the Town Hall. This is more than just bad behavior. It exposes the real danger of this guy.

He has no interest in governing. His only real policy positions have to do with what furthers his political career. This might be entertaining, but as the damage that occurred in last weekend's storm illustrates, there are serious consequences to bad policies and abdication of governing responsibilities. As the "Christie for President" show continues it's off-Broadway run in New Hampshire, maybe this latest performance will finally get the message across that this guy isn't just a bad candidate, he's downright dangerous. Maybe the curtain will finally come down on this horror show.There are aspects of his ambition that are just plain hazardous to the health of anyone caught in its path. Yeah, "look at the obnoxious fat man" might make for good television and a few laughs but there's no laughing about the damage he's caused. The next time Christie touts his experience dealing with disasters, let's hope someone points him in the direction of a mirror and explains that the greatest disaster to befall NJ in the last hundred years will be staring right back at him.