POLICE UNION IMPLICATED IN BRIDGEGATE OWED HUNDREDS OF JOBS TO CHRISTIE [View all]

[kpete]

Source: NJ Spotlight

POLICE UNION IMPLICATED IN BRIDGEGATE OWED HUNDREDS OF JOBS TO CHRISTIE
MARK J. MAGYAR | FEBRUARY 18, 2014
Nunziato and Christie

Gov. Chris Christie won the loyalty of the Port Authority police union whose actions are under investigation in Bridgegate by guaranteeing that its rank-and-file would be in charge of security at the new Freedom Tower and by pushing a Port Authority police expansion that added hundreds of union jobs and dues-paying members.

Now the police union and its leaders are under investigation by both the Legislature and the Port Authority for enforcing the George Washington Bridge lane closures, telling disgruntled motorists to call Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich to make sure he knew the lane closures were aimed at him, and backing up the Christie administration’s cover story that the closures were part of a legitimate traffic study.

The police union’s enthusiastic role in the Bridgegate lane closures -- which were ordered by Christie Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Kelly in apparent political retaliation against Sokolich for not endorsing Christie for reelection -- came nearly eight months after the Republican governor won the endorsement of the Port Authority Patromen's Benevolent Association President Paul Nunziato and his then-1,300 member union.

Read more: http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/14/02/18/police-union-implicated-in-bridgegate-owed-hundreds-of-dues-paying-jobs-to-christie/?p=all