“WORLD’S BUSIEST BRIDGE” SCANDAL CONTINUES TO EXPAND

 

…George Washington Bridge, the world’s busiest, with 102 Million vehicle crossings per year

 

A New Jersey Mayor adds to Governor Chris Christie’s on-going bridge scandal woes.

Well, the syndicated columnist Ms. Kathleen Parker has done it again.  This conservative writer continues to find flaws in anyone that she thinks reacts incorrectly in certain political situations.  This time she’s attacking Ms. Dawn Zimmer, mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, for her allegations that the New Jersey Lt. Governor, Kim Guadagno, told her that Hoboken wouldn’t receive Hurricane Sandy relief funds unless the mayor supported a redevelopment project favored by Governor Chris Christie.

And Ms. Parker of course wrote , “Not surprisingly, the governor’s office denies this allegation and Guadagno denies that the conversation even took place as described.”  Duh.

Ms. Parker then questions why the Hoboken mayor waited so long before making this “alleged” situation known to the public and authorities.  She also questions the “…alleged journal entry in which she [Zimmer] expressed her disappointment in and outrage toward Christie”, a journal that she had just resumed writing in last summer.

Okay, let’s take a closer look at the whole situation.

With the highly popular Republican New Jersey governor, voted into and re-elected into his position in a very Blue state, and being a very large individual, also known for being a “Bully” towards anyone that questioned his decisions. I could easily see why a New Jersey city mayor might think twice about bringing up such a potentially sensitive issue to the public and the authorities.  And, the mayor had stated up front that the Lt. Governor Guadagno had also said that if she were asked, she would deny that she told the mayor that the conversation even took place, which is exactly what the Lt. Governor has done.

On top of all this, we are talking about New Jersey politics. 

When it comes to “business as usual”, the two most popular locations that are usually referred to for having “questionable politics”, those two locations are usually, “Chicago and New Jersey”.  Even Ms. Parker admits that perhaps, “….she [Zimmer] didn’t speak up because this is the way politics is played in New Jersey”.

I would find it totally appropriate that for a mayor, such as Ms. Zimmer, she could have been totally intimidated by the very large physical and loud presence of the now nationally known New Jersey Governor.  Especially when this governor has been considered by many in the GOP, as Ms. Parker herself agreed was, “the best hope for a Republican presidency”. 

 

Yes, I could see that until the current George Washington bridge scandal about the “busiest bridge in the world”, even Ms. Parker admits, “it seems probable that we never would have heard about Zimmer’s crisis”.

With all that’s been happening to Governor Christie’s team, as they continue to either be fired or to resign on their own, I can see that the Hoboken mayor saw this as a time to try and finally receive the money that her city needs.  Especially since she had admitted that she was a mayor that did not support Christie’s re-election.  As it was, after telling the governor before the election that she would not be supporting his re-election, her city only received 1% of what she had requested of the federal money for Hoboken’s rebuilding, and Hoboken was totally devastated by Hurricane Sandy. 

Oh, and if Christie and his office are as innocent as the governor says about the bridge scandal, why hasn’t his office volunteered up all the e-mails from his office instead of waiting until they are subpoenaed…?

Ms. Parker ends here column with the following, “It seems probable that we never would have heard about Zimmer’s crisis if not for the bridge mess. It apparently took other people pointing fingers at Christie for the mayor of Hoboken to locate her courage.”

Based on what we continue to learn about Christie’s bullying and business-as-usual New Jersey politics, Ms. Parker's comments may be absolutely correct. 

 

And I wouldn’t blame Mayor Zimmer for holding back, if that were the case.

Copyright G.Ater 2014