THE “BRIDGEGATE” SCANDAL IS APPARENTLY “BUSINESS AS USUAL” IN NEW JERSEY



…The “Big Man” himself: Governor Chris Christie

 

N.J. Mayors either, “Put up or shut-up” when it comes to dealing with their governor.

Well, the Republican talking points on the New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie's bridge traffic scandal were very up front last weekend.  The Republican’s obviously think it's an Obama abuse of power. 

What am I talking about you say?

Well, all the Republican’s on the Sunday political talk-shows responded to any question about Christie by offering up shots at President Obama about Benghazi, the IRS, or the ATF’s, “Fast & Furious” gun-walking scandal. It appears that the only way that Republicans can react to a real scandal, such as Christie’s “Bridgegate”, is to counter it with fake scandals against the Obama administration.

It has been well established that the president had nothing to do with the IRS, Benghazi, or the “Fast & Furious” border gun issues.  But it did allow the Republican politicians to take shots at the president on national TV.

But, I digress to one of the most bizarre items this week about the “Bridgegate” scandal that was presented by Fox News’, Brit Hume. 

Mr. Hume actually said that Chris Christie only looks like a bully because of the "feminized atmosphere" created by today's news media. Yes, that’s what he actually said.  Brit said that, “In this feminized atmosphere, guys who are masculine and muscular, and are kind of old-fashioned tough guys, they run the risk of being called bullies or the bad guys.”

As one, female talk-show host said about Mr. Hume’s comments, “I can't figure out if Brit Hume is sexist, or if he just has a crush on Chris Christie. Brit... how shall I put this? If everybody was acting out in a ‘masculine and muscular’ tough-guy way, then you [Brit] would constantly be getting your ass kicked.”

But the real issue that is being revealed in “Bridgegate” is how it is a perfect showcase for old-fashioned, bullying, New Jersey politics.

Chris Christie’s scandal is making it crystal clear that when there is a newly re-elected governor in town, if the key New Jersey mayors, regardless of their political party affiliation, didn’t pledge their support for the governor, their town or city just may get left behind in getting any real support from the state.

Since “Bridgegate” became national news, this potential “vendetta” issue has become front and center. 

In the New Jersey town of Fort Lee, with only 35,000 citizens, where “Bridgegate” began, the Mayor, Mark Sokolich did not endorse Mr. Christie for governor.  Governor Christie says he didn’t even know Mayor Sokolich and didn’t personally pursue his endorsement.  Mr. Christie, in his news conference last week also totally denied any advance knowledge of the “Bridgegate” street closures.   Christie did add that the closures may have been a "political vendetta" by his aides (which have been fired) against the Mayor of Fort Lee.  And apparently, Christie’s re-election team initially did pursue the Fort Lee Democratic Mayor’s endorsement.

The governor has since parted ways with Bill Stepien, who as Mr. Christie's campaign manager and senior adviser, had helped organize the mayoral endorsement effort. Mr. Christie also fired Bridget Anne Kelly, his deputy chief of staff, who wrote in a recently released email weeks ahead of the “Bridgegate” lane closures that it was: "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

Yes, as it turns out, these kinds of “political vendettas” are not that unusual in New Jersey governors politics.

The Mayor of Jersey City, N.J. is a Democrat by the name of Steve Fulop.  Mr. Fulop has stated that there was swift retribution when he failed to endorse Mr. Christie for governor. 

Mr. Fulop, was recently elected as the Jersey City Mayor and was seen as a rising star and a potential Christie ally in the state's second largest city.   Mr. Christie even spoke at Mr. Fulop's inauguration in July, and the new Democrat's campaign gave early indications it might endorse the Republican governor.

The Christie campaign for  the Jersey City Mayor’s support even offered direct access to multiple state commissioners, who hold the purse strings for many Jersey City services.

But when the Democratic Jersey City Mayor decided against endorsing the governor, within an hour of relaying that decision, meetings with several state commissioners were canceled.

After making his decision to not endorse the Governor, Mayor Fulop stated, "nearly every single meeting we have requested with state commissioners with regard to proactive Jersey City issues was unfortunately rejected over the last six months, along with countless requests we made to the Port Authority for new meeting dates”.  This is the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is a bi-state agency that Mr. Christie jointly controls with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Another Mayor, the mayor of Hoboken, N.J., Ms. Dawn Zimmer, said she was invited to the state capital in February to meet with Mr. Christie and Mr. Stepien. The conversation began with talk about securing federal money for super-storm Sandy damage, then the discussion immediately turned to politics. The governor, Ms. Zimmer said, directly asked her to endorse his re-election.  The implication being that obtaining the federal money was directly connected to the endorsement.  "It was not that easy to tell him no," Ms. Zimmer said.

Apparently, of those New Jersey mayors that were pursued for an endorsement, but did not endorse, their percentage of the approved federal money for the rebuilding from the Sandy super-storm has been much smaller than for those city’s where the Mayor’s did endorse the governor.

In other words, it’s been business as usual in New Jersey politics.

Copyright G.Ater  2014