Chris Christie aides' emails suggest intentionally created traffic nightmare

[alfred russel]

E-mails emerged on Wednesday purportedly from top aides to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie bolstering the case that George Washington Bridge lane closures last year that tied up traffic were borne from a political vendetta and not bureaucratic incompetence as his administration claimed.

Christie's office could not be reached for comment, but he has previously said he knew nothing about allegations of political retribution against the Mayor of Fort Lee, where the traffic lanes feed into the nation's busiest bridge across the Hudson River, for not endorsing him in his re-election bid.

Those cited in the series of e-mails and text messages subpoenaed by Democratic legislators and obtained by CNN and other news outlets did not respond to requests for comment or to verify the communications.

The politically charged controversy comes with Christie considered a likely candidate for President in 2016 and leading national polls for the Republican nomination.

Democrat: It's a sad day for New Jersey

What did Christie know about closed lanes? The e-mails, if accurate, are the most damaging information to surface supporting Democratic suspicions of political retaliation in this case involving the Christie administration, which has put the blame on a mishandled traffic study.

The exchanges began three weeks before the closures in September, which caused heavy traffic backups, and cite a senior Christie staffer and political appointees at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the bridge.

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie's deputy chief of staff for legislative and intergovernmental affairs, said in an e-mail to David Wildstein, then the highest-level appointee representing the state at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

"Got it," Wildstein replied.

Democrats allege the lane closures were to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Christie in his re-election effort.

Christie acknowledged that mistakes were made but forcefully denied the lane closures were politically motivated.

He said at a news conference last month that he could only repeat what another appointee, Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni, had said publicly blaming the lane closures and resulting congestion on the transportation analysis.

"Which is, they believed the traffic study was necessary and that they ordered it, but the way they did it was mistaken and they didn't follow protocols," Christie said.

Christie said at the time that Baroni would leave his job, which he has. Wildstein also has resigned since the controversy broke.

In response to a phone message from Sokolich regarding an "urgent matter of public safety in Fort Lee" on the first day of the lane closures, Kelly asked Wildstein in an e-mail if the Mayor's call had been returned.

Wildstein wrote to Kelly: "Radio silence. His name comes right after mayor Fulop."

Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, a Democrat who also didn't endorse Christie, raised his own suspicions.

He claimed this week that his decision to not endorse the Governor was met with news that New Jersey Cabinet and other high ranking officials were canceling meetings with him and that a pension reform bill he had worked on was scuttled by a Democrat who had backed Christie.

On the second morning of the closures, Sokolich apparently sent a text to Baroni: "Presently we have four very busy traffic lanes merging into only one toll booth. ... The bigger problem is getting kids to school. Help please. It's maddening."

Seeing that text, a person whose name has been redacted from the e-mails and text messages writes to Wildstein: "Is it wrong that I am smiling?"

"No," Wildstein responds.

"I feel badly about the kids," the unknown person writes.

"They are the children of Buono voters," responds Wildstein.

Barbara Buono was Christie's Democratic opponent in the election last November.

On September 13, Wildstein wrote to Kelly that New York authorities gave "Fort Lee back all three lanes this morning. We are appropriately going nuts. Samson helping us to retaliate."

David Samson chairs the Port Authority's Board of Commissioners and is a close Christie ally.

Sokolich reached out to Wildstein on September 17 seeking an explanation.

"We should talk. Someone needs to tell me that the recent traffic debacle was not punitive in nature. The last four reporters that contacted me suggest that the people they are speaking with absolutely believe it to be punishment. Try as I may to dispel these rumors I am having a tough time. A private face-to-face would be important to me. Perhaps someone can enlighten me as to the errors of my ways. Let me know if you'll give me 10 minutes. Regards, Mark," Sokolich wrote.

Other documents raise questions, too

Wildstein sent the texts to Baroni.

"Have not heard back from Bridget," Wildstein noted.

"F**k," Baroni wrote back.

On September 18, Wildstein e-mailed Bill Stepien, Christie's campaign manager, and forwarded him a story from the Wall Street Journal titled "Bridge Jam's Cause a Mystery."

"I have empty boxes ready to take to work today, just in case," Wildstein wrote, an apparent reference to being fired. "It will be a tough November for this little Serbian," an apparent reference to Mayor Sokolich.

On October 3, Baroni asks Wildstein what the "Trenton feedback" is. Trenton is the capital of New Jersey and where Christie's headquarters are.

"Good," Wildstein wrote.

"Just good?" Baroni wrote. "S**t."

"No I have only texted brudget (sic) and Nicole they were VERY happy," Wildstein responded. "Both said you are doing great. Charlie said you did GREAT."

The Port Authority, which is run jointly by New Jersey and New York, oversees the tunnels, bridges and seaports between the two states, as well as the metropolitan area's airports.

Christie, who's now criss-crossing the country, campaigning for fellow GOP governors as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, is seen as prime political target for national Democrats, who rarely attacked Christie during his re-election campaign but are now becoming more aggressive with the bridge controversy unfolding.

"These revelations are troubling for any public official, but they also indicate what we've come to expect from Governor Christie - when people oppose him, he exacts retribution. When people question him, he belittles and snidely jokes. And when anyone dares to look into his administration, he bullies and attacks," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee chair, in a statement.

A source close to Christie said "there will probably be some sacrificial firing and that'll be it."

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/08/politics/christie-bridge/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

So this is going to be the republican nominee?

[Admiral Yi]

I sure hope so.

[derspiess]

True story:  I once spoke with an Asian police officer in Fort Lee whose name was Bruce.

[alfred russel]

I sure hope so.

If this story holds up, I think it will be very damaging. Is a traffic jam the end of the world? No. But this has a Nixonian feel to it. To make voters lives miserable because of something as trivial as a mayoral endorsement is nuts.

[Valmy]

But this has a Nixonian feel to it.

Christie just secured the Albertan vote.

[Queequeg]

I sure hope so.

If this story holds up, I think it will be very damaging. Is a traffic jam the end of the world? No. But this has a Nixonian feel to it. To make voters lives miserable because of something as trivial as a mayoral endorsement is nuts.

This seems a little inelegant for Nixon.  It's more Jersey than near-psychotic ex-Quaker. 

[The Minsky Moment]

It looks bad for Kelly but where is the connection to Christie personally?

[DGuller]

That sounds pretty disgusting and petty.  Christie hasn't been implicated directly so far, but it's kind of hard to believe that he was blissfully unaware of this whole plan, and that Port Authority would take part in this solely at the aide's encouragement.

As an aside, my prediction for this thread is that the usual retards will continue trolling this thread with non-sequitur remarks, and once my post goes through, they will uncover a plot by me to besmirch the name of yet another moderate Republican who is a threat to Democrats.

[DGuller]

I sure hope so.

If this story holds up, I think it will be very damaging. Is a traffic jam the end of the world? No. But this has a Nixonian feel to it. To make voters lives miserable because of something as trivial as a mayoral endorsement is nuts.

I bet New York Times is combing through the obituaries as we speak, looking for heart attack victims whose ambulances got stuck in traffic.

[alfred russel]

It looks bad for Kelly but where is the connection to Christie personally?

The problem is it fits into his personality. It may be left ambiguous whether he was directly involved, but it will color people's impressions of his youtube clips berating various people.

[Admiral Yi]

The problem is it fits into his personality.

How so?

[The Minsky Moment]

I don't buy that either.  He is a law-and-order guy.  I don't see him crossing that particular line.

[DGuller]

I don't buy that either.  He is a law-and-order guy.  I don't see him crossing that particular line.

I don't see an alternative explanation that passes the smell test.  If Christie would really find such a plot deplorable, then what exactly is the motivation for so many of his aides and allies to act behind his back?  What would they be risking their careers for?

[alfred russel]

The problem is it fits into his personality.

How so?

He is a bully.

You can interpret the youtube clips of him in that manner, and he looks very unattractive.

Or you can see them as he just stands up to opposition.

If you put in people's minds that he might do stuff like this, I think the bully viewpoint will predominate.

[Admiral Yi]

I suppose you are referring to the teachers heckling his press conference?

I haven't seen it.  Anyone have a link?