http://www.theonion.com/articles/voters-shocked-christie-botched-such-an-easy-polit,34909/
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/02/gwb_motorists_and_anti-chris_christie_groups_to_hold_protest_tuesday.html#incart_river
( The Onion is satire ....... Just making sure this is understood ! )
State of dysfunction ?
http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/14/02/05/christie-reacts-with-skepticism-surprise-to-eminent-domain-bill-which-he-already/
http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2014/02/hundreds_of_sandy_victims_were.html#incart_river
http://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/2014/02/chris_christie_state_of_new_jersey_or_state_of_den.html#incart_river
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/02/gwb_motorists_and_anti-chris_christie_groups_to_hold_protest_tuesday.html#incart_river
TRENTON — Motorists who got stuck in the infamous traffic jam that clogged up the access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee have been invited to participate at a protest Tuesday to demand Gov. Chris Christie's resignation, should he be directly tied to the scandal.
The noon gathering will be as close as they can get to the "scene of the crime:" at the Palisades Interstate Park in front of the bridge, said Keith Rouda, organizer for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, one of the two liberal-leaning organizations hosting the protest. NJ Working Families Alliance is also involved.
"What gets lost in all the stories about subpoenas and legal strategies is that real, everyday people were at the other end of these decisions," said Alex Howard, who was stuck in traffic twice from Sept. 9-13. "If Chris Christie knew what was being done to us, he should resign. Traffic accidents happen, but that week in September was no traffic accident. New Jerseyans were attacked by people high up in Chris Christie's administration. The role of government is to help people, but Chris Christie's administration abused their power and made our lives worse."
The four-day lane closures on the world's most heavily trafficked bridge, in what some believe was political payback against the Fort Lee mayor, a Democrat, who did not support Christie in his gubernatorial re-election bid. The U.S. Attorney and a joint legislative committee are investigating the matter separately.
( The Onion is satire ....... Just making sure this is understood ! )
Voters Shocked Christie Botched Such An Easy Political Cover-Up
WASHINGTON—Following revelations this week that staffers under New Jersey Governor Chris Christie manipulated traffic in a small New Jersey town to punish its mayor, mortified Americans across the nation reported that they were shocked to learn the potential 2016 presidential candidate could possibly fumble such an easy political cover-up. “Man, this guy wants to be President of the United States and he can’t even conceal an act of corruption this rinky-dink and run-of-the-mill from voters? It’s crazy,” Newark resident Carolyn Baum said in agreement with millions of stunned Americans, adding that she holds potential presidential candidates to much higher standards of subterfuge and graft. “I mean, this is a total softball. If he can’t even bully one little small-town mayor into submission by oppressing his constituents and get away with it, how can we reasonably believe he’s politically skilled enough to cover up national scandals like orchestrating a foreign war, illegally colluding with big business, or violating the civil liberties of millions of Americans? It’s a little scary, to be honest.” At press time, many Americans reported their faith in Christie’s presidential qualifications was somewhat restored after he released a series of statements pinning the blame on others and throwing top aides under the bus.
State of dysfunction ?
http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/14/02/05/christie-reacts-with-skepticism-surprise-to-eminent-domain-bill-which-he-already/
CHRISTIE SURPRISED, SKEPTICAL OF EMINENT-DOMAIN BILL -- BUT HE ALREADY SIGNED IT
Could confusion be linked to scandals and investigations distracting NJ's hands-on governor?
A little-noticed bill that passed the state Legislature last month gives extraordinary eminent-domain powers to a new higher education board in South Jersey.
But Gov. Chris Christie, embroiled in and perhaps distracted by two abuse-of-power scandals and investigations, said during a recent radio appearance that he didn't know anything about the bill, which would allow a new joint Rowan/Rutgers University board to seize private property in Camden.
In fact, the governor expressed skepticism and disapproval of the idea, suggesting that such a proposal would face tough scrutiny if it ever reached his desk.
There's just one big problem with this scenario. Christie himself signed the bill into law less than three weeks ago.
Read the full story and audio report by Richard Yeh of WNYC and Matt Katz of New Jersey Public Radio. Both WNYC and NJPR are partners of NJ Spotlight.
http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2014/02/is_bridge_scandal_distracting.html#incart_river
Is bridge scandal distracting Chris Christie?: Editorial
Gov. Chris Christie addresses the media and local residents Tuesday during a news conference in Keansburg to discuss aid for Hurricane Sandy-impacted homeowners. (Saed Hindash/The Star-Ledger)
Gov. Chris Christie has never been shy about sharing his opinion. So it was strange to see him sit back one day last month and let nearly four dozen bills quietly die, with no action from his office.
He hasn’t offered public reasons for allowing them to expire — what’s known as a “pocket veto” — or even told their sponsors what the problem was.
Many of the 44 proposals passed easily and seemed unobjectionable, such as protecting Hurricane Sandy victims from inept contractors or consumers from bad business practices. Others were just plain necessary, including requiring cameras in municipal police cars and public warnings when raw sewage spills into our rivers.
Oddly enough, Christie did explain his decision for two of the bills he did not sign — so why not all the others?
His spokesman has said there wasn’t enough time to properly vet the legislation. Christie’s chief attorney is responsible for that. With the recent chaos roiling the governor’s office, swamped with subpoenas from Bridgegate investigators, was he simply unable to do his normal job?
Scandal or no scandal, that’s not how a democracy is supposed to work. Many of these bills had been in the works for a long time, and the consequences of Christie’s inaction now are serious. For example: One pocket veto leaves investigators with less ability to solve serious crimes and exonerate the innocent. This legislation would haveexpanded our state’s DNA database by requiring samples from all convicted criminals, just as New York does.
Our database currently collects DNA only from people convicted of certain crimes, which makes it far less effective. Including samples from people convicted of any crime, even a misdemeanor, would help catch those who go on to commit more serious crimes later — not to mention free the falsely accused.
Since New York began collecting DNA from people convicted of petty larceny, for instance, authorities were able to identify suspects in 48 murders and 220 sexual assaults statewide. Shouldn’t New Jersey be able to do the same?
Christie owes the public an explanation of why he killed this bill that had bipartisan support and the blessing of law enforcement. Its primary sponsor, Sen. Nicholas Sacco (D-Hudson), says the governor’s office won’t tell him what problems Christie had with it, and he can’t rework the legislation until he finds out.
He hasn’t offered public reasons for allowing them to expire — what’s known as a “pocket veto” — or even told their sponsors what the problem was.
Many of the 44 proposals passed easily and seemed unobjectionable, such as protecting Hurricane Sandy victims from inept contractors or consumers from bad business practices. Others were just plain necessary, including requiring cameras in municipal police cars and public warnings when raw sewage spills into our rivers.
Oddly enough, Christie did explain his decision for two of the bills he did not sign — so why not all the others?
His spokesman has said there wasn’t enough time to properly vet the legislation. Christie’s chief attorney is responsible for that. With the recent chaos roiling the governor’s office, swamped with subpoenas from Bridgegate investigators, was he simply unable to do his normal job?
Scandal or no scandal, that’s not how a democracy is supposed to work. Many of these bills had been in the works for a long time, and the consequences of Christie’s inaction now are serious. For example: One pocket veto leaves investigators with less ability to solve serious crimes and exonerate the innocent. This legislation would haveexpanded our state’s DNA database by requiring samples from all convicted criminals, just as New York does.
Our database currently collects DNA only from people convicted of certain crimes, which makes it far less effective. Including samples from people convicted of any crime, even a misdemeanor, would help catch those who go on to commit more serious crimes later — not to mention free the falsely accused.
Since New York began collecting DNA from people convicted of petty larceny, for instance, authorities were able to identify suspects in 48 murders and 220 sexual assaults statewide. Shouldn’t New Jersey be able to do the same?
Christie owes the public an explanation of why he killed this bill that had bipartisan support and the blessing of law enforcement. Its primary sponsor, Sen. Nicholas Sacco (D-Hudson), says the governor’s office won’t tell him what problems Christie had with it, and he can’t rework the legislation until he finds out.
The same goes for sponsors of the other 43 bills — and the governor should have answers for every one of them.
Hundreds of Sandy victims were wrongly denied relief. What now? (Editorial)
Hundreds of homeowners were wrongly denied Sandy funds. Those who went through the additional fight of an appeal will be put back into the program. But what about the others who were mistakenly rejected? (Andrew Mills/The Star-Ledger)
Hurricane Sandy victims have long complained that they were being denied relief and had no idea why.
They expressed bafflement as far back as July, and at a series of legislative hearings that the officials in charge of the state's recovery programs, "Sandy czar" Marc Ferzan and Richard Constable, refused to attend.
Gov. Chris Christie's excuse at the time was that this was political theater, and Ferzan didn't have time to be a "show horse."
But that official silence left hundreds of desperate storm victims in the dark for months. And after receiving no information in response to a public records request, the Fair Share Housing Center ultimately sued the state, looking for clear reasons behind all the rejections.
Which brings us to Wednesday: As a result of that lawsuit, we learned that storm victims had every reason to complain. This program was riddled with mistakes.
Nearly 2,000 Sandy victims were wrongly denied grants by the state. A full three-quarters of those who appealed their rejections won, and are now back in the program -- though it's not clear whether this bumped them down on the waiting list.
And those are just the people who appealed. What if there were others who were also wrongly rejected, but simply trusted the system ?
Christie's Sandy officials should have told the public about this mistake from the get-go.
The agency overseeing the rebuilding programs, headed by Constable, has blamed the errors on the Federal Emergency Management Agency, saying it gave the state the wrong information about flood-damaged areas. When people appealed, the state says it consulted other data sources to correct its decisions.
Yet apparently, this was done only for those who pushed through the added hurdles of the appeal process. Were the others just a silent "oops" ?
Sandy officials should have told the public about this bungling from the get-go -- much like their decision to quietly get rid of the contractor in charge of running the rebuilding programs. Were those two things related? They cannot operate in secrecy.
Federal officials are already auditing the Christie administration's use of $25 million in federal Sandy funds for television commercials starring the governor and his family during his re-election campaign. They should audit these rejections, too, as housing advocates and lawmakers have called for.
And in the meantime, the state should do its own review. It has said it won't reopen the waiting list for its rebuilding program; anyone who isn't on it now is out of luck.
But we can't just leave it at that. The system was broken. What is Constable going to do now to fix it?
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/02/state_ordered_to_release_guadgano_pension_probe_records_report_says.html#incart_river
NJ instructed to release pension records of Guadagno's hire, report says
Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno is accused of making "false and conflicting statements" about the job title of retired investigator she hired when she was the Monmouth County Sheiff, according to a report. (Tony Kirdzuk/The Star-Ledger)
By
Follow on Twitter
on February 06, 2014 at 12:24 PM, updated February 06, 2014 at 12:54 PM
Follow on Twitter
on February 06, 2014 at 12:24 PM, updated February 06, 2014 at 12:54 PM
TRENTON — The state has been ordered to hand over nearly all the documents about Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno's hiring of a retired investigator when she served as Monmouth County Sheriff, according to a report on NewJerseyWatchdog.com.
Mark Lagerkvist of New Jersey Watchdog has been trying to figure out just how much of a role Guadagno had in a scheme that allegedly permitted one of her hires to engage in double-dipping when she was the Monmouth County sheriff.
The deadline is Tuesday for the state Treasury to appeal administrative law Judge Linda Kassekert's decision, the report said.
In September 2008, Guadagno — then-sheriff of Monmouth County — hired Michael Donovan as her chief officer in charge of law enforcement, according to her signed memo and her organization chart. Donovan had retired as an investigator for the county Prosecutor's Office in 2005.
Under pension rules, Donovan would lose his pension pay if the state found out he returned to work as the sheriff's chief officer. So Guadagno informed other county officials Donovan was chief warrant officer, a similar sounding, but different position, according to previous reports.
The alleged false statements enabled Donovan to collect $218,000 in pension checks and avoid paying $27,000 he should have contributed to the pension fund.
All but one of the documents is to be handed over, Kassekert ruled.
http://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/2014/02/chris_christie_state_of_new_jersey_or_state_of_den.html#incart_river
Chris Christie: State of New Jersey or State of denial? A troubling pattern: Mulshine
By
Follow on Twitter
on February 06, 2014 at 3:01 PM, updated February 06, 2014 at 10:27 PM
Follow on Twitter
on February 06, 2014 at 3:01 PM, updated February 06, 2014 at 10:27 PM
In my Thursday column, I discussed a serious character flaw the governor has: Chris Christie seems congenitally incapable of admitting his mistakes, even when millions of people are aware of them. Worse, he often lashes out at critics in incredibly petty ways.
In that column, I linked to a 2011 column of mine in which I reported on how the governor flew off to Disney World just as the blizzard of the century a week earlier. There he vacationed while his transportation people failed to plow state highways. And I don't mean just on the day of the storm. Many were sill in awful shape five days later.
This was especially true in Monmouth County, a county where virtually every major road is a state highway. A full five days after the storm, Route 34 still had only one lane plowed in each direction even though it is a four-lane road. Worse, the jug handles were not cleared. I recall going a mile out of my way just to make a turn.
Yet when Christie came back from Florida, he headed straight to Monmouth County. There he held a press conference during which he not only failed to apologize but denied the actual facts on the ground and also lashed out at mayors who criticized him.
Here's an excerpt from that column:
A reporter asked Christie asked about complaints by local mayors that the state had been slow to plow state highways, forcing the local officials to clear some state roadways, as well as their own streets.
"First of all, it’s not true," he stated. How could he have known? He was in Florida. Meanwhile thousands of taxpayers drove down plowed local roads only to reach state highways clogged or even shut down for several days.
Christie then went on to charge that the mayors should "buck up and take responsibility for the fact that they didn’t do their job" — seemingly oblivious to the fact they did their job, and his as well.
He demanded to know why the mayors hadn’t called the state to ask that the state roads be plowed. That amounted to an admission of what was obvious to everyone at the Shore: State officials had no idea what was happening on the state highways.
Senate President Stephen Sweeney admitted as much when I called him later in the week. The state simply screwed up at the Shore, the man who had been acting governor during Christie’s absence told me.
The reason I’d called him was that Christie has said at the press conference that he had consulted with Sweeney on all the major decisions made during the storm.
Sweeney told me he never heard from Christie.
That column was accompanied by the video above. Looked back on it three years later, I find it astounding. Here was a governor who had committed one of the mortal sins of local politics - failing to clear the highways of snow. He compounded it by spending the week on vacation in sunny Florida.
Then upon returning, he went straight to the place where he had screwed up the worst - and told the residents that what they just had seen happen didn't really happen. Note how he kept repeating that 95 percent of state highways were cleared within two days. Big deal. Many parts of the state, such as Sweeney's own Gloucester County, did not get a lot of snow. However in Monmouth almost all of the state highways were clogged for most of the week.
What's even worse, though, is the implied threat to those mayors he makes in this video. In light of what we now know of the governor's penchant for pettiness, that's a bit chilling. I wonder if anyone from the administration later shut down lanes in their towns for some "traffic study."
As for the state officials who neglected to plow the damned roads, Christie never let out a peep against them, just as he has failed to criticize anyone in NJ Transit for the debacle at the Super Bowl the other evening.
That screw-up was much worse. NJ Transit officials had a full four years to prepare for the Super Bowl. Their plan was to encourage everyone to take public transit. But the only public transit connection to the game was a single rail line going out from Secaucus Junction. There's also just a single rail line going back from the stadium.
Even if NJ Transit had accurately estimated the number of fans taking the train, many would have had to wait for an hour to catch a train - an inexcusably long time when you consider that the stadium is a mere mile and a half from the station as the crowd flies.
If that crow made the mistake of taking NJ Transit, however, he'd find himself taking a tour of the swamps on a route that circles the stadium and goes miles out of the way.
The simple solution would have been to have a hundred or so buses on standby to handle the extra volume by shuttling fans that short distance so they could catch their trains. No one at NJ Transit seems to have thought of that.
The result was headlines all over the country and even overseas about how New Jersey had screwed up the big game. Yet Chrisite bizarrely insisted everything went according to plan.
Anyhow watch the video above. It's an amazing performance - and not in a good way.
COMMENTS: I've noted that in my prior posts on Christie I get comments from clueless types who believe I am a liberal because I criticize Christie. In fact I am well to the right of Christie and have been writing conservative commentary since the Reagan years.
If you're not familiar with that, Google my past writings. And then is you want to comment here, comment on the specific points made above. Off-topic comments will be deleted.
Chris Christie: Denial and defensiveness aren't a winning game plan
Fans wait to leave Sunday's Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium (Star-Ledger Photo | JOHN MUNSON)
By
Follow on Twitter
on February 05, 2014 at 7:05 PM, updated February 06, 2014 at 8:51 AM
Follow on Twitter
on February 05, 2014 at 7:05 PM, updated February 06, 2014 at 8:51 AM
If Chris Christie’s second term as governor turns out to be as disastrous as appears likely, you will be able to trace the governor’s fall to two transportation-related events that occurred on Dec. 9.
One took place at the Secaucus Junction train station. There, state officials joined with the NFL to announce plans for "the first mass transit Super Bowl." The plans involved cutting the number of parking spaces in half, banning shuttles and taxis, and imploring fans to take public transit to the big game. The flaws in the transit part of the planwere obvious even then, as was the negative effect it would have on local businesses. But Christie did nothing.
The other took place in the Statehouse. There, Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye went before the Assembly Transportation Committee and told the members that there was no validity whatsoever to the George Washington Bridge "traffic study" that a Christie appointee had used to inflict gridlock on Fort Lee. Again Christie should have acted to take responsibility and apologize to all those affected. Instead he tried to shift the blame.
Those two events had something in common with another transportation debacle that occurred in Christie’s first year in office.
That was the massive blizzard that hit the day after Christmas in 2010. Christie escaped the storm with his family on one of the last planes out of Newark Liberty International Airport. He spent the week at Walt Disney World while Jersey drivers were immobilized by the state’s failure to plow the highways.
Christie’s reaction to that event was similar to his reaction to the two most recent debacles: He shifted the blame to others. After returning from Florida, he held a news conference in Monmouth County during which he blamed the local mayors — for failing to plow state roads.
Similarly after the Super Bowl debacle, Christie said, "I’m really proud of the work we did" — even though NJ Transit officials had no contingency plan for what would happen if fans actually decided to take their advice and arrive by train. The front pagesas far away as London showed photos of fans caught in a crush as they waited hours for trains, but everything was hunky-dory for the guy who got to leave the stadium in a motorcade.
This penchant for denying responsibility is the direct cause of the governor’s decline. That decline was in evidence Tuesday, when Christie visited Monmouth County again. This time the subject was Hurricane Sandy relief, another sore point after allegations that he was using it for political purposes.
The tone was markedly different from the pre-Bridgegate days. Back then, Christie would get a gracious reception from the locals. This time, Christie didn’t find the crowd as receptive. Two residents interrupted his speech to try to ask questions. Then after the governor finished, one guy yelled out, "What about the slush fund for Hoboken, Belleville and New Brunswick now?" as he beat a hasty retreat
He left without taking questions from the media, many of which would have been about the Super Bowl debacle. I would have asked him if some Broncos or Seahawks fan had slipped him some of that legalized pot their states are famous for. What else could explain his insistence that all went well when visitors were left with such a bad impression of our state ?
In all of these flaps, the governor has resisted taking responsibility until he had no choice. In Bridgegate, Christie now claims he learned of the traffic jams in Fort Lee only when he read about them in the Wall Street Journal four days after those lane closures ended on Sept. 13. If so, he should have publicly apologized immediately to all those drivers stuck in traffic by the actions of his handpicked hit man at the authority. Instead, he tried to blame commuters for having the temerity to demand an adequate number of tollbooths.
"I''m really proud of the work we did" - Chris Christie on the mess caused by NJ Transit's failure to plan for the "first mass-transit Super Bowl"
It was only when those embarrassing emails surfaced in January that the governor shouldered the blame he should have in September. But by Monday, when he did that call-in show on NJ 101.5-FM, Christie was back to wondering aloud whether the commuters entering the bridge in Fort Lee really deserved to have three lanes at which they could pay that $13 toll.
Defense may win Super Bowls, but it’s not winning our governor any friends.
BY THE WAY, if you're wondering why so many parking spots went unused on Sunday, take a look at this site where they were selling for more than $350 before the game. The knuckleheads at the NFL put them on sale back in December and they were quickly scarfed up by scalpers, who were selling them for more than double the $150 face value.
A lot of people looked at that and compared it to the $10 price of a train ticket. That's why so many passes went unused. Obviously, the passes should have been sold only in combination with tickets. But that didn't occur to these geniuses.
Also obviously, the stadium grounds should have been open to shuttles the way they were when the stadium was under construction. Thousands of people could have been shuttled from nearby areas. But again the NFL wanted to corner that market and force people into those overpriced $51 buses.
Someone had to be the adult and tell the NFL they couldn't do this. But that someone was too busy hobnobbing with League officials at Super Bowl events.
By the way, over the past two months I repeatedly pointed out to NJ Transit officials that they would have a boondoggle on their hands when all of those thousands of fans who arrived by mass transit tried to leave at once when the game ended. So they can't claim it wasn't obvious this was going to happen.
(BELOW: Check at the 2:30 mark where the governor claims the Super Bowl left a good impression on visitors. He also tries to pin the blame on the NFL for inaccurate ridership predictions when the blame belongs to NJ Transit for failing to have a backup plan to bus fans when trains got too crowded. That was obvious at the 2 p.m. crush, yet for some reason they failed to prepare for what was going to be a much worse crush when all those fans left at once after the game.
Also check at the 27:45 mark, where he begins to discuss the "three lanes dedicated to Fort Lee." In fact those lanes are used by commuters from all over North Jersey who drive through Fort Lee. He then goes back to that unbelievable suggestion that he's still wondering if this might have been a legitimate traffic study.)
good morning Fred,
ReplyDeleteThe strange days continue, Blythe Masters as regulator is too funny. So is our shock that the Russians eavesdropped on our conversations. That should bring some blowback on our Ukrainian stooges.
Fukushima updates were depressing as usual but the Christie updates did bring a smile to my face.
Have a good one.
Morning Kev - when the crooks are in charge , why are we not surprised to see the fox put in charge of the henhouse ? Par for the course.....
ReplyDeleteRussian eavesdropping to US Officials talking on an unsecured - and then releasing the juicy tidbit by Twitter is just priceless... what else can you say ?
Fukushima remains a constant disaster , again another par for the course....
Chris Christie must be in a state of shock , wondering how everything just went so horribly wrong , wondering where all of his friends went to so fast. He will be twisting in the wind for awhile and foes both Dem and GOP will take their shots.