Here is a just breaking short piece on a former Fort Lee mayor famous for ethical behavior saying Governor Christie is not fit for office and three other short pieces I still have in the hopper from the last week, some which were scooped, but may provide a retrospective of the week.
Mob-Defying Former Fort Lee Mayor: Christie Should No Longer Be in Office just posted by Mike Pignataro describes how "Burt Ross, who helped the FBI apprehend corrupt developers in the 1970s, said the governor is now 'not presidential quality.'"
A former Fort Lee mayor known for turning down a mob bribe said Gov. Chris Christie is no longer an appropriate presidential candidate and shouldn't even be in Trenton following the George Washington Bridge scandal.
Burt Ross was North Jersey's youngest mayor when at age 31 he rejected a $500,000 bribe and helped the FBI apprehend the corrupt developers who were trying to construct a controversial high-rise near the GWB in 1974.
Ross, 70, now lives in California but said he's been closing following the GWB scandal and now has a different perception of Christie, someone he was once "fond of," according to the Jewish Standard.
"Not only do I think he is not presidential quality, I don’t even think he deserves to be governor," Ross told the publication. "I think that he and his administration appear to be morally challenged."
In Christie ties reportedly led to big gains for Wolff & Samson we learn that Christie's long-time law firm co-partnered by Port Authority chairman David Sampson has experienced a tremendous boom in business during Christie's term:
According to state records obtained by the radio station, Wolff & Samson's lobbying business went from $40,000 annually prior to Christie's first election to over $1 million per year afterwards.
WNYC also reported that according to records, the firm's municipal bond counsel businesses has quadrupled since Christie took office, jumping from handling $2.4 billion worth of bond sales under Gov. Jon Corzine to $10.1 billion under Christie. ...
The firm was again linked to the scandal last week as Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer alleged that Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno threatened to withhold Superstorm Sandy relief aid from her city if she did not give approval to a development project by the Rockefeller Group, which Wolff & Samson represents.
Mayor Zimmer also included for Christie Lori Grifa as one who pressure about the Rockefeller project. NJbiz also tells she is now an attorney for Wolff and Samson.
In Bridge scandal: Port Authority will not pay Wildstein's legal bills, the Port Authority will not pay David Wildstein's legal bills, and surprisingly has not received any subpoenas which surprises me given the extent of chairmen Samson's involvement.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has denied a request by its former director of interstate capital projects, David Wildstein, to pay his legal bills related to the investigation of the lane closures at the George Washington Bridge.
"We denied his indemnification request," said Port Authority spokesman Chris Valens, using the legal term for coverage of an employee's legal bills while on the job.
The agency's former deputy exective director, Bill Baroni, has also asked the Port Authority to pay his legal bills, a request that Valens said was still being considered.
Valens said neither the Port Authority nor any of its current employees had received subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney's Office, which is investigating the lane closures.
Tom Moran of the N.J. Star Ledger calls our attention to how out of step Governor Christie is with the working poor by cutting his states earned income tax credit and health programs. Let's take this opportunity to point out that Governor's Christie's harshly conservative policies are more dreadful than his dishonesty, bullying, and potentially illegal misuse of government power.
Except Gov. Chris Christie. Several states have their own earned income tax credit, which piggy-backs on the federal one. Combining federal and state credits typically boosts the income of a working poor family by a few hundred dollars a month.
The guy who prides himself on cutting taxes has, in effect, raised taxes on the working poor.
Christie scaled back the state's credit in his first budget, and has refused since to restore that cut. The guy who prides himself on cutting taxes has, in effect, raised taxes on the working poor.
It's a real blind spot. Christie also tried to grab funds that had been set aside for affordable housing, though the state Supreme Court slapped his hand on that one. In his application for Hurricane Sandy aid, he short-changed renters and had to amend the plan to win federal approval. Earlier, he had tightened eligibility standards for state health programs.
Eugene Robinson deconstructs Governor Christie's pseudo apologies and reminds us that Christie is not the real victim here:
Frankly, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was unconvincing on that score Thursday as he attempted to contain a widening abuse-of-power scandal. Moreover, Christie displayed a degree of egocentrism that can only be described as stunning. His apologies would have sounded more sincere if he hadn’t portrayed himself as the real victim. ...
All along, Christie had ridiculed the suggestion that there was any political motivation in the lane closures. On Thursday, faced with proof to the contrary, he apologized and said he had been “betrayed” by staff members and associates he believed he could trust. “I am embarrassed and humiliated by the conduct of some of the people on my team,” he said. ...
That was the central message of Christie’s nearly two-hour performance before reporters: I was betrayed by people I trusted. I’m the victim here. ...
If Christie is truly in the mood for soul-searching, asking how his aides could tell him such lies should be secondary. The more urgent question is what Christie might have said or done to make these loyal lieutenants conclude it would be appropriate — and a lot of fun — to torment the people of Fort Lee because of the mayor’s refusal to pledge fealty.