"You didn't build that"
On the surface, the revelation that Chris Christie used $6,000,000 of Sandy relief money on a 137 unit retirement center that wasn't damaged during Sandy looks like the purchasing of a cross-party endorsement.
But nothing is ever that simple.
Reading through the comments at the Newark Star Ledger, it appears the real underlying reason was another corrupt land deal involving another Christie crony, who used to work at... wait for it... the Port Authority.
Someone familiar with the local dynamics behind the project posted this tip:
The real story here is not the Senior Housing complex but the 19 acre Roche property sitting across the street from the same and next to the Clara Maass Medical Center.
Within 2 weeks of Christie's appearance in Belleville and the presentation of the check to Mayor Kimble, the Roche property was given status as an "area in need of redevelopment".
This gave Kimble, et.al., advised by the township's attorney, sweeping powers over the property including choosing its developer without a competitive bidding process and which was given to none other than David Mack.
David Mack is a close friend of Christie and a former Port Authority commissioner.
Furthermore, his company was apparently denied from developing the Harbor Lights project in Fort Lee on the part of Mayor Sokolich, which many investigators now believe is the reason why that town's GWB access lanes were punitively shutdown last September.
I hope the investigation commission led by Assemblyman Wisniewski and Senator Weinberg include the scope of their investigation to include the Christie-Kimble-Mack matter.
He's right. According to the local
Belleville paper, the Roche property, which was sitting idle for three years, was fast tracked for development approval in July, just weeks after Christie's May 29th ground breaking of the senior center.
Things are moving ahead with the former Roche property on Franklin Avenue in Belleville, near Clara Maass Medical Center.
Roche knocked down its building at 11 Franklin Ave. in 2010. The site formerly served as one of its manufacturing locations.
The Belleville Township Council voted in December to appoint Connecticut-based David Mack Properties, LLC as redeveloper for the Roche Diagnostic Area property
The New York Times describes David Mack as "a real estate developer and Republican fund-raiser", who used to sit on the board of the Port Authority.
He was ousted from the PA in 2009 when Mack refused to testify, invoking his 5th amendment rights, to then NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's investigation into political interference at the State Police.
According to Mr. Cuomo, Mr. Mack did little for the agency, but he appeared at official functions in full dress uniform, angering rank-and-file troopers. During Mr. Cuomo’s investigation, Mr. Mack refused interviews with the attorney general’s office, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
It seems like the Port Authority is just a viper's den of corrupt officials.
In short, this is a replay of an old corrupt land development scam. A politically connected benefactor gets an elected official to pour taxpayer money into improving streets or a nearby lot, paving the way for the exploitation of the developer's adjacent property.
The guiding rule for investigating Christie's web of scandals should be Deep Throat's axiom: "Follow the Money".