That is the latest news with respect to Bridgegate.
The New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission has decided to let the Gov.'s re-election campaign spend campaign funds and raise new funds to respond to the subpoenas from the various investigations. From the Star Ledger:
The commission's votes cleared the way for Christie to raise more money to cover the cost of producing documents being sought by the state Legislature and U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman's office.
But there is one restriction:
But if the campaign becomes a criminal target, it would not be allowed to keep fundraising to pay for its legal defense.
So, it looks like CC might be spending some extra time away from Trenton to raise money to keep his ass out of hot water. That will mean less time with the RGA which given his response from the last two trips might be a bummer.
The question the Gov. is going to have to figure out is, where is the money for Mr. Mastro and his other thugs going to come from if he CC becomes a "target". And how will that work exactly? I am sure if he gets a target letter it will make the news pretty quickly. But if he spends money after the "effective date" will the commission make him pay it back?
Also, if you didn't see it last night on MSNBC there was this, Christie's bridge scandal lawyers seek documents from Hoboken, Fort Lee. The link is to the Star Ledger because I was already there, not MSNBC.
Now, I don't know about you but this sure does look like intimidation to me. I also have a question about where Mr. Mastro thinks he gets his authority. Sure, he can make a request for pubic records, but how exactly is Mayor Zimmer's personal diary a public record? And he can ask all he wants to have meetings with Mayor Zimmer and other officials, but here is how I would respond:
Krovatin and the city’s corporation counsel turned down the requests from Mastro, who also sought interviews and documents from two city councilmen and two of the mayor’s top aides. Krovatin also questioned whether it was appropriate for Mastro to be looking into the allegations about Sandy aid, noting federal prosecutors are also conducting a review of those claims.
"We question whether it is appropriate for the Governor’s Office, in essence, to be investigating itself …" Krovatin wrote in a response.
Clearly, Christie has the authority to conduct an investigation into the workings of his office, but he better play carefully when it leaves his office. Mr. Mastro may be a big-time attorney, but he is not the only big-time attorney involved and just like his current employer he might find himself over playing his hand.
James Cohen, a law professor at Fordham University, said the letters appear to show the law firm is acting as defense attorney and not an independent fact finder. Given that Zimmer claims Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno said she was delivering a "direct message" from Christie when she allegedly told her to approve a real estate project or risk Hurricane Sandy aid for her city, Mastro’s inquiry raises ethical questions, Cohen said.
"The letters strike me as a fairly heavy-handed attempt to intimidate — and cleverly done," Cohen said. "I don’t mean to take away from that. I’m always impressed when lawyers do clever things."
Lets see how clever Mr. Fishman thinks it is.