David Lienemann, of The Associated Press tells us Gov. Chris Christie’s ex-campaign manager must hand over Bridgegate documents reporting that Governor Christie's campaign manager and top strategist Michael DuHaime was issued a subpoenaed by the New Jersey legislative committee investigating the GWB lane closings.
The Republican strategist was ordered to surrender “all books, papers, correspondence, other documents and materials” related to their probe of the lane closings on the George Washington Bridge.
DuHaime's lawyer, Mark Mukasey said, “he was not involved in the decisions around the lane closures,” and that DuHaime had offered to cooperate without a subpoena.
Randy Masto's $1 million report describes DuHaime being in communication with Bridget Kelly, Bill Stepien, and David Wildstein.
One area of specific information the committee seems to be seeking relates to his November 11 meeting with Wildstein.
Specifically, the Democrat-led panel is seeking information from DuHaime about his Nov. 11 meeting at a coffee shop with Wildstein, a former Port Authority executive and close Christie ally.
DeHaime told Christie’s probers that Wildstein said it was his idea to close the bridge lanes for a traffic study and that Kelly and Stepien knew what he was doing.
Wildstein later resigned from the PA. And in February his lawyer leveled explosive charges against Christie, saying “evidence exists” the governor knew about the lane closings as they were happening.
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Chrisopher Baxtor of The Star-Ledger reports the same story in NJ bridge scandal panel subpoenas records from top Christie political strategist
TRENTON — The leaders of the legislative panel investigating the September lane closings at the George Washington Bridge today said they have subpoenaed any records related to the matter from Michael DuHaime, Gov. Chris Christie's chief political strategist.
The leaders, Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) and Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), said in a joint statement the subpoena was issued as part of the committee's "continued, bipartisan investigation into the lane closings and apparently abuse of government power."
The request comes one day after Christina Genovese Renna, a former staffer in Christie's office, testified under oath before the committee that she feared she would be fired if she spoke up about suspicious activity on the part of her boss, Bridget Anne Kelly, but added she believed Kelly was not the sole architect behind the closings.
DuHaime's lawyer complains that this request must be political because "everyone knows" that DuHaime was not involved, however, what investigators seem to be focusing on is what did Duhaime do, and who did he talk to before and after this meeting with David Wildstein? What were his marching orders?
Is it plausible that with DuHaine knowing what Wildstein tells him in that conversation and with DuHaime being a top strategist, campaign manager, and friend of of Chris Christie, who would immediately recognize the political implications for Christie, that he would not mention it, and Christie would hear absolutely nothing of this until January 8th?
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Brent Johnson, also of The Star-Ledger reports a set-back for Bennett Barlyn in his case to obtain grand jury transcripts in Ex-prosecutor accusing Christie administration of corruption denied access to records, but ruled he could have access to them if he could prove they are necessary to prove his case that he was fired in retaliation for actions or comments he made related to this case, which, oddly, seems to be exactly what his legal suit alleges happened.
Barlyn's lawyer called the decision "a mixed bag" and says Barlyn will continue his fight.
In 2010, the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office issued a 43-count indictment that accused county Sheriff Deborah Trout of hiring deputies without conducting proper background checks — a potential crime in New Jersey.
The charges also accused Trout's office of creating a fake police ID for for a pharmaceutical executive who donated thousands of dollars to Christie's campaign in 2009. Trout herself is an acquaintance of Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and worked on Christie's first gubernatorial campaign, according to court records.
Barlyn claims one of the undersheriffs said "Christie would "have this whole thing thrown out."
The Attorney General's office assumed control of the Hunterdon prosecutor's office and sought to drop the indictments, saying they contained "legal and factual deficiencies." A judge dismissed the case.
The day after the indictments were issued the state A.G. assumed control of the case, and dismissed charges. Barlyn asserts "he told a deputy attorney general the moves were 'improper, unlawful and motivated by a corrupt political purpose." He was then fired.
He is suing claiming he was fired for retaliation.
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Chris Matthews, of MSNBC, is reporting that Bridget Kelly's lawyers deny Chrisina Renna's statements that Bridget Kelly told her to delete the memo.
And doesn't this article in the The Business Insider, by Hunter Walker, that came out today, look similar in theme to the one published this weekend by our own xaxnar, here, Forget Christie and Bridgegate - Christie and the Tunnels Are an Even Bigger Mess ?
FORGET BRIDGEGATE: Chris Christie May Be Responsible For 'Traffic Armageddon' Across The Northeast I'm not suggesting that Walker was "inspired" by xaxnar's excellent and top rated article, but rather just noticing how appreciative I am that we benefit from articles of xaxnar's quality, passion, and excellent journalistic research skills such that we learned about the aging "ARC" tunnels, and Governor Christie's unwise "blunder" in shutting down that project, many days prior to the readers of Business Insider. It looks like even some of the quote are the same. And, remember our xaxnar does this for love.
Walker says "the Bridgegate gridlock is nothing compared to another looming commuter disaster the Governor has been fueling by virtue of not repairing these ARC railroad tunnels. Then describes the Access to the Region's Core tunnel plan that Governor Christie scrapped
Walker goes into details of the aging "two centuries old tunnels. Democratic Assemblyman John Wisnieski says this shutdown would be "traffic Armageddon."
Wisniewski said the "disaster" could have been avoided entirely if Christie had not stopped the ARC tunnel. Though he said he was surprised by Boardman's prediction that a tunnel shutdown could come so soon, Wisniewski said lawmakers have always known the 100-year-old tunnels would not last forever. Wisniewski said Christie's decision to kill that project "dashed away" the "20 years of planning that went into the first tunnel." ... "Had we built the ARC tunnel, this would not be an issue. Had the Governor not stopped the construction that was already underway, this would not be an issue," explained Wisniewski. ...
The ARC tunnel plan scrapped by Christie in late 2010 included $3 billion in federal financing and would have doubled the number of rail tunnels across the Hudson. Christie aborted the ARC tunnels after construction had already begun and New Jersey had already spent $600 million, because he said state officials told him it would cost at least $2.5 billion more than the original price of $8.7 billion. Critics described Christie's decision as unprecedented and foolish. Schumer called Christie's move "one of the worst decisions that any governmental leader has made in the 20th century, or the 21st century." The late New Jersey Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg was similarly dour.
"Killing the ARC tunnel will go down as one of the biggest public policy blunders in New Jersey’s history," Lautenberg said. "Without increased transportation options into Manhattan, New Jersey’s economy will eventually be crippled."
Please forgive me for not being as lively as usual, or having pictures. I suffer from depression which is has been in partial remission. Unfortunately, for the last few weeks my remission seems to be in remission so I'm struggling somewhat. Thank you for your patience.