Debbie Wasserman Schultz rips Chris Christie over Bridgegate, celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Bridgegate scandal by calling it the 'epitome of Chris Christie's gridlock,' reports
Kendall Breitman of
Politico. As if she were tossing red meat and popcorn to hungry tigers DNC Chairwoman Rep. Wasserman Schultz called N.J. Governor Chris Christie a "sham," on Monday, a year after the start of the George Washington Lane closures.
“One year ago, Chris Christie was running for reelection on his so-called New Jersey Comeback and on promises that he was a consensus-builder — someone who worked across the aisle, who championed compromise and who could get things done,” Wasserman Schultz said at the start of her speech at the DNC’s Bridgegate Anniversary Press Conference, according to a transcript of her speech.
“One year later, we know that those promises were false. They were a sham,” she continued. What Bridgegate did was raise the curtain on his culture of intimidation, bullying and incompetence that pervades the Christie administration,” Wasserman Schultz said. ... Christie’s leadership as one that “will cause pain and suffering for average citizens” in order to make a “petty political point.”
“On issue after issue, the political points Christie and his administration make are focused on one man — Chris Christie — and not on doing what’s best for New Jersey and the constituents who elected him,” Wasserman Schultz said. “This is going to be the legacy that Chris Christie carries with him into a possible presidential campaign: a state stuck in reverse, a culture of intimidation and incompetence and pure gridlock.”
Christie still has not explained why he looked into the camera on January 8, during infamous two hour news conference to deny any personal knowledge or involvement as well as that of his staff. Over the last year witnesses to the New Jersey legislative investigatory panel have contradicted significant aspects of his story.
New Jerseys credit rating has been reduced several times and Christie reduced promised payments to the state's pension fund.
Meanwhile, Christie is also being investigated by U.S. Attorney Paul Fishmann, Manhattan Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., and the Security Exchange Commission's Fraud Division.
Although, some are discouraged by how long these investigations seem to be taking, we should remember that the U.S. Attorney that just achieved convictions of former VA Governor Rob McDonnell and his wife took four years after the start of the investigation to bring indictments, and another year to achieve a conviction.
3:26 PM PT: