If this keeps up Chris Christie is going to have to cultivate a whole new staff, of wise guys and 'quid pro quo' operators.
Wolff & Samson
Lori Grifa
Lori Grifa rejoined Wolff & Samson as chair of the Regulatory Affairs Group after having served in Governor Chris Christie’s Cabinet as the commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs from 2010 to 2012. During her tenure, Lori also chaired the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, the New Jersey Redevelopment Agency, the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing and the New Jersey Housing Mortgage Finance Agency. In addition to creating approximately 3,000 units of affordable housing during this period, she managed 2,200 annual grant programs involving nearly $500 million.
As head of the Regulatory Affairs Group, Lori handles matters involving administrative and regulatory law, as well as government affairs, before the New Jersey Departments of Banking and Insurance, Education, Environmental Protection, Labor, Transportation and Treasury, as well as the state’s professional licensing boards.
[...]
From 2002-2003, Lori served as chief of staff to New Jersey Attorney General David Samson. In that capacity, she was responsible for managing the New Jersey Department of Law & Public Safety, a department then comprised of more than 9,500 employees (including 800 attorneys), as well as for the civil representation of the State of New Jersey and overseeing the state’s criminal prosecution efforts.
[...]
I wonder if Lori Grifa ever has trouble remembering
who her real boss is, again?
Samson, or Christie ... or maybe even that would-be Hoboken developer, the Rockefeller Group, for whom she occasionally "lobbies"?
Now who was Lori Grifa, again? I forgot to bring my Christie-bad-staffers Scorecard ...
Hoboken mayor's allegations cast ex-DCA comissioner in a stressful spotlight
by Susan K. Livio, The Star-Ledger, nj.com -- 1/18/2014
[...]
In an explosive interview on MSNBC today, Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer said Grifa pressured her to back a waterfront development project in the Hudson County city that the governor wanted. The developer, the Rockefeller Group, was represented by Wolff & Samson, the law firm founded by Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Chairman David Samson, who is also the focus of multiple investigations into the George Washington Bridge lane closures.
Zimmer said Grifa helped Hoboken apply for a $75,000 grant through the Port Authority to pay for a study on development. Zimmer, however, did not support those development plans. Grifa kept the pressure on, setting up a conference call with the city’s planning attorney and Samson to push for the development, according to Zimmer, who cited email messages.
Grifa, in a statement issued through the firm, denied ever meeting with Zimmer about the project.
[...]
Lori Grifa was not the one with the hush-hush hostage-taking ultimatum -- no,
that was Christie's Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who delivered the
ransom conditions to Mayor Zimmer.
Lori Grifa was the one representing the development interests of the Samson client the Rockefeller Group; Grifa was the one who used Port Authority funds to recommission a Hoboken land development report -- one that was overly biased towards the development of only her client's 3 city blocks, out of the 19 city blocks under consideration.
And yet for some odd reason, Grifa and Samson (and presumably Christie too) are denying these pressure-filled meetings with the Mayor of Hoboken -- ever even took place:
Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer alleges Chris Christie's office withheld Sandy aid over development deal
by Christopher Baxter/The Star-Ledger, nj.com -- 1/18/2014
[...]
The Rockefeller Group said in a statement, "We have no knowledge of any information pertaining to this allegation. If it turns out to be true, it would be deplorable."
Samson’s firm issued the following statement:
"Wolff & Samson PC and Lori Grifa categorically deny Mayor Zimmer’s allegations relating to this firm’s role in the Rockefeller Group’s redevelopment project in Hoboken," the statement read. "The firm’s and Ms. Grifa’s conduct in the representation of our client was appropriate in all respects. Further, Ms. Grifa notes that while DCA Commissioner, she never met with Mayor Zimmer or the Rockefeller Group to discuss the Hoboken project."
[...]
What these wise guys and privatizing operators always seem forget is, that usually there is an electronic trail, and often
public records too -- that can make their "categorical denials" seem like little more than
an extension of their obvious 'cover-up' of their wrong-doing:
Mayor: Christie aides tied to Sandy funds to project
Santa Maria Times, nbcnews.com -- 1/18/2014
[...]
Christie's former community affairs commissioner, Lori Grifa, was a lobbyist promoting the Rockefeller Group's plans for the Hoboken project, according to MSNBC. The network quoted emails from Grifa that appear to confirm her work on behalf of the developer.
[...]
And even though people often like to say, that "the cover-up is worse than the crime(s),"
-- in the case of the Chris Christie administration, people may end up having to come up with a new saying ... by the time all the "other shoes" have fallen.
No doubt, they will "categorically deny" those too. Afterall, that's what liars do.