New Jersey Governor Chris Christie used taxpayer money to fund a cover-up of his bullying and reckless lane closures from Fort Lee, N.J. to the George Washington Bridge leading into New York City. As we all know, the Christie Administration and the Port Authority run by Christie appointees recklessly closed traffic lanes to the bridge for his constituents leading into New York City. Traffic, of course, was snarled. Commuters were kept from work, kids kept from school. Most dangerously, emergency vehicles were blocked.
Just last Thursday, lawyers hired by the Governor's office to cover up the scandal held a news conference and released a one-sided, incomplete report that surprise surprise exonerated the Governor from even knowing what his closest aides were doing.
We are not certain why the Governor and his closest aides and friends did such a stupid and reckless thing. I'm betting it was an act of bullying, which he is famous for. One theory is that the traffic mess was created to punish the mayor of Fort Lee, who had refused to endorse Christie. We will find out soon enough.
As a result of this scandal, we now know there are plenty of reasons why Chris Christie is unfit for public service:
- His bullying. He led a statewide campaign to vilify schoolteachers and other public employees. He built an entire political brand based on being tough against our most important public servants and leading the effort to break New Jersey's promise of pensions for public employees.
- He used super storm Sandy clean-up and rebuild funds to threaten and extort local political leaders.
- If you believe Christie, he had neither control nor even knowledge of extremely reckless activity his office and CLOSEST aides were engaged in.
- Christie refused to take responsibility.
- Christie has done all he can to cover-up the scandal.
Photo source: DonkeyHotey on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)