Fear of Christie's ties to U.S. Attorney kept Hoboken mayor from reporting alleged Sandy Aid threats, new letter claims, writes Darryl Isherwood, of NJ.com. Many have asked why Mayor Dawn Zimmer did not come forward earlier with allegations that Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno made the alleged threats to withhold money from Hoboken unless Zimmer endorsed a project Governor Christie wanted approved - this could explain it.
This week, Zimmer attempted to explain her reasoning in a letter to the Democratic leaders of the legislature. In what she says are previously unreported entries to her personal journal, Zimmer says she discussed coming forward with the city's redevelopment attorney, but ultimately decided it was pointless.
"I have now heard it from Lt. Gov. and Com. Constable," she says in apparent reference to the threats to her Sandy aid, which she says were made by both Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Richard Constable. "Yes – this is illegal. I debated with Joe Marzati whether or not to go to US Attorney – we decided that Christie has friends throughout US Attorney's office - ..[therefore] not much chance in getting help from them & it could create a nightmare for us. A little scary to realize that there's nowhere to turn for help against this threat from Gov. Christie. My best defense is to stand up to the bully – my beloved Gov who wants to run for president."
The letter was addressed to Senate President Steve Sweeney and Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg in the upper chamber and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto and Assemblyman John Wisniewski in the lower house and contained photos of the handwritten journal entries. There is no date on the entries.
Legislative co-chair Weinberg confirms she has received the letter. None of the other parties would comment.
Zimmer's letter is also reported to take issue with Governor Christie's
In the letter, Zimmer takes issue with the governor's statement that he wants a bill that would make it illegal for elected official to delay coming forward to report misconduct.
Zimmer said"
"A law that punishes people for not coming forward immediately could, intentionally or otherwise, have the effect of preventing wrongdoing from coming to light rather than promoting its disclosure," she wrote.
Guadagno, Constable and Christie have all denied the Mayor Zimmer's allegations, and the Randy Mastro report claimed Mayor Zimmer's allegations were unfounded..
2:44 PM PT: Chris Christie slams Colorado's pot rules
Even though the state of Colorado has collected millions of dollars of recreational marijuana taxes and reports no upsurge of crime or other problems, Governor Christie is not moved and strongly opposes legalization, bemoaning the loss of "quality of life" of having to live in a city with "head shops" sprining up on every corner. "There is no tax revenue that's worth that," said Christie on a monthly radio show.
"For the people who are enamored with the idea with the income, the tax revenue from this, go to Colorado and see if you want to live there," Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., said Monday night on "Ask the Governor," a monthly radio show.
"See if you want to live in a major city in Colorado where there's head shops popping up on every corner and people flying into your airport just to come and get high," Christie said. "To me, it's just not the quality of life that we want to have here in the state of New Jersey, and there's no tax revenue that's worth that."
While "quality of life" may be a subjective measurement, Gallup's Well-Being Index reveals that the quality of life remained relatively high in Colorado and Washington State after recreational marijuana use among adults was legalized by voters in those states in 2012. The Index didn't specifically consider pot use but was based on a series of metrics such as emotional health, physical health, healthy behavior and work environment. It ranked Colorado as the state with the seventh-highest well being in 2013, the first year recreational pot use was permitted. Washington was ranked ninth, while New Jersey was ranked 21st.
Well, this sort of make sense I guess. What are the statistics on the number of people from Colorado flying to New Jersey to witness the beautiful ambiance and high quality of life, versus the opposite? (Snark alert!) My understanding is that many of the people of Colorado have never seen the ocean or an oil refinery, so it is understandable that Christie wants to preserve NJ's unique look and feel.
2:55 PM PT: Chris Christie says he's not been subpoenaed in bridge probe on the monthly radio program on New Jersey 101.5 "Ask the Governor."
(CNN) - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie gave a firm "no" Monday when asked if he's been subpoenaed personally as part of a federal investigation of the George Washington Bridge scandal.
"We are fully cooperating with the U.S. attorney's office," Christie said. ...
The Democratic co-chair of the panel, Assemblyman John Wisniewksi, has not ruled out calling Christie to testify.
Asked if he would consider doing so, Christie quickly responded: "I'm not going to talk about it."
Why have the U.S. Attorney and the N.J. Investigative panel not subpoenaed Governor Christie already? Perhaps, the legislature wants to respect executive privilege.
And, yes, I'm familiar with the traditional strategy of starting with the underling and working to the top, but wouldn't it be smart for the U.S. Attorney to interview Christie under oath as soon as he can justify the subpoena to get Christie on the record before he has the opportunity to do what he did with the Mastro report and find out what all the other testimony and evidence show? Wouldn't it have been better to put him in a perjury trap ASAP and let his sweat bullets as what he can, or can not say or deny?
3:03 PM PT:
3:10 PM PT: Changed title to "Letter indicates Mayor Dawn Zimmer feared Governor Christie's ties to U.S. Attorney's office," from "Mayor Dawn Zimmer feared Governor Christie's ties to U.S. Attorney's office indicates letter" so as to cure Greenbird of dizziness. Thanks greenbird. (How did you make it through Star Wars with Yoda? Having trouble with delayed nouns and verb, we are?" Let me guess, you are not a big fan of German.
3:33 PM PT: Even though this post has nothing to do with Chris Christie you may enjoy it, It fell off the recent list this afternoon. Thanks.
3:41 PM PT: I've developed a theory on GOP Gubernatorial corruption called "The Christie Principle" which I might try to beef up into a magazine article, and would greatly appreciate any suggestions and feedback. I first published his at 4:40 am last night which turns out not to be the best window for Christie theories.
Rick Perry follows The Christie Principle: "No pursuit of power is to small not to risk career"
3:59 PM PT: The legislative committee investigating the George Washington Bridge lane diversion controversy has issued four subpoenas today for testimony to begin next month.
The subpoenas were issued to Christie administration chief spokesman Michael Drewniak, former staffer Christina Renna, Port Authority Commissioner Pat Schuber and Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye.
The four are required to appear before the committee early next month to offer testimony on the lane diversions. Originally, committee Co-Chairman John Wisniewski said he anticipated as many as 10 subpoenas and its unknown if more are planned.
Reached by phone, Renna's attorney, Henry Klingeman, said his client plans to testify. Drewniak's attorney did not return a call for comment.