At least according to Chris Christie's Sandy Relief 'Czar', their actions in doling out the Federal Grant money, was absolutely beyond the reach of "Politics."
The excuse he does give for the favoritism shown, hardly passes the political "smell test" however ... Something smells rotten in Belleville ...
Chris Christie's Sandy 'czar' says politics played no role in recovery efforts
by Erin O'Neill, The Star-Ledger, nj.com -- Feb 03, 2014
[...]
“Politics has played absolutely no role in disaster recovery,” said Marc Ferzan, the executive director of the Governor’s Office of Recovery and Rebuilding. “There is nothing that is more highly regulated than federal recovery disaster grants programs.”
[...]
The Star-Ledger reported last week that the governor helped push $6 million in disaster aid from the first round of federal Community Development Block Grants the state received last spring to a project in Belleville. The Essex County town was not severely damaged during the storm. The funding was announced for the senior housing project less than two weeks before Belleville’s Democratic mayor endorsed the governor for re-election.
Ferzan said projects like those in Belleville were funded to boost housing stock for a region as quickly as possible.
“This is an eye toward quickly getting affordable housing stock built up in the nine most impacted counties, not just the most impacted communities,” he said.
[...]
Nevermind that: "Belleville was
ranked 254th of cities affected by the hurricane."
Christie used Sandy funds for senior complex in town where mayor endorsed him
by Matt Friedman, The Star-Ledger, nj.com -- Jan 28, 2014
TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie helped channel $6 million in federal Hurricane Sandy recovery dollars to a project conceived years before the storm struck, in an Essex County town that was not particularly hard hit, records show.
The funding, pushed for personally by the Republican governor, was announced less than two weeks before the town’s Democratic mayor formally endorsed him for reelection.
The development is an $18 million senior center and housing complex in Belleville called Franklin Manor. One third of the cost -- $6 million -- is being paid for by a $1.8 billion pot of federally funded Community Development Block Grants to help the state recover from Sandy.
[...]
Nevermind that: "For many years Belleville’s public officials had
tried unsuccessfully to raise the money for this development."
Nevermind your lying eyes -- because "Politics has played absolutely no role in disaster recovery," at least according Chris Christie's Sandy Relief 'Czar' Marc Ferzan, with $1.8 billion federal dollars at his personal disposal ... (under Mr Christie's supervision, of course).
Bonus Feature: this just in, as a bit of a gritty reminder of what Life is sometimes like in Chris Christie's apolitical America ... for those in the 'unfavored' districts anyways ...
Linked Video reviews and discuss the Dispatch Calls that occurred during the GWB lane closures:
'Nightmare!': Bridge Scandal 911 Tapes Released (with Video)
abcnews.go.com -- February 28, 2014
NJ Bridge Traffic Nightmare Unfolds in 911 Calls --
[...]
Overall, 28 hours of audio tapes were released this morning, including emergency calls to 911 as well as radio transmissions between police and dispatch from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the four days the access lanes were closed from Sept. 9-12. The lanes were reopened after the top executive at the agency that runs the bridge learned of the closures, deciding that they were unauthorized.
Just another super-grid-locked day --
with "absolutely No Political Motivations" at all!
Only One such Day, of the many, many planned, for those "troubled" commuters in and around Fort Lee.