Andrea Bernstein of WNYC, New York's public radio station, had a fantastic segment this morning on The Brian Lehrer Show discussing her research into the way that Chris Christie used the Port Authority as his "personal piggy bank," using it to pay for traffic projects that appear to be decided on a political basis.
She outlined the estimated $3.3 billion that Wildstein and Baroni steered to New Jersey for highway and transportation projects, including several that "went to state facilities not under the Port Authority's purview."
No wonder Christie is lawyering up with the Guiliani big guns, and stonewalling investigations that lead to corruption that he doesn't consider "appropriate." Citizens of the state may discover just how he has been using their tax dollars and supreme Executive power to enrich himself, his cronies, and the national Republican party.
Details after the jump.
Traffic is the Number One last-nerve-burner in New Jersey, especially in the northern part of the state. Drivers are always looking for ways to get around, or out of, the state faster, without sitting in traffic jams. (Fort Lee's four days of hell were only a larger version of a normal commute.)
Christie used Port Authority funds to placate angry commuters and thus keep their votes for his reelection.He used PA funds to reduce congestion problems in towns he was rewarding and to win the support of labor unions and Democrats. Most importantly Christie was able to keep tolls on our two major highways - the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway - at the same price during his entire first administration.(One of his reelection boasts was that he didn't raise tolls.)
Some of the projects
-- $1.8 billion for renovation of the Pulaski Skyway (redirected from the killed NJ Transit tunnel under the Hudson)
-- $1 billion to raise the Bayonne Bridge so larger ships can pass under it
-- $235 million to purchase the Military Ocean Terminal, which bailed out the city of Bayonne
-- $256 million to upgrade the Harrison PATH station
-- Taking over the money-losing Atlantic City airport
All of these projects were all directed to Christie by David Wildstein and Bill Baroni. They helped Christie scratch backs, or punish or eliminate offenders. The CNN report that revealed Wildstein's specially created job says that "Wildstein's role included scrutinizing the agency's business for the governor and that's why he was given such a broad title, sources said." Now we know what Wildstein was doing in his specially-created job: looking for money for Christie's slush fund.
Christie's interests weren't being enforced and protected by just Wildstein and Baroni. Dozens of Port Authority jobs went to Christie loyalists, as this 2012 article outlined. Christie lavished "his guys" with no-show and low-work, highly paid livelihoods far more lavish than they could have obtained elsewhere. A review of the names of those so favored is a Who's Who of NJ political big wheels and their relatives. If you took care of Christie's family, he would take care of yours. You cross Christie, you starve. In the worst recession since the Great Depression, and in a state with an unemployment rate of 8.4%, those jobs are might big and tasty carrots.
There will be New Jerseyans who defend these expenditures. "We needed those road improvements! Christie was just making sure that our government works for the people, just like he says!" What kind of work is he doing, though, when he spends tax dollars on no-show patronage jobs and projects approved on the basis of connections and graft rather than need? He's doing the work of a political machine Boss. Chris Hedges nails it in his essay on Christie's true character. The Gov comes across as the worst combination and Nixon, crossed with the New Jersey mob. The essay is the true story of this man.
Follow the money.
11:06 AM PT: Here's the link to the list of Port Authority jobs that were filled by Christie appointees. It includes not just names and job titles, but salaries and the connection the recipients have to the Christie machine.
http://dng.northjersey.com/...
12:53 PM PT: Rec list!!! Twice in a week. It''s a sincere honor and a complete thrill :) But frankly, the story here is potentially so huge that the future of the country is involved. I will be away for the rest of the afternoon, but would appreciate any comments or links for tonight's perusal.
"Christie delenda est!"
