You all remember the first presser Christie held over Bridgegate, where he mocked and smirked?
And you all remember the kinda odd moment when he made a point of saying that there was something that really did get him “sauced,” the fact that Fort Lee had three lanes to itself.
At the time I thought it was just gratuitous dickishness: Not only did Christie mock Fort Lee’s pain, but he went out of his way to say that they were the real villains, with their fancy three lanes.
Now, in my humble, we know what Christie was really up to. He went on to say that he thought Fort Lee did not deserve three lanes, maybe Fort Lee should only have one lane, and he has asked Port Authority Chairman Samson to “look into that.”
That, folks, was the blackmail note.
Further below.
I believe those following this story are up-to-speed on the likely motive for Bridgegate, as divined by the awesome Steve Kornacki of MSNBC’s “Up with Kornacki.” Fort Lee is pursuing a billion dollar redevelopment project right at the foot of the George Washington Bridge. That project will die a horrible death if its access to the bridge is screwed with. The likely purpose of Bridgegate was to demonstrate that Samson’s and Christie’s operatives at the Port Authority have the power to do that screwing. Probably, some real estate developer wants a piece of that action, or wants the project killed so he can scoop the property up for cheap, or wants it killed because it is competition.
Probably, Christie was promised big campaign donations in exchange for this abuse of power. Remember, Christie cannot fundraise from Wall St., his natural constituency, while he still serves as governor. He needs a source of big money for the early campaign work. Christie’s campaign is in the thick of the scandal, with campaign operative Nicole-of-the-first-email-dump praising Baroni for his performance at the first inquiry into Bridgegate. “Bridget and Nicole say you did GREAT!” (Interestingly, Baroni made a point of questioning Fort Lee’s three lanes at that inquiry as well.)
So Foye steps in and restores Fort Lee’s lanes on Day 4 of the shutdown. The governor’s operatives are furious, are planning retaliation, etc., but closing the lanes again isn’t in the cards. After all, a reporter for the Wall St. Journal got stuck in that traffic, so the spotlight is on. The day after the lanes reopened, Fort Lee’s development project got its financing.
Now comes Governor Chris Christie to his first presser. The ostensible purpose, to answer questions about this trumped-up, mockable scandal. The real purpose: To send the blackmail note, in neon lights:
You got your lanes reopened, for now. But we aren’t done screwing with you.