I know a lot of the Dems in this thread would love to assume all are informed as they are but maybe that’s not true. All I remembered about this was that NJ blocked some traffic on some bridge because Christie didn’t like a mayor. What I didn’t know was:
Here’s the short version. Some people decided to cause traffic problems in Fort Lee. On the first day they were told that because of this emergency services were having trouble responding to calls and people’s lives were in danger as result. In spite of this they kept up the traffic problems for three more days.
This is a crime. If there was any doubt that a crime occurred that was dispelled when one one person entered a guilty plea.
And as far as WHY did some people decide to cause traffic problems in Fort Lee:
I have only a passing familiarity with this, and don’t live anywhere near, but as far as I can tell, it was because the mayor of Fort Lee did not support Christie, so this was seen by the participants as a form of political retribution/payback. Childish yes, but when people’s lives are put at risk, it would seem to also be criminal.
Really, it’s not that hard to figure out. When someone comes into the thread “just asking questions” and pretending that it’s so very complicated… One has to wonder why they do this.
I didn’t think he was being condescending; I appreciate his participation in the thread. INAL, you see, and I didn’t wanted to be baited into answering legal questions as if I was one.
I was just posing the question that (since all of this abuse of power is now coming out in court) while its possible that Chris Christie, a major supporter of Trump behind the scenes, could be impeached over this… whether or not the legislators in NJ actually would.
I was not trying to be condescending, but I find it difficult to believe that the story hadn’t reached you yet. Christie of course was trying to run up the score in his re-election as governor in order to boost his profile for the presidential run that we all knew he would make. Trying to get people to endorse you is fine, but when they refuse to do so, it doesn’t entitle you to endanger the lives of citizens to punish a mayor.
As stated elsewhere, the mayor refused to endorse Christie.
18 USC 666 is a Federal law prohibiting various types of theft, fraud, or misuse of property that receieves significant Federal funds. By screwing around with a bridge that receives large amounts of highway funds, in a manner to obtain some type of personal satisfaction (i.e., political retribution) that had no legitimate public interest, the Government asserts that these aids violated that law, and a few others.
To say it another way, public employees just can’t take government property and use it for their own personal benefit. For example, a driver of a garbage truck can’t take it home on the weekends to run errands. That’s using public property for private benefit. Shutting down lanes on a bridge, using the labor, cones, trucks, signs, flashing lights, etc. for the sole purpose of a political grudge is similarly alleged to be using public property in a fraudulent manner.
There’s other charges too, but this is the main one. Obviously, if the road crew was doing actual work that related to transportation safety or whatnot, there wouldn’t be an issue.
It’s pretty clear this is 99% about the lack of a political endorsement. I’m sure there’s more to it, but there are quite a lot of emails that are in evidence that make the main intent perfectly clear.
For anyone who wants to read more details, here’s the full indictment:
Traffic study? Who said anything about a traffic study? Did you, in fact, know something about this situation, despite your professed ignorance of the topic?
Although, I guess you can still maintain your claim of ignorance, given that there was not in fact any traffic study done.
Did you feel the same about the anti-Trump people that blocked a major highway to Trump rally?
I doubt it. And even if you do, IMO there are a buttload of liberals here that somehow can see some sort of “difference” to feel better about themselves.
PS. IFFF Christie or some other lower level fucks actually did this…nail them to the wall by their balls.
Citizens blocking a highway in an act of civil disobedience is different from a public official closing a highway in an act of political revenge. The citizens have every reason to expect legal retribution; the public officials expected to get away with it. The fact that they’re facing charges is an accident.
So IFFF the Trump blockers that blocked the highway and somebody died because an emergency vehicle could not get through…you would support manslaughter (at the least) charges for all those bozos?
PS. It is easy as frack to protest WITHOUT blocking a major highway. As easy as being a dick mayor/govenor with or without blocking an important bridge.
That was pretty condescending, BLD. Let’s please try not to impute motives and assumed knowledge for other posters, please.
OK, you’re as impartial an observer as any, so I accept the verdict that I was condescending and offer my sincere apologies to Saint Cad.
To respond to the point raised about whether I thought the Trump protesters blocking traffic was on a par with the GWB affair, I would say no. I’m sure the protesters would have cleared the way for an ambulance if needed and the blockage was quite temporary. Christie and his henchmen recklessly snarled traffic and endangered the citizens out of pure pettiness.
Protestors can magically unsnarl a snarled up traffic jam?
Who knew?
We apparently need magic protesters as Highway Patrol Officers.
PS. And what is more petty than keeping your political opponents from (gasp) hearing their great leader speak?
Those people were arrested for blocking a road for like an hour. Blocking a road is crime and blocking a road for days is a more serious crime than blocking a road for hours.
Depends on which hour the ambulance needed to get by.
Again, manslaughter charges for the anti Trump cry babies that might have blocked the road during some possible life or death hour?
Do the crime, pay the time mantra sounds fine…till you find you really screwed up and killed someone…then it’s all “we didn’t MEAN to kill someone”.
And yet again. Somebody actually did the Chrisie bridge gate thing? Fuck them too and throw away the key.
That, and people really can drive off road. This was a bridge that is many hundreds of feet above the Hudson River.
In case of emergency, Governor Tromaville basically had his administration tell the people of NY and NJ, “Go Jump”.
Why the “if”? Is there some uncertainty in your mind as to whether they did?
Because I have not followed THIS particular political shit storm too closely.
Like I said/implied. If some court of law (and don’t get me wrong, if some political shenagins kept this FROM being tried that is a whole nuther level of bull shit) gets “supposed” bad actors tried and they are found guilty (barring EITHER some getting off ON a technicallity OR NOT getting found guilty on one)…
Nail their asses to the wall…
I do. I absolutely do but then again, I loathe traffic far more than I loathe a political party. I have sympathy for neither of these parties.
Baroni and Wildstein were told of two specific instances where emergency services couldn’t properly respond. Real instances. Not hypotheticals.
They kept the traffic problems going for three days after that.