I don’t know that I’d call “I did all this stuff on my own because the governor is too much of a dumbass to keep tabs on what’s going on” leaves him “untouched”.
Someone else might have covered this, but if there had been a major calamity the PA probably would have responded. How was he to know exactly that the NJ PA was doing it deliberately? And if he had called the governor’s office no doubt he’d have gotten the very aides who started it.
Don’t blame the victim.
Do you think Foye was above Wildstein?
If there were 8 republicans and four democrats I’m sure they’d find it was all Foye’s fault.
Anyhow, so much for Christie the bipartisan leader.
I wasn’t asking for hard evidence. We’ll see what the investigation digs up. I was asking for your opinion. Which seems to be that you have no idea whether Christie is an incompetent boob or not. But he’s still worth defending.
So, you work there on the bridge, and you get an order to shut down lanes signed by David Wildstein, Director of Interstate Capital Projects. Who has no job description and no delineated authority. Dollars to dog nuts, you never heard of the guy before. Good bet you have no idea what interstate capital projects are.
Why would you obey?
The “victims” were the people caught up in the traffic jam. The “victims” called the mayor’s office and the mayor proved ineffective at resolving the issue. Luckily for the “victims”, Foye eventually became aware of the traffic jam and ordered an end to the non-study study. At least somebody knows how to get things done.
If things were different, things would be different. Unless you’re attempting to justify stacking the political deck in favor of your opinion as opposed to uncovering the facts?
So far, it appears that Wildstein was the brains behind the Great Lane Reassignment debacle. Baroni helped with the planning and attempted coverup. Bridget Anne Kelly’s part in this isn’t clear. It’s possible that she may just have been a stooge expected to tell Wildstein when the time was right for Wildstein’s plan to go into effect. Or not. Foye rode to the rescue by ordering that the traffic lanes to be returned to normal. There doesn’t seem to be any indication that it was Sokolich (the mayor who can’t fix things) who had notified Foye (the Port Authority person who can fix things) that Ft Lee had a traffic jam and needed Port Authority help.
Wildstein even showed up to personally oversee the “moving of the traffic cones”.
*An appointee of Gov. Chris Christie personally showed up to observe the closure of lanes at the George Washington Bridge that triggered an epic traffic jam in New Jersey in September, according to documents made public Friday.
The appointee, David Wildstein, emailed the general manager of the bridge on the day before the lanes were closed to say, “Will be at bridge early Monday am to view new lane test,” the documents show. Other emails show that he arrived by 7 a.m. on Sept. 9, the first of four days of nightmare traffic in the city of Fort Lee*.
There are lots-o-documents that do not point to Christie’s involvement.
*‘Bridge-Gate’ documents released; emails paint picture of Port Authority complacency
Originally published: January 10, 2014 6:10 AM
Updated: January 11, 2014 1:34 PM
EDISON - The state legislative committee holding hearings on the now infamous George Washington Bridge traffic jam released a little more than 900 pages of documents related to the incident.
…News 12 New Jersey has not uncovered a mention of Christie or his office in the early days surrounding the bridge closure. Christie adamantly denied any personal “knowledge or involvement” in the incident.*
Chain of command. Wildstein told the general manager of the bridge to move the cones. The general manager of the bridge would have ordered the crew leader(s) to move the cones. The crew leaders would have ordered the worker bees to move the cones.
Which one of these Port Authority employees would chose to be fired for not moving the cones?
I think you’re being too hard on the mayor. The governor’s office and the NJ contacts on the Port Authority were told to stonewall any inquiries from the mayor’s office. It’s like they kneecapped him and somehow he’s to blame for being “ineffective”.
I don’t know if Wildstein was the brains behind the conspiracy. It is clear that he knew precisely what was meant by Bridget Kelly’s “time for some traffic problems” email. I think it’s quite likely that this was planned in the governor’s office with the tacit approval if not active participation by Christie. Surely when Wildstein starts to sing, there will be a whole chorus of his song dedicated to Christie’s role.
The reason the documents aren’t incriminating Christie is that he’s smart enough not to leave an electronic trail. What’s in documents doesn’t mean shit, it’s what the participants wind up telling the US Attorney that will seal Christie’s fate.
Sokolich can run for reelection as the mayor who was picked on by the Port Authority or maybe as the mayor who was picked on by the governor, if that’s ever proven. Sokolich’s opponent could run as the guy who would have actually fixed the problem and not waited four days for someone else to straighten things out.
What’s also in the “documents that doesn’t mean shit” is what the participants have been telling the U.S. Attorney. Subpoenaed testimony given under oath with the threat of contempt of court (or whatever’s appropriate) charges hanging over their heads. So far, this looks like a Port Authority creation and Wildstein as it’s architect.
Kelly looks like your best chance of tying Christie to the Great Lane Reassignment debacle. If that’s possible.
Which of course means the best outcome for Christie is that he was blissfully unaware of the misdeeds going on in his own office, by people who were in offices in very close proximity to his own. If you think that bodes will for Christie, I’ve got a bridge over the Hudson River to sell you.
No thanks. I hear it’s a real pain in the ass to get onto.
The thing is, it’s not just about Christie’s smarts. Because it seems his staff and pals, while not the brightest bulbs on the strings themselves, didn’t copy him on many of their more incriminating emails they were sending to each other. But I do have to wonder why they sent all this shit to each other, apparently believing in their own safety and security, but seemingly didn’t brag to their boss about it in the process?
Personally, I think that Christie must run some kind of new employee orientation program called “What I don’t need to officially know”.
But I think that lesson will be unlearned as the US Attorney teaches a new course “Public officials that I’m not willing to go to prison to protect”.
Is it a nice bridge? Good view? Low mileage?
How many of the known major players actually worked in Christie’s office? Bridget Kelly. The Port Authority people ordered that the cones be move and they moved the cones. The Port Authority people tried to cover it up.
I’m still waiting for proof that Christie was involved. Others seem to have already convicted Christie based on little or no evidence and ridicule any attempt he makes to defend himself. Life goes on. Christie is a big boy. He knows that politics ain’t tiddly-winks (a child’s game that’s easy to play). If Christie is guilty, he’s guilty. If Christie is not-guilty, he’s still guilty because he’s fat/republican/went to high school in NJ/his popularity/had good media coverage/might run against Hillary/had some kind of weight-loss surgery/(insert other reason here).
I’ll still wait for proof of Christie’s involvement.
Fair enough. It will come. Don’t forget that the US Attorney doesn’t work to feed the 24 hour news cycles. Unlike his predecessor, he seems to be interested in serving the public interest and not getting his name in the paper every day.
You’re thinking of a gray stone hotel *up *the Hudson, not a steel bridge *over *it.
The split of authority between NJ and NY has already been pointed out to you. The Fort Lee incident happened in NJ. It did not even tie up traffic on the NY side of the bridge. NYers returning home were affected, but that is about it.
It is easy to say he should have called Foye now that we know the NJ PA execs and the governor’s office were a bunch of corrupt scum. It was not obvious back then.
Say your lights go out and you call the power company, and get assurances that something will be done soon but nothing happens. Say the reason was that someone in the power company hates you. Are you to blame for not going to the papers or the regulatory commission right away? I don’t think so.
Why would Wildstein initiate the blockage? What did Fort Lee do to him? The people with a motive for revenge were in the governor’s office, including the governor.
That Wildstein gave the command is clear. He committed the hit, he didn’t necessarily order the hit.
There were Watergate documents that did not point to Nixon’s involvement also.
Notice that the players are fighting turning over their documents to the investigation. There is enough in the released ones to indict them already. Why resist? Perhaps because the point to others, including the governor?
He might have been smart enough to keep them from writing it down - in which case we’ll need someone to rat him out. Unless he had a tape recorder in his office, and an incompetent secretary.
I’ve noticed that many lawyers and politicians don’t really get email. I don’t think they have a clue about mail servers and backups.
Perhaps he’s eaten his monitor!