Time for some TRAFFIC!

An MSNBC commentator says that the NJ legislative session ends Tuesday, at which time its authority to issue subpoenas in this matter ends. The incriminating emails came to light literally in the last hours that they could have come to light. The commentator says it looks like the governor and his staff were trying to run out the clock, and almost succeeded.
 
Last edited:
MSNBC now showing David Wildstein testifying. His attorney is trying to establish 5th amendment protection, which is not allowed by the rules of the committee.

Wildstein is pleading the 5th.
 
Tricky said:
I think the message here is, "Never order your dirty tricks on a medium that is recorded."
Click to expand...
I find it amazing that in todays world people would have done that.
reminds of the guys who broke into our office and called a few of their friends from an office phone at 3 am to tell them what they were doing.
The police went to the friend and the guys were caught within a day. But they were drunken teenagers not succesful adults.
 
Olowkow said:
Shovel's worn out. Here Chris.

More shovels, keep digging.

"All I can do is apologize for my staff's wrongdoings." Paraphrase.

No, you could resign and accept the fact that you are not qualified to be governor, since you are so easily duped by the people you are closest to.
Click to expand...

Assuming he is not lying the fact that someone on his staff did this is not a reason to resign (in my opinion). I suspect you believe it is hard to be "duped". Some people are great at it and i would bet some people who are succesful in the political world are among the best.
 
eeyore1954 said:
I find it amazing that in todays world people would have done that.
reminds of the guys who broke into our office and called a few of their friends from an office phone at 3 am to tell them what they were doing.
The police went to the friend and the guys were caught within a day. But they were drunken teenagers not succesful adults.
Click to expand...


The only thing I can think of is that they didn't realize that this is corrupt activity.
 
hgc said:
The only thing I can think of is that they didn't realize that this is corrupt activity.
Click to expand...

Highly unlikely. If they didn't realize it was corrupt activity and thought it was kosher, they would have publicly announced what they were doing.
 
eeyore1954 said:
Assuming he is not lying the fact that someone on his staff did this is not a reason to resign (in my opinion). I suspect you believe it is hard to be "duped". Some people are great at it and i would bet some people who are succesful in the political world are among the best.
Click to expand...
I agree. I'm not one of those who thinks the CEO, President, Governor etc. needs to resign every time something bad happens "on their watch". Each situation is different and should be judged accordingly.
 
Spindrift said:
Highly unlikely. If they didn't realize it was corrupt activity and thought it was kosher, they would have publicly announced what they were doing.
Click to expand...
The line's kinda fuzzy though. It's not at all uncommon for people in office to budget things to punish the places that didn't support them, or at least, this was common in the South when I was growing up. But actively working to disrupt the business of a city is not exactly the same.
 
eeyore1954 said:
Assuming he is not lying the fact that someone on his staff did this is not a reason to resign (in my opinion). I suspect you believe it is hard to be "duped". Some people are great at it and i would bet some people who are succesful in the political world are among the best.
Click to expand...

It all comes down to "What did the president governor know and when did he know it.", if I may paraphrase Howard Baker.
 
Tricky said:
The line's kinda fuzzy though. It's not at all uncommon for people in office to budget things to punish the places that didn't support them, or at least, this was common in the South when I was growing up. But actively working to disrupt the business of a city is not exactly the same.
Click to expand...
Unless it truly was a study that had to be done sooner or later and they picked a time to teach a lesson how could they not know. Plus they said ridiculous things in the emails.
 
Tricky said:
The line's kinda fuzzy though. It's not at all uncommon for people in office to budget things to punish the places that didn't support them,
Click to expand...

You mean like both Daddy Bush and Baby Bush did to Washington State?

Oh, wait, wrong venue.

It's almost a tradition in New Jersey (seriously!). It's not defensible, or good, or anything of that sort, but it is kind of a tradition. :(
 
One particularly annoying thing to me about his performance was his emphasis on the fact that he had been lied to, and that this was a terrible thing. Yes, he was unequivocal that what his people did to Fort Lee was very, very bad and unacceptable, etc. But over and over you hear about personal betrayal of him by these people (esp Ms Kelly). He kept repeating how awful it was that he was lied to. No, what's really awful is that his people did this thing.

What he doesn't get is that the betrayal of him by his people is really not an important issue for the public, though it's understandably important to him personally and as a manager. It's the performance of his office and state government that matters.
 
My reading is that bridge-gate was very likely a lot like the Watergate burglary. Christie may not in fact have been informed that the bridge was closed as a dirty trick. Nixon probably did not order that particular break-in, but he made it well known that he wanted dirty tricks to be part of his ongoing campaign to defeat any possible "enemy" that would speak ill of him. I imagine that both also told staff that they didn't want to know any details so that they could have plausible deniability.

As for the collateral damage, firing of high level aides, even having to testify or going to prison, that's part of the game when you get that high up in a bureaucracy. Everyone knows this long before they are even remotely considered for high level jobs like that.

As for "hiring stupid people", I was being sarcastic. These folks are far from stupid, and Christie's calling them "liars" could get him sued eventually if it can be proven that they aren't.;)

ETA: Barbara Buono has been around a while, and she has some interesting insights into the way Christie ran his operation. It's hard to pin down precisely which details he's lying about, but he knew something was going on that he could have stopped if he'd wanted to.
 
Last edited:
This episode demonstrates why Christie should be president: his strong leadership inspires initiative. Staffers care about him and, in turn, the republic.
 
Last edited:
thaiboxerken said:
Nothing will come of this story. Now if the governor was a (D) the amount of outrage would be off the scale.
Click to expand...
Not on this site. In fact no one would even mention it. Even if it was, there would be a line of people justifying it (just a misunderstanding). :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
hgc said:
The only thing I can think of is that they didn't realize that this is corrupt activity.
Click to expand...
Or Christie's a really petty guy and the attitude spread around his inner circle.

Stories Add Up as Bully Image Trails Christie
He was surprised to receive a handwritten note from Mr. Christie, telling him that he had heard the comments, and that he didn’t like them.

“I thought it was a joke,” Mr. McKeon recalled. “What governor would take the time to write a personal note over a relatively innocuous comment?”

But the gesture would come to seem genteel compared with the fate suffered by others in disagreements with Mr. Christie: a former governor who was stripped of police security at public events; a Rutgers professor who lost state financing for cherished programs; a state senator whose candidate for a judgeship suddenly stalled; another senator who was disinvited from an event with the governor in his own district.

In almost every case, Mr. Christie waved off any suggestion that he had meted out retribution. But to many, the incidents have left that impression, and it has been just as powerful in scaring off others who might dare to cross him.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
DGM said:
Not on this site. In fact no one would even mention it. Even if it was, there would be a line of people justifying it (just a misunderstanding). :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Oh, you know there would be a rolling boil on this site, along with BUT OBAMA and BUT BENGHAZI and all of the other falsely constructed "scandals" that are relentlessly addressed while excusing the overt extortion we've seen since last fall from the Tea Party GOP.

It's quite telling that all the while the right does exactly, relentlessly, and unethically what DGM just talked about, he would claim that the "left" does it (the "left" meaning, here, slightly to the right of Eisenhower) instead. Pot, saucepan ...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom