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Time for some TRAFFIC!

Some of the redacted parts of Wildstein's emails with Kelly have been unredacted:

Bridgegate: Rabbi focus of ‘traffic’ jokes

Aides and allies of Gov. Chris Christie joked last year about causing “traffic problems” for a New Jersey rabbi, newly unredacted text messages show.

. . .

The unredacted material suggested that the rabbi, identified as Mendy Carlebach by The Record (N.J.) newspaper, had apparently annoyed Wildstein.

“He has officially pissed me off,” Wildstein texted Kelly on Aug. 19, according to the documents released by the Democratic-led state panel investigating the traffic scandal.

“We cannot cause traffic problems in front of his house, can we?” Kelly texted to Wildstein.

“Flights to Tel Aviv all mysteriously delayed,” replied Wildstein. At the time, he was still working at the Port Authority, which oversees area airports.

Wildstein also sent Kelly a photo of the rabbi appearing to pose with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). Wildstein called the rabbi the “Jewish Cid Wilson.” Wilson, who ran for state Assembly in 2007, told The Record he has been mocked by Wildstein in the past for, in the newspaper’s words, “having celebrity Facebook friends.”

Carlebach has served as a Port Authority police chaplain, according to The Record, which reported on the messages earlier Thursday. Carlebach told the newspaper he had “no idea” why Wildstein and Kelly were talking about him.
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He didn't really delay flights to Tel Aviv just to get back at some rabbi, did he? (A rabbi who seems to have no idea why he was targeted.)

Here are the emails in PDF format

More detail here.

Really bizarre. Seems to suggest juvenile petty behavior more than some grand conspiracy though.
 
Puppycow said:
He didn't really delay flights to Tel Aviv just to get back at some rabbi, did he? (A rabbi who seems to have no idea why he was targeted.)
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That was a joke on his part. Pretty funny ... if you don't take into account that actually creating real traffic problems is his stock in trade.
 
hgc said:
That was a joke on his part. Pretty funny ... if you don't take into account that actually creating real traffic problems is his stock in trade.
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I hope so. But I wonder if there were any more incidents besides the infamous GW bridge one? It seems like they thought about this and discussed it a lot.
 
Any word on this lawsuit?

New Jersey lawmakers probing intentional traffic jams at the George Washington Bridge asked a state court judge to force two former aides to Governor Chris Christie to turn over documents they refuse to produce.

The lawmakers sued yesterday seeking to enforce subpoenas on William Stepien, Christie’s former campaign manager, and Bridget Anne Kelly, his ex-deputy chief of staff. Both refused to turn over e-mails, text messages and other documents on the grounds that it violated their constitutional right against self-incrimination and unreasonable searches.
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That was on February 20.
 
A new vomit-inducing disclosure in today's news - NYT and Rachel Maddow reporting that Bill Baroni as head of PANYNJ handed out pieces of WTC 9/11 wreckage to Dem New Jersey mayors who played nice with the Governor's office. Yuck.
 
grunion said:
A new vomit-inducing disclosure in today's news - NYT and Rachel Maddow reporting that Bill Baroni as head of PANYNJ handed out pieces of WTC 9/11 wreckage to Dem New Jersey mayors who played nice with the Governor's office. Yuck.
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And a link for this one too

Turning wreckage of the twin towers into politically motivated gifts before Mr. Christie’s 2013 re-election was only one example. The authority became a means to reward friends (or hire them) and punish adversaries, and a bank to be used when Mr. Christie sought to avoid raising taxes. Major policy initiatives, such as instituting a large toll and fare increase in 2011, were treated like political campaigns to burnish the governor’s image.

These maneuvers emboldened the Christie team, former Port Authority colleagues say, to close down the lanes on the world’s busiest bridge — ensnaring them in state and federal investigations.
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I gotta say, Wildstein comes off as a total a-hole. And a petty one. In the emails too.

I think he genuinely enjoyed abusing his power. Including the whole bridge-closure thing, which he took much glee in, but also petty stuff like this:

Mr. Wildstein, a onetime anonymous political blogger who, like Mr. Baroni, has resigned in the wake of the lane closings, was hired in 2010 and quickly developed a reputation as the governor’s enforcer at the agency. He was known to schedule meetings with subordinates early on Monday mornings — never specifying the topic, leaving them to fret for the weekend — then cancel. He seemed to appear from nowhere in officials’ doorways, staring until they invited him in.
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Well I sure have egg on my face. There was an investigation and it cleared Christie of all wrong doing.

What's that you say? Did they interview all the players, like David Wildstein? No, why do you ask?

Who hired them, you ask? Why should it even matter that it was Christie's own defense attorney running the thing?

All that's important is that they investigated, man, and Christie's in the clear! He's back on track, to the White House!!!

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/chris-christie-internal-review-clears
 
Unabogie said:
Well I sure have egg on my face. There was an investigation and it cleared Christie of all wrong doing.

What's that you say? Did they interview all the players, like David Wildstein? No, why do you ask?

Who hired them, you ask? Why should it even matter that it was Christie's own defense attorney running the thing?

All that's important is that they investigated, man, and Christie's in the clear! He's back on track, to the White House!!!

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/chris-christie-internal-review-clears
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You left out the part where Christie paid a million or so of the state's money to his crony to conduct the 'investigation' that despite the fact it hasn't been released to anyone yet it's been reported it clears Christie.:rolleyes:

So let's see what the taxpayers in NJ have overlooked recently.

How many millions in hurricane Sandy relief money to produce a campaign commercial for Christie?
The million plus to hold a special election a month or so early for the Senate seat so fewer Democrats might show up in the governor's re-election?

And now another million for a fake investigation to clear Christie and pay a crony, a twofer.

Then there was all the Sandy relief money Christie was using as his personal reward money for political favors.


You'd think NJ TEA Partiers would be paying attention. :rolleyes:
 
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Skeptic Ginger said:
You left out the part where Christie paid a million or so of the state's money to his crony to conduct the 'investigation' that despite the fact it hasn't been released to anyone yet it's been reported it clears Christie.:rolleyes:
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But it's more efficient. An independent investigation might actually find something and that could take much longer and cost much more money.

If Nixon was able to have John Dean conduct the Watergate investigation it would have saved the nation millions and it would have been over much more quickly.
 
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