Bruce Springsteen Mocks New Jersey Governor

rocknation · #**201** 07-25-2015, 06:36 AM

Remember the O'Dowds? Husband Kevin went from Christie's chief of staff to Cooper University Health Care, which caused a conflict of interest because wife Mary is the state health commissioner. Well, as of the end of the month wife Mary will be joining Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance. I don't know enough about her new position to determine if it solves their conflict of interest problem, but here's a conflict of interest problem Mary created all by herself:

Quote:

NJ Spotlight.com: Persistent violations of state regulations by Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center has led a hospital labor union official to accuse the state Department of Health of failing to hold Meadowlands, a for-profit hospital, accountable. That was flatly denied by Department of Health Commissioner Mary E. O’Dowd, who says the state’s oversight of the hospital has been intense and that a series of fines against the hospital have set a precedent for future enforcement actions...

Health Professionals and Allied Employees (HPAE) union officials have demanded stricter action against the hospital for several years, following Meadowlands’ conversion from nonprofit to for-profit status...HPAE Chief of Staff Jeanne Otersen yesterday renewed the union’s call for a state-appointed manager. Otersen added: “I think we’ve seen under the Christie administration, less enforcement, less oversight, and a hands-off regulatory approach — and we would disagree with that (approach) in general.”

If it can be shown that Mrs. O'Dowd has been tailoring her regulatory oversight in favor of for-profit medical systems like the Meadowlands Hospital with Christie's blessing, it could explain her sudden departure.

rocknation · #**202** 07-27-2015, 05:34 PM

Quote:

MotherJones: Republican Chris Christie promised "a new era of accountability and transparency." But five years later, local reporters and watchdog groups accuse Christie's administration of making unprecedented efforts to keep public records a secret...media outlets have been forced to sue to obtain even routinely disclosed information...(His) administration is fighting 23 different open-records requests in court...

From a 2013 New York Times story (mostly from the photo captions):

Quote:

Sheriff Deborah Trout was accused of hiring deputies without conducting proper background checks.
When the charges became public, the indicted undersheriff, Michael Russo, shrugged it off...Governor Christie, he assured an aide, would “have this whole thing thrown out...” That sounded like bluster. Then the state killed the case.
Paula T. Dow, Gov. Chris Christie’s appointee as New Jersey attorney general, supervised the quashing of the indictment of the Hunterdon County sheriff.
Bennett A. Barlyn was dismissed as a Hunterdon County prosecutor after claiming that the state attorney general killed an indictment to protect prominent supporters of Gov. Chris Christie.

The grand jurors’ wounds have not healed. “I still get angry,” one said. “It was shameful and I keep trying to put it behind me because it was so obvious this was about politics.”

...Mr. Barlyn...said he mourned the loss of his career as a prosecutor...(He) now teaches at a middle school. “I think about what happened all the time; it wasn’t subtle,” he said. “In the end, it’s easy to get rid of a prosecutor. But it raises that question: In New Jersey, who watches the watchman?”

Rachel Maddow also explains it all for you (if you find that you're geoblocked, drop me a line):

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-s...y-131725379572
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-s...s-131725379590

Well, at least one open records request has finally been resolved:

Quote:

NJ.com: A former Hunterdon County assistant prosecutor who claims he was fired for objecting to the dismissal of indictments against supporters of Gov. Chris Christie has been granted access to secret documents that he says will help prove his case. A state Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday that the state must provide the former prosecutor, Bennett Barlyn, access to sealed grand jury transcripts related to the indictments.

The state argued that grand jury documents are usually kept secret to protect witnesses and others involved in criminal cases. But Barlyn's attorney...argued...that the documents should be released to his client because the three officials indicted in the matter...(former Hunterdon County Sheriff Deborah Trout, former Undersheriff Michael Russo, and former Sheriff's Investigator John Falat Jr.)...were already granted access to them...

One open records request down, 22 to go...but this loss for Christie could turn out to be the biggest one.

Old Joysey · #**203** 08-03-2015, 01:48 AM

What a relief for Bruce: he hasn't lost his #1 fan!

Quote:

Christie Says Springsteen’s Music Still His Favorite

[...] Not only did Mr. Christie’s campaign launch feature Bon Jovi tunes, he and his wife, Mary Pat, said in a recent interview with conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham that they preferred Bon Jovi as their favorite rock star over Mr. Springsteen – despite Mr. Christie’s numerous public proclamations about his Springsteen worship.

“It’s not an egregious flip-flop,” Mr. Christie said Sunday. He said Ms. Ingraham was asking them who they preferred as a friend, not a musician.

“Jon and Dorothea Bon Jovi are friends of ours….Bruce’s music is still my favorite music. Come on. Are you kidding?”
[...]

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/0...-his-favorite/

Not the nicest way to put it though. I'd be Jon, I'd feel insulted.

rocknation · #**204** 08-03-2015, 06:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Joysey

Quote:

“It’s not an egregious flip-flop,” Mr. Christie said Sunday. He said Ms. Ingraham was asking them who they preferred as a friend, not a musician.

“Jon and Dorothea Bon Jovi are friends of ours….Bruce’s music is still my favorite music. Come on. Are you kidding?”

Not the nicest way to put it though. I'd be Jon, I'd feel insulted.

And on top of that, Christie hasn't got enough sense to be insulted that Jon AND his music are also backing Hillary!

Meanwhile, as the August 6 Fox News Republican presidential debate approaches, it looks like Christie will make the cut in being among the top ten polling candidates:

Quote:

Incorporating the new NBC/WSJ numbers, NBC estimates that the top ten candidates at this time are:

Trump - 19.8 percent
Walker - 13.2 percent
Bush - 13 percent
Paul - 6.4 percent
Carson - 6.4 percent
Rubio - 6.2 percent
Huckabee - 5.8 percent
Cruz - 5.8 percent
Christie - 3.2 percent
Kasich - 3.2 percent

As Rachel Maddow points out, the problem with getting only three per cent of the vote is that it falls within

the standard three per cent margin of error

so any distance Christie can put between himself and Mr. Kasich would help him enormously.

Quote:

NJToday.net: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is reportedly purchasing $250,000 of advertising time on Fox News in an attempt to help secure a place at the network’s August 6 debate. Christie’s ad buy is more evidence that Fox News’ debate — the first of the presidential cycle — is proving lucrative for the network.

Quote:

Politico: This week alone, Christie has made four appearances on Fox News, accounting for more than half of the total appearances he’s made on the network since launching his campaign in June...

With national polls determining inclusion in the debate, campaigns have been forced to play for a far wider audience, either through media interviews or attention-grabbing headlines...

Attention-grabbing and hopefully poll-boosting headlines? Well, that would explain this:

Quote:

RawStory: In an interview that aired on...CNN...Jake Tapper reminded the New Jersey governor that he had advised people to "punch bullies in the face" during his first term as governor. “At the national level, who deserves a punch in the face?” Tapper wondered.

“Oh, the national teachers union,” Christie replied without hesitation. “They’re not for education for our children, they’re for greater membership, greater benefits, greater pay for their members...(T)hey are the single most destructive force in public education in America...I’ve been saying that since 2009...but I’m never going to stop saying it because they never change their stripes.”

He also complained that the teacher's union endorsed Hillary Clinton before she officially announced she was running. If Jon endorsed her before the fact, too, I guess he'd better work on his bob and weave!

Doesn't Christie realize that he sounds more like he's auditioning for the next Godfather movie? Is he that desperate to out-Trump Donald Trump for attention-grabbing headlines, or was CNN so desperate to get some of his advertising dollars, they gave him such an ass-kissing interview?

At least Christie spent this weekend in New Jersey. He joined 60,000 others at the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park. It's a horse race, not a golf tournament, won by Triple Crown winner American Pharaoh. But I thought once you won the Triple Crown, your next career move was, to put it diplomatically, creating FUTURE Triple Crown winners!

Quote:

NJ.com: It was one long happy celebration at Monmouth Park for the great American Pharoah's latest victory. At least, that is, until Gov. Chris Christie stepped into the Winner's Circle to present the trophy.

And then, the record crowd of 60,983 booed.

Long. Loud. Sustained.

Maybe he should have hung around Bill Murray.

The cheering resumed as trainer Bob Baffert and owner Ahmed Zayat addressed the crowd and talking about their famous horse. Then Christie's name was mentioned again, and the booing started anew...

Maybe Christie SHOULD have hung around Bill Murray. He hung around Richie Sambora, who didn't even rate a mention in the photo caption -- now, THAT'S insulting, LOL!

Old Joysey · #**205** 08-03-2015, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Doesn't Christie realize that he sounds more like he's auditioning for the next Godfather movie?

Someone had the same themed thought and posted this photo beneath the article with the photo of Christie chatting with some unidentified guy in an old hat:

He could be Big Pussy's twin bro, bro!

I can hear some similarities here too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhHCbxfNE2k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bnmt6dLasxw

rocknation · #**206** 08-03-2015, 09:51 PM

Here's some video from the racetrack:
https://youtu.be/UuyDqLGwWTw
https://youtu.be/hq_k90U7djY

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Joysey

Someone...posted (a) photo beneath the article with the photo of Christie chatting with some unidentified guy in an old hat...

Identification accomplished:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Joysey

I can hear some similarities here too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bnmt6dLasxw

Holy crap, you're right!!! Christie DOES have "friends" AND "friends of his," doesn't he?

rocknation · #**207** 08-07-2015, 02:50 AM

so I'm posting this now in anticipation of being too incapacitated from either alcohol or laughter to do it later. Speaking of anticipation, the Surgeon General (the U.S. government's top-ranking doctor) reportedly suggested at a press conference this morning that people play a safer variation of the traditional debate drinking game by only consuming alcohol when one of the candidates says something reasonable.

So here's the latest on Tunnel-Gate:

Quote:

TPM.com: NJ Transit...leases and shares tracks with Amtrak, which was given the Northeast corridor of track between Washington, D.C. and Boston when it was created in 1971...To make a trip from New Jersey to New York, trains pass through a tunnel – one tunnel...(that) was designed in 1902...On the New Jersey approach to the tunnel is a rotating rail bridge that’s even older, prone to getting stuck, and that caught fire a few years ago...

Last Monday...rush hour (NJ Transit) trains were delayed by at least an hour. Then last Tuesday morning, a circuit breaker tripped west of the tunnel, cutting off power to train signal equipment and reducing the tunnel’s capacity to just one train per tube at a time...The next day, delays topped 90 minutes after another set of electrical problems in the tunnel...There were even more delays again on Friday, due again to electrical issues. All of this happened just days after NJ Transit’s board approved a 9% fare hike.

From Iowa, Christie blasted Amtrak for failing to maintain the region’s rail infrastructure, never noting that Congress had recently voted to cut $1 billion from the agency’s budget...(H)e said that if he is elected president, he will see to it that a new tunnel is built under the Hudson...

Quote:

Gothamaist.com: Christie, who condemned his constituents to decades more of gridlock and crowded train platforms by pulling the plug on a Hudson River tunnel in 2010 after construction had begun...(said) in an interview with Larry Kudlow of WABC:

The reason I killed the ARC Tunnel was: the federal government was contributing to it, the state of New Jersey was contributing to it, and the state or city of New York was contributing nothing. And New Jersey was going to be responsible for every nickel of cost overrun...which at that time was estimated to be 3-5 billion dollars...

If I'm president of the United States, I call a meeting between my secretary of transportation, the governor of New York, and the governor of New Jersey, and I say, "If we're all in this even-steven, if we're all going to put in an equal share, then let's go build these tunnels underneath the Hudson River and walk away as equals. We're all equal for the upfront costs, and we're all equal for the cost overruns."

But why you couldn't do that as governor, governor?

Quote:

North Jersey.com: Christie appears to have forgotten that $3 billion of the allocated $9 billion for ARC came from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The two states in this particular bistate agency are New York and New Jersey. So while New York City was not required to pony up cash, New Yorkers through the Port Authority were contributing toward a third of the total allocated funding...That sleight of hand may still come back to haunt Christie if investigators find that using Port Authority funds for a road not under Port Authority jurisdiction violated bond covenants. But that is another story.

Quote:

Gothamist.com: Just so we're clear...Christie lied...An audit by the federal Government Accountability Office later showed that, though Christie claimed New Jersey would pay 70 percent of the tunnel cost, the actual proportion was 14.4 percent. He also said estimated cost overruns had ballooned leading up to 2010, but the amount hadn't changed in two years...The move did, however, allow Christie to fill the gaping hole in the road repair budget without raising taxes on motorists, which he promised not to do in his campaign.

And now that you're telling your "stories" on a national level, governor, it's that much more important that you keep them straight!

rocknation · #**208** 08-07-2015, 06:33 PM

Incorporating what was posted yesterday.

There has been one ruling on Christie's settlement with Exxon -- the settlement he reduced by some ninety-seven percent. The judge has rejected the inclusion of New Jersey State Senator Ray Lesniak and environmental groups as parties to the settlement:

Quote:

NJ101.5.com: Superior Court Judge Michael Hogan’s 32-page ruling said the groups did not show that the state Department of Environmental Protection failed to represent their interests...

The groups and Lesniak sought to become a party to the suit because they wanted an opportunity to appeal if the court approves the settlement over polluted land, including industrial sites in Bayonne and Linden...

Hogan also wrote that allowing the intervention could show he was prejudiced against the deal because the groups made it clear they opposed the agreement...

And here are some things to chew on while awaiting the actual settlement ruling:

Quote:

IBT.com: Public Strategies Impact, the firm that represents Exxon’s interests in New Jersey, has donated $50,000 to America Leads, a super PAC supporting Christie’s presidential campaign, according to federal campaign finance filings...

The donation to the super PAC from Exxon’s lobbying firm is “not surprising,” said Democratic State Sen. Raymond Lesniak, who has led the charge to block the settlement. “If the judge approves Christie's settlement, Exxon will walk out with a check," he said.

PSI has also given $80,000 to the Republican Governors Association since Christie became New Jersey’s chief executive, according to Political Money Line data. State documents list PSI as Exxon’s longtime lobbyist, and the firm includes a laudatory quote from an Exxon executive on its website...

New Jersey has a strict “pay-to-play” law designed to bar state contractors from donating to state officials. That statute includes so-called anti-circumvention provisions that aim to keep firms from doing indirectly what they are prohibited from doing directly. However, the law does not explicitly apply to super PACs, which are technically supposed to be independent of public officials.

Quote:

DemocraticUndeground:

1. Christie's former Attorney General Paula Dow (the one who dismissed the Hunterdon County indictments) used to be an attorney for Exxon.

2. Former Christie DCA Commissioner and former Wolff & Sampson partner Lori Grifa is now a partner and lobbyist for Archer & Greiner, the law firm representing Exxon in this litigation.

3. Archer & Greiner donated $30,000 to the RGA.

4. Former Christie Deputy Chief of Staff Lou Goettner now works for Public Impact Strategies, the lobbying firm representing Exxon's interests in NJ.

5. Exxon donated $751,000 to the RGA in 2014 while Christie was in charge and nearly $1.8 million during the period of time Christie has been governor.

You can't tell the corruption without a scorecard!

rocknation · #**209** 08-08-2015, 07:03 AM

Now that I've sufficiently sobered up from the political midget mud wrestling marathon -- I mean, Republican presidential debate -- to evaluate Christie's performance, I'm happy to report that the way his true colors shined through rivaled Donald Trump's. But I also have to say that Christie was set up a little.

For hosts Fox News, pretty much the media arm of the Republican party, their marching orders were clear -- make Jeb Bush look better and frontrunner Donald Trump look worse. Bush got softball questions that allowed him to appear passionate yet lucid; Trump was prodded into his trademark ranting and raving; and Christie was pitted against a candidate who opposes him on a security issue, sending him into bully attack mode:

Quote:

ThinkProgress:...Christie said...“I was appointed U.S. Attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state. This is not theoretical to me...” In his closing remarks, Christie repeated the claim and date.

Quote:

DailyKos: Setting aside that it is the (Foreign Intelligence) "Surveillance" Court...(not the Foreign Intelligence "Service" Court)...and that U.S. attorneys don't go before the FISC, there's a big problem here. Maybe Christie was so affected by the events of that day and the aftermath that his memory has got all foggy...Christie wasn't nominated for the U.S. attorney post until December (2001) of that year and started in January 2002...

Quote:

EmptyWheel.com: The intervening crisis caused by the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington then delayed action on the nomination. In the interview for (his biography), Christie said he didn’t hear again from the White House for two weeks and that things were slowed because there were no available FBI agents to do background checks, as they had been assigned to investigating the 9/11 attacks...

UPDATE: In an absolutely hysterical attempt to rebut the clear fact that he was not nominated when he said he was, Christie’s people said he was informed he would be on September 10 at 4:30...But the rest of the explanation makes it clear they hadn’t even done a background check yet!

Quote:

Asbury Park Press: What actually happened on Sept. 10, 2001 is that Christie was informed by the White House that President George W. Bush had decided to nominate him as U.S. attorney. In a 2011 interview for (his) biography...Christie said the job offer was formally extended on that date by White House counsel Alberto Gonzales in a 4:30 p.m. phone call...

Christie spokesman Kevin Roberts said the reports criticizing Christie’s use of the word ‘appointed’ have “been totally incorrect” and pointed to morning newspaper coverage from Sept. 11, 2001 saying Christie had been nominated a day earlier.

If the background check had not begun, never mind been completed, prior to September 2001, then Christie had been neither nominated nor appointed -- he'd only been "put under consideration" for the position. Also, deflecting from his hugging that evil President Obama by saying he can only remember hugging those affected by the 9/11 attack is downright shabby. Doesn't Christie remember that a candidate was pretty much knocked out of the 2008 presidential race by being described as "a noun, a verb, and 9/11"?

Kathleen · #**210** 08-09-2015, 04:17 AM

As I have said many times - and this proves my point - he is a lying sack of shit. I can only hope that he a "the Donald" took themselves out.

Bruce Springsteen Mocks New Jersey Governor

NBJ - Everything Else