rocknation |
10-16-2016 04:19 AM |
Witness #12: Charlie McKenna, Christie administration chief counsel
Quote:
NJ.com: The government rested its case after 15 days...Baroni then began presenting his defense...
(Chief Counsel Charlie) McKenna was called to the stand because he participated in a conference call with Baroni in preparation for Baroni’s Nov. 2013 testimony before a NJ legislative committee about the lane closures, which were drawing scrutiny. McKenna said that throughout the 10-minute call, Baroni referred to the closures as part of a traffic study — a since-debunked cover story.
“The governor at one point asked me, ‘What’s going on with this situation?’” McKenna. “I reported back to him that they were doing a traffic study and that I talked to Bill Baroni.”
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Good question -- too bad Christie asked it of the one person on his staff that no one on his staff reported to.
Quote:
NY Post: McKenna claimed he didn’t find it odd that New Jersey residents were kept in the dark about the lane closures, which slowed emergency vehicles in Fort Lee, because it was all done for the sake of science.
“It would strike me from a common sense standpoint that if you gave notice to people that you are going to shift lanes they would act differently, and that would skew the results,” McKenna said.
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It strikes me from a common sense standpoint to give notice to the local first responders involved so they can come up with lane-shifting tactics of their own. And how in the world was the decision made that the folks on the New York side of bridge should be kept in the dark as well?
Quote:
Questioned about concerns raised publicly by Patrick Foye...who believed the lane shutdowns had been an "abusive decision" and possibly illegal, McKenna said he thought it was grandstanding...McKenna noted that even though Foye had made some serious allegations, he did not start an investigation or go to federal prosecutors. He just went to the newspapers...
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Well, Foye believed correctly, didn't he? While he didn't start an investigation or go to federal prosecutors, he DID get the lanes re-opened. And since he represented the New York side of the bridge, it raises the pesky question of why Foye's New Jersey counterpart Baroni didn't beat him to it.
Quote:
(McKenna) confirmed that he told...David Wildstein that he was still a “part of the team” after he fired him in Dec. 2013 because he still believed it was all a traffic study gone awry. “...I said, 'This is a bad situation. You are going to have to resign'...(But) I meant the bigger Christie team. The governor wasn’t upset with him — the people around the governor were,” he said.
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The "bigger" Christie team...would that be the team with no members, no coaches, no management and one owner -- Christie himself? We're supposed to believe that getting rid of Wildstein was McKenna's decision alone? He was just passing along Christie's orders -- just like Kelly, Baroni, and Wildstein!
With defense witnesses like this, who needs enemies?
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