AS this thread closes in on its first anniversary, all I can say is "thanks for giving a shit -- 14,000 times!"

With Christie's presidential outlook looking increasingly murkier, and the series of federal level investigations hanging over him like the proverbial Monty Python 16 ton weight, what will 2015 hold for Governor Soprano? Well, it's not off to a good start:
Exceeding authority, ignoring balances of power, acting unilaterally -- how presidential can you get? This is a perfect example of why it's impossible to believe he knew nothing of Bridge(t)-Gate -- when it comes to political power, he loves having his cake and eating it, too (a metaphor, not a weight joke!).

Break out your hankies and a copy of Blood On Blood: here comes a tear-jerking story about friendship Christie style -- and I DO mean "jerking."


Here's Christie with his old pal David Samson, the guy who resigned the chairmanship of the Port Authority purely out of unselfishness. He was so loyal to Christie he refused to take a salary for the job, scraping by on what he could earn from a law firm he owns that has clients who do business with the Port Authority!

Well, would you believe that those meanies in the New Jersey legislature had the unmitigated gall to question their relationship anyhow? But Samson didn't take it lying down -- on December 9, he filed a lawsuit claiming that New Jersey officials weren't qualified to investigate him because the Port Authority is a bi-state agency under federal jurisdiction. But he withdrew the lawsuit two weeks later. Why? For the answer, we might have to look at one of Christie's other good friends, New York Mayor Andew Cuomo:


That's what the state officials get for interfering in federal business. And you certainly can't blame Cuomo for taking Christie's side, especially since Cuomo has been accused getting a call from Christie about his subordinate Patrick Foye asking too many questions about the bridge closing: gun, meet smoke. Aside from that, the solution to cleaning up the Port Authority is so simple -- they get to fire everyone they hired, and then hire a whole new batch of people!

And through it all, Christie's love for Samson shines through like a diamond. All together now:

Blood on blood, one on one
We'd still be standing when all was said and done
Blood on blood, one on one
And I'll be here for you 'til Kingdom come...

In case you didn't know, Christie is an American football fanatic. His favorite team? Not the New York Giants or New York Jets -- I mean, those teams PLAY in East Rutherford, New Jersey, but just because they feed the state's economy is no reason to support them. No, it turns out that though he did his civic duty when the Giants won the Super Bowl in 2012, Christie's true NFL loyalties run about 1500 miles southwest of East Rutherford:
In return, Jerry has shown Christie nothing less than the best of "down home hospitality":
But in case you're getting any bright ideas about this being improper in any way, you've lost this round:
So nyah nyah and move along, kids, there's nothing to see here...
Ooops...

Jerry Jones-Gate Update
 

We last left our hero appearing to have confessed to violating state ethics laws by accepting gifts from Dallas Cowboys football team owner Jerry Jones, who also just happens to own part of a company that is not only doing business with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, but got the business with Christie's help. However, our cat on a hot tin roof has yet again landed on his feet:

Well, that makes perfect sense, and here's a pair of official state government press releases to back it up:
Oh, the deal was sealed in March -- that clarifies everything! After all, not meeting with or knowing people personally makes it impossible to have any other kind of relationship with them: it isn't as though there are such things as telephones, electronic correspondence, mail, or online conferencing.

What must have happened is that not wanting to unduly (and possibly unethically) influence Christie (who had no business influencing the Port Authority commission anyway), Jones said nothing of his bidding for the PA contract when they first spoke during the summer of 2013. And note that it's Christie who mentions not knowing who'd be in charge of the specific "concessions" as opposed to knowing who would be in charge of the project's general "development and operation" -- surely that wasn't a mere slip of the tongue.

Meanwhile, some rouge Christie or Cuomo underling wrote press releases that should have made more of a distinction between "calling" on a telephone and a "call" to action (after all, why have a commission if the governors have the power to tell them how to vote? No wonder the governors are considering dismissing their board of directors).

Of course, that works if you believe what Christie told the radio show as opposed to what he told PBS about knowing Christie for five years. If you don't, then shame on you for effectively calling him a liar!

Despite being good enough friends with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft to help dump ice water over Jon's head, Christie didn't get an invitation from him to attend this year's Super Bowl -- he spent the weekend in England instead. The questions about his relationship with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones did not dissolve with the Cowboys championship hopes, however -- quite the opposite!

According to Christie himself:
Jones' company won the World Trade Center Freedom Tower bid in March of 2013, and was one of the finalists as of the previous November, with the bidding process beginning months before that. So no matter when their relationship began, anything Christie received from Jones after filing the World Trade Center Freedom Tower bid was unethical because Jones was trying to do business with a New Jersey agency, and anything Christie received after March 2013 was flat out illegal because Jones was by then a full-fledged state contractor. But I wonder if that mutual friend would be willing to verify Christie's story?

That's right -- it's our very own Jon, whom Jones has said would make a fantastic NFL team owner! Well, you HAD to know that he was going to get dragged into this eventually, didn't you? But what should Jon do -- ignore the story and hope that it doesn't get picked up by other media outlets? Deny the story even if it's true, and keep his hands clean? Or confirm the story and nail both Jones and Christie on an ethics violation?


Fortunately, the Jones camp has finally stepped forward to clear things up once and for all. According to a spokesman:
And from Jerry Jones himself:Right you are, Jerry, and here's a case in point: Christie has proposed closing the 19,000-seat Meadowlands Arena and moving its events to the 18,000-seat Prudential Center. And who co-owns the company that helps run Prudential Center? Take a wild guess!

The reviews are in about Christie's Super Bowl weekend in England:

Sorry about that, England -- first Romney says you didn't have what it takes to keep the 2012 Olympics secure, now this...

Chrsitie's aerial adventures aren't quite over. During his Super Bowl weekend in London, this appeared in the New York Times:
Taking your whole family overseas to visit someone whom you've only had dinner with? That was risky -- they could have be drugged and sold into white slavery!

See? All nice and legal. Unethical and sleazy, but nice and legal.


Price: Roughly $5M US. Keep Christie's size in mind, and consider that perhaps he prefers private jets because they have more seat and leg room. And now for the bad news:
That's right, Governor Soprano -- you become President Soprano, and all the luxury first class travel at other people's expense that you don't have to account for goes bye-bye: are you SURE you want to give it all up? As for you, Bono, you don't seem to be Christie's type any more than Bruce does!

You're welcome! :D ;-) I don't live in NJ so I don't feel legitimate to make comments but I find this guy very funny (or interesting?), please keep posting! I first heard about him through his Bruce (ghost) connection of course, especially when Bruce and Fallon sang about this tunnel thingy that had Bruce so desperately needing to take a leak! :rofl:

Here's a recap list of his "friends" in case you'd missed it ;)
http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/1...hangs-out-with

Of course you know that I am a Jersey resident - and this sums up so much of what is going on at the Port Authority right now. I can't say too much but it has become such a farce. Except of course that it's not funny :(

I did miss this. Thanks so much for posting and contributing and ... uh-oh.

JON BON JOVI, ROCK STAR: The Jersey rocker known for liking Democrats became friendly with Christie after Bon Jovi's daughter nearly died from a drug overdose. When Christie signed a Good Samaritan bill providing legal protection to those who call 911 for drug overdoses, Bon Jovi came to the bill signing. He later gave $1 million to the Sandy Relief Fund started by Christie's wife and toured his Sandy-ravaged hometown, Sayreville, with the governor. They warmly embraced when they saw each other that day.

Now, I know that Stephanie's OD happened in New York, not New Jersey, and that she wasn't criminally charged because New York has had a Good Samaritan OD law since 2011. But there's the potential for a problem here, depending on exactly how much "later" Jon made his Sandy Relief Fund donation.
There is DEFINITELY the potential for a problem here.

Christie vetoed the New Jersey OD bill in mid-October of 2012. Sandy hit in late October. The Sandy Relief Fund came into being in early November. Stephanie's OD was in mid-November. Jon "plays a role" in changing Christie's mind about an OD bill by the following May. Then Jon, who had a twelve-year-old New Jersey charity apparatus of his own, donated a million to Christie's wife's charity in July? The problem is that federal prosecutors might DECIDE it's a problem -- that is, they might wonder if Jon's donation actually "represents" payment for Christie's "changing his mind" about the OD bill!

Jon also has a big friend in NY ;-)
http://youtu.be/ekomXrzOF3A?t=5m57s
Could it be that what was taken into account was that both Stephanie and her family are from NJ instead of focusing on the State where the OD occured? With that twist they made her fall under this new NJ bill and Jon was very grateful.

New York's "Good Samaritan" overdose law had been in effect for more than a year when Stephanie OD'd in late 2012.

And I'm sure Jon WAS very grateful -- the law may have saved his daughter's life, and it definitely saved her from having a criminal record. It's probably what inspired him to get involved with getting a New Jersey version passed.

Sorry, I got confused, I thought there was no NY Good Samaritan law and the NJ one was the first one. Now I've just checked and it says "... New York's new 911 Good Samaritan Law that went into effect on September 18, 2011."

Christie's relationships with first-class flying and his BFF ex-Port Authority chairman David Samson have collided in mid-air:

Well, it certainly isn't David Samson's fault that the flights were only half full: it's United's fault for not employing the obvious solution of using planes with half the seating capacity, duh!

A standard operating procedure in which he obviously should have been involved was not followed? Well, well -- isn't that EXACTLY how Bridge(t)-Gate got started?

http://rocktivity.com/Graphics/pilot2.gif The latest dispatch from Crew Christie Airlines --"You're The Graft Beneath Our Wings":
Now before you start getting pissed off, remember that these commissioners are UNPAID: between making contributions to Christie and Cuomo large enough to qualify for PA commissions, and paying for their plane tickets out of what they can earn by doing things like running a movie studio, you're going to begrudge them a little free curb service? How petty can you get!

During Jerry Jones-Gate, the Christie camp claimed that it was a partisan attack launched by a PAC supporting Hillary Clinton:
In case you don't know, Hillary Clinton is a former and current Democratic candidate for United States president, a former U.S. senator, a former secretary of state (America's top-ranking diplomat), and wife of former U.S. president Bill Clinton. And in case you don't know, I guess I'd better supply an explanation of what a PAC is, too:

Well, Christie has officially launched his own PAC, which I'm sure he's all set to operate on a higher ethical plane than the Democrats:
And it looks like the first Christie super PAC is off the ground, too:
Mr. Cox is going to fundraise for a PAC while working with a SuperPAC? I guess that's okay as long he doesn't tell Christie how much either one has raised -- or if he takes inspiration from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and attends the meetings in a coma. So much for operating on a higher ethical plane: that was a VERY short flight!!!

P.S. The Web address for Christie's PAC is LeadershipMattersForAmerica.Org -- LMAFO for short!

Another one bites the dust
 

We last heard from Drewniak when he accused the child welfare workers union of playing politics when a counselor got stabbed just days after Christie budget cuts removed the security squads from their offices. No words of sympathy for the victim though. Aside from that, he's been keeping a lower profile in favor of fellow Christie spokesperson Kevin Roberts -- until now:
It would be an understatement to say that a big piece of Christie's presidential hopes are lying on selling his treasury looting -- I mean, pension reform -- policies. So if the going gets tough, it makes perfect sense to take off the kid gloves and unleash your lead attack dog. Well, I think Drewniak took a bigger bite out of Judge Jacobson than he could chew:
She ruled in Christie's favor in a Bridge(t)-Gate case? Doesn't sound like a knee-jerk partisan stooge to me. But while Jacobson is a Democrat, Christie Whitman is a Republican -- and if there's anything Republicans hate more than being publicly badmouthed by Democrats, it's being publicly badmouthed by other Republicans.
He's tired? Well, why didn't he quit late last year, which would have given Roberts time to transition into taking the lead on helping sell Christie's 2016 agendas -- because he didn't have another job lined up? Does he look at Christie's presidential bid as a lost cause, or was he simply not invited? Or maybe it was strictly a public relations move: now that he's officially running for president, maybe Christie has been advised that one short-tempered obnoxious loudmouth per campaign is enough...

This just in: I am now more convinced than ever that Christie received orders "from on high" to fire Mike Drewniak. Why?
Though getting rid of Drewniak may have bought Christie favor with the financial and political supporters of his presidential bid, an unemployed Mike Drewniak may have taken it upon himself to get a job blabbing to the feds about Bridge(t)-Gate and other Crew Christie shenanigans. But with a new year just beginning, Christie had no suitable job openings -- what to do? How about inventing a job where Drewniak gets six figures and does at NJ Transit what David Wildstein was doing at the Port Authority? His qualifications for the job? What do you mean? He don't have to show you no stinking qualifications!!!

Before delving into this episode of As the World (of Chris Christie) Turns (Our Stomachs), we'll have to make a quick side trip to California, then backtrack fourteen years to when Arnold Schwarzenegger was running for governor:
To this day, Governor Ahh-nuld says he does not recall attending such a meeting. And Ken Lay died in 2006, resulting in the criminal conviction against him being vacated, a VERY private funeral, and his immediate cremation...unless he actually hopped into a plane or boat with a cargo of money and is living on a VERY private island somewhere.


All of which has what to do with Christie? Well, as the saying goes, if you don't know your history, you're doomed to repeat it:
That works out to 2.7 cents on the dollar for the people of New Jersey. For the people of ExxonMobil, however, it works out to $6,108.00 on the dollar, because since 2010, they've made contributions of $1,475,000 to -- WAIT FOR IT!!! -- Christie's Republican Governor's Fund! What a lovely way of celebrating Christie's record NINTH credit downgrade! Take it away, Rachel Maddow...

http://youtu.be/O2AD8QN28_Y?t=3m32s

Looks like Christie isn't going to skate as smoothly on his Exxon Mobil settlement as Governor Schwarzenegger did on his Enron settlement. Accepting 2.7 cents on the dollar has generated more than a little attention. Members of the New Jersey state assembly have filed a counter suit, are planning hearings and are calling for the resignation of the current state attorney general. And if you need to have it spelled out, no less than the venerable New York Times put in their two point seven cent's worth with an editorial titled Chris Christie’s Exxon Settlement Is Bad for New Jersey (an editorial -- they're in the business of all the NEWS that's fit to print). But is everybody overreacting? After all, nine billion dollars IS a lot a money, and courts have been known to reduce lawsuit settlements they deemed excessive.

Well, according to a couple of court documents that have been released:
So if all the money were spent on the environmental cleanup, the state would only break even? No wonder Christie slipped in that poison pill that would divert all but $50M of the settlement to the debt-ravaged state general fund! But that doesn't explain why Christie would settle for less money -- surely it doesn't take that much longer to write a $9 billion check than a $250M one.
You mean, Christie's problem is that he wouldn't have TIME to spend $8.95 billion dollars -- especially if he plans for his next stop to be the White House -- and if he can't have it, nobody can? I'm sorry, Senator, but that doesn't explain it, either.
DING DING DING -- State Senator Raymond Lesniak, you're our grand prize winner -- THAT certainly explains it!!!

"Unless comments received...necessitate a change"? Obviously just a formality -- why would asking for 2.7 cents when you were supposed to ask for a dollar necessitate comment, never mind a change? Well, like it or not, a change IS gonna come -- take it away, Jon and Betty...

Good news -- the New York Times editorial about Christie's 2.7-cents-on-the-dollar ExxonMobil settlement delivers considerably more substance than its title promises:
Christie's general counsel is Chris Porrino, who replaced Charles McKenna, who was on his way to becoming New Jersey's attorney general until his career path was blocked by Bridge(t)-Gate. The current attorney general is Jon Jay Hoffman -- and between his not having been in the running for the job; the ExxonMobil settlement being such an important deal; and Christie having a reputation of not knowing what is staff is up to, he should have Porrino looking over Hoffman's shoulder.
ExxonMobil netted nearly $79 billion last year (unless corporate liability policies are that large). So they stood to lose a more than a tenth of it to the settlement -- even to them, that's not chump change. Nonetheless, the the difference between $225 million and $9 billion is VERY substantial, and if it stood to put a dent in MY mutual fund earnings, I would certainly feel more than a little conflicted!

News of the settlement wasn't supposed to break until April 6. But when Christie realized that he wasn't going to get applauded like, well, Bruce Springsteen over this, he outsourced the blame:
So the choices were between restoring the polluted areas to pre-pollution condition and ensuring that they simply can't pollute any further; and between putting a financial cap on the bill versus putting a physical cap on the pollution. And somewhere in between, nearly nine billion dollars slips away from New Jersey's coffers.

ExxonMobil must be proud that they're being given the responsibility of the cleanup rather than the state hiring someone else. But they must be feeling pretty damned guilty, too. Now, here's how it's supposed to work in America:

The plaintiff tells the court what they think they should be paid by the defendant, and why. The defendant tries to talk the plaintiff into taking less out of fear that the court will make them pay more. If the court decides the plaintiff is asking for too much money, the court will award the plaintiff get less money. If the plaintiff allows the defendant to decide that the plaintiff is asking for too much money, the plaintiff will most likely get even less money than the court would award: The actual legal term for that is "getting screwed." The thing is, Christie himself started out as a lawyer -- doesn't he understand any of that?

I have to admit that Christie's holding the right end of the stick on this one: The Times DIDN'T mention that in the February 27 article or the March 4 editorial they published. But they DID mention it on March 10:
Rachel Maddow and even Jon Stewart noticed -- he pointed out that as an already settled 21-year-old done deal, the cleanup costs never should have been a factor in the lawsuit:
http://www.rocktivity.com/video/christieExxon.webm

Which makes his settling for 2.7 cents on the dollar makes Christie look either more corrupt, more incompetent, or more insane than ever -- take your pick!

Hey, babe, let's take a walk on Wild(stein) side:
However, Christie allowed him to be hired at the Port Authority minus a resume or a job description (“He is there in that job because he is well suited to the task of playing a role in reforming the Port Authority in accordance with the governor’s goals,” said Christie’s (then) spokesman, Michael Drewniak) -- even though, according to an email that went out to Christie's family and friends (and subsequently described as having been sent without Christie's final approval):

• As a 16-year-old kid, he sued over a local school board election.
• He was publicly accused by his high school social studies teacher of deceptive behavior.
• He had a controversial tenure as Mayor of Livingston
• He was an anonymous blogger known as Wally Edge
• He had a strange habit of registering web addresses for other people's names without telling them

What? I can't agree with that -- it sounds more like Wildstein was merely Christie's plaything. Wildstein may have thought he meant more to Christie than that, but Christie was actually just passing him around among the members of his real inner circle. And what thanks does he get? He's reportedly talking to the Feds, but with or without immunity from prosecution? That depends on whether the Feds have decided they have enough on Christie that he and Bridget Kelly can take the fall for Bridgegate alone if they won't talk without immunity -- in which case David Wildstein would be spurned twice over.

And you thought Jon and Richie had New Jersey's most dysfunctional relationship.

There's a danger that we both understand
We run like thieves through the temple of sin
Till we fall on our knees...
I'll be your dirty little secret
and you'll be mine...
We made a promise and we keep it
Our dirty little secret

A dirty little secret? Of course not -- you can't expect an executive director of a financial firm to know what his own subsidiaries are doing!


A dirty little secret? Of course not -- if the judge who's supposed to make the ruling on the settlement doesn't know about this, why should anyone else?


A dirty little secret? Of course not -- obviously it was to Crew Christie's advantage to have a spy in the enemy camp during the settlement negotiations!

April 15 is federal tax day in America -- and this year, Chris Christie celebrated it in a way that can only be described as Chris Christie-ish:

Since Mrs. Christie technically owes half that unpaid tax money, she could turn out to be the weak link in her husband's chain. If the Feds were to start taking a closer look at HER financial life, which has crossed paths with the state coffers at times, she could end up getting indicted!

I am just waiting and hoping that they nail that lying, cheating bastard.

And what's HIS excuse for being an obese, lazy gluttonous pig?

In case you'd have missed it... ;)

That's a funny one! And so was KA's reaction.
https://gma.yahoo.com/christie-ally-...opstories.html


re:gluttony :lol:
Jon Bon Jovi and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at Lure Fishbar…
http://pagesix.com/2015/04/27/sightings-1999/

And here's the best part -- two weeks later, the video is STILL there! Whoever replaced Mike Drewinak as spokesman really dropped the ball on this one -- or is Christie planning to testify that he lied to the kid?

And speaking of kids, guess who's suddenly noticed that she's left hers home alone too much?

The interview was aired April 16. Mary Pat's last day was Friday April 24, and it was announced the following Monday? That's not how senior-level executives resign of their own free will, especially if they want to keep future job prospects on the table: four weeks' notice (with a formal public announcement) is a minimum. And even if her children were not well past the age of baby tending, surely running for America's first lady will be just as much a full time job.

On the other hand, if Christie gets indicted, too, you'd think they'd need all the income they can get their hands on. But on the OTHER other hand, neither of Mary Pat's hands are that clean -- the firm she's leaving continued to collect fees for a state pension fund that was no longer theirs. Are the Feds starting to breathe down HER neck, too? Did she jump from her job because she knew she'd get pushed? Or WAS she pushed?

Now that the first round of indictments have come down, it's entirely possible that he's practicing for having his last meal on the outside! Stay tuned...

Here are some of Christie's (old) comments about the Bridge scandal. [From the NYTimes]

December 2013: “At the end of this, you know you and your paper will owe an apology to Senator Baroni and Mr. Wildstein,” Mr. Christie told the Wall Street Journal. (David Wildstein pleaded guilty today; Bill Baroni was indicted.)

December 2013: “A mistake got made,” Mr. Christie said, explaining that reports about retribution to punish the mayor of Fort Lee had been “sensationalized.” (Mr. Wildstein said in court today that punishing the mayor was the exact goal of the lane closings.)

Too bad Chris Christie and David Wildstein aren't friends anymore. Otherwise David could clue Chris in about the diet he's on.


If it weren't for Bridge(t)gate, you'd think he was terminally ill.

Seems like only yesterday when the man on the left was smirking in state court while his lawyer promised that he'd tell all as soon as he got total immunity from state AND federal prosecution. Instead, he got what barely qualifies as a plea deal. Directly from the court documents:

And what of Wildstein's boss, and the woman who put the "Bridge(t)" in Bridge(t)-Gate? No snitching accomplished -- at least not yet.

That's pretty tough talk considering that they were looking for immunity themselves. So what's their defense strategy -- that Wildstein made the whole thing up? That he engineered Bridge(t)-Gate all by himself? Or that everyone was just following (Christie's) orders?

Meanwhile, I'm sure you've noticed that Christie isn't involved in this round of indictments -- and I'm sure you're not surprised that Christie is heralding it as a moral victory:

I'm sure Fishman is hoping that Kelly and/or Baroni will squeal in exchange for lighter charges and punishments, but the real point is that he doesn't need them because he has such a strong case against Samson. It all comes down to whether he offered anyone immunity in the first place -- I don't think he did, and I don't think he will now.

Bridget Kelly has set up a online fundraising page:

Her plea is accompanied by a pic of the family:


who are wearing what I have been advised are clothing of the Vineyard Vines variety -- $40 US for shirts, $65 for skirts, $26 for T-shirts -- and you should see what their ADULT clothing sells for!

The post-Bridge(t)-Gate Indictments edition of Chris Christie is back on the job(s) of being New Jersey governor and trying to be United States president. Venturing out on first town hall meeting in weeks, he bragged that "I'm not proud or happy of what happened, but I'm going to stop apologizing for it too...I'm moving on from it now because I've lived through 15 months of three investigations that have now confirmed everything I said 15 months ago." Except that even his own investigation didn't involve the people who were indicted. Anyway, he's back at work:

And some of those firms even went so far as to employ his wife -- until VERY recently. So not only does the public not have a right to know what their own public funds are being spent, the state doesn't get to strengthen their own laws protecting them? This law would be to Christie's disadvantage, all right!

Arrogance unto the gods: after spending on things the state already provided him with AND having the GOP reimburse him, paying income tax on it is the LEAST he could have done! Or is reimbursed money not considered income?


It has long been my theory that head prosecutor Paul Fishman has not offered immunity to the Christie Crony Crew because he can nail Christie without having to rely on snitches. That theory has just been bolstered:

Bridget is right, of course, and Baroni's lawyers are taking the correct course of action, indeed -- especially since, being innocent, they would have no idea of who else might be involved. Unfortunately, without immunity from prosecution, they can't defend themselves without implicating others, and they can't implicate others without incriminating themselves. The specific legal term for that is GUILTY, which leaves them no recourse but to throw themselves on the mercy of the federal court.

"Give us immunity and we'll tell all!" they've been crying out for a year. To which Fishman has replied, "Sorry -- we don't have any immunity deals in stock. But we have plenty of nice plea deals." Wildstein blinked and took one. Now the fun REALLY begins...

A closer look at Governor Sopranos' food budget:
Well, that averages out to $1424 per "occasion" and 26 occasions per year. Having seen Bon Jovi at MetLife Giants Stadium, I know it's not cheap: It cost $15US just to park your car in 2006, and in 2010 (I got there by train) they charged $10 for the domestic beer! Their catering packages start at $18.50 for a boxed lunch, so it may not be unrealistic to spend $57 per guest on food and drink -- though a minimum of 25 guests is required to get the catering.

That's an average of $425 down to $300 a week for a family of five. But shouldn't groceries for his family come out what he and his wife earn -- $750K as of last year? His wife just resigned her job, however, and I doubt that they qualify for food stamps. Or has Jon's charity work inspired him to quietly give way the extra food to the poor? No wonder Christie had no choice but to dip into the expense account to feed his family -- though that's no excuse for not paying income tax on it!

Can't this be moved to the NBJ section? This isn't about Bruce or anything music related anymore.

You do have a point. Done.

Fine by me -- especially since I said as much ten pages ago, LOL!

Please take note that this is an editorial opinion rather than a hard news story. Taking exception to one's political policies is one thing, but describing someone in print as "losing his marbles" is quite another. A statement -- an accusation -- of that nature had better be strongly backed up.

Well, since when are polls "reality?" A couple of hundred people do not speak for an entire state, and certainly not an entire nation. Plus, there's always the question of how accurate polls are. Sixty-five percent think Christie would be a bad president, and 65 per cent now think he's a bad governor? That doesn't prove a thing. For example, when Mitt Romney ran for president in 2012 he said, "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for (President Obama) no matter what...My job is not to worry about those people." And what happened? HE ended up with 47 per cent of the vote, so there!

But his internal investigation wasn't independent and didn't involve the people who were indicted, the legislative panel contained someone who was directly implicated in Bridge(t)-Gate, and the federal investigation of Bridge(t)-Gate isn't over until sentences are handed down. And he used to BE a federal-level attorney? What is the sound of one marble dropping?

About that Romney quote: it was made at a fundraiser that was supposed to be closed to the press and the public, but a waiter videotaped it. Here's Christie speaking at a recent annual press fundraiser:

Appreciate his taking a stand against gay innuendo, however short it was. And now for the real reason why Christie didn't do a video: while he has reduced his food intake, Christie is still a glutton for retribution.

He was more interested in taking the opportunity to curse out the press than in taking the opportunity to at least appear to be presidential (which he could have made public). With the event being off the record, the press would be too embarrassed to quote him, and if they did, he could always deny it. Well, an audio recording has been made public, forcing Christie's spokesperson to reiterate that “all of the songs and acts of the night, including the Governor’s obvious parody of himself, were in jest and along with the spirit of the evening."

What are those ripping and rattling noises? Well, let's just say that there appears to be a hole in Governor Soprano's marble bag...

UPDATE:
P.S. And here's the best part -- FOUR weeks later, the video is STILL there!

I wouldn't blame anyone for thinking that's a Christie quote, but it's actually from FIFA World Cup president Sepp Blatter.

Blatter's problem, like Christie's, is that there's a federal investigation of him because some of his direct underlings have been caught taking bribes and such. Like Christie, Blatter was re-elected despite the resulting controversy, considers himself exonerated since he wasn't directly implicated and says he's ready to get his house back in order and move on. Well, Christie's quest to "rebuild trust" has recently gotten some "bad news:"

Well, uh, no, not quite -- not if there's more than $82K to be accounted for, and what wasn't reimbursed to the state should have had income tax paid on it. I've theorized that that maybe he's joined Jon in making food donations to the homeless, as have others:

Not compassionate and NOT funny: there are people who have genuine, serious health problems with their food intake, and suggesting that Christie ran up the bill unassisted is downright offensive! Here's a newspaper that took a more realistic approach:

Over two American football seasons, two teams (the Giants and Jets both play at Met Life Stadium) and a total of 32 regular season home games, that averages out to treating 233 guests per game -- but I don't think the governor's sky box holds that many. However, it turns out that MetLife Stadium has 82,000 seats, so maybe the governor has been pre-paying a three-cent discount per seat per game. As for the other $247,000, I suspect that he bribed Sepp Blatter with it in hopes of bringing the FIFA World Cup to MetLife Stadium -- finally, a rational explanation!



P.S. Sepp Blatter announced his resignation today, much to the publicly expressed delight of FIFA's sponsors...hint, hint...

But they HAVE to exist...they're required to exist by law!
Since the public funded the Mastro Report, I don't see how the judge can say no. It looks like our Kathleen's dreams might actually come true!

P.S. And she'll be happy to know that seeing "a looming public relations disaster," the firm’s hourly rate of $650 an hour was negotiated down to $350 an hour!