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I read that this morning and it sucks monkeys. I want that $1 million back. He has no right to spend my money on expensive lawyers so they can write a report saying he's clean. We know he's not.

In a blow to Gov. Chris Christie’s authority,

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a state appeals court ruled today that (his) administration broke the law when it said power plant operators no longer needed to comply with rules governing carbon dioxide emissions.

A three-judge appellate panel ordered the (New Jersey) Department of Environmental Protection to change its rules within 60 days, noting that it should have done so long ago. “Indeed, had the department done so when the issue was first raised...this appeal would have been unnecessary,” the court said...

The suit — filed by Environment New Jersey and the National Resource Defense Council — stems from Christie’s decision in 2011 to unilaterally pull New Jersey out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative...(T)hey said the (NJDEP) should have changed or repealed the rules that governed the state’s participation in it, not just posted a notice on its website...

There he goes again, playing by his own rules. And there's something else his NJDEP needs to "clear the air" about: What, if anything, they did about the air pollution monitors nearest his George Washington Bridge being out of order during the first two days of Bridge(t)-Gate. Here's hoping that they're on somebody's subpoena list!

Bridge(t)-Gate internal report (spoiler alert)

Christie has managed to keep one political promise: He HAS been quick to release the internal review of Bridge(t)-Gate that he commissioned. All 360 pages of it can be downloaded from here (unless you only have time for a 4-page cover letter or a 16-page summary). But if you do decide to join me in plowing through them, keep these things in mind:

1. The review was assigned to a law firm that has done other legal work for the Christie administration. In fact, until recently, the lawyer who spearheaded the review team was also in charge of representing the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in a lawsuit about toll increases.

2. Though the review team claims to have interviewed about 70 people, none of them were the people closest to reporting to Christie and who were terminated or transferred from their jobs: David Samson, David Wildstein and Bill Baroni of the PA; former chief of staff Kevin O'Dowd; deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly; Bill Stepien and Matt Mowers of his political campaign. Also not interviewed was Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer and her associates concerning her accusation that some of Christie's associates told her that her city would receive no additional Hurricane Sandy funding if she didn't approve a land development deal that the Port Authority owned.

3. No one testified under oath, and there are no interview transcripts.

Despite its lack of objectivity, conflicts of interest and inevitable self-fulfilling prophecy, the report might make for a good read. But I won't give away the "ending" -- nobody likes a "spoiler!" :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by rocknation

Christie has managed to keep one political promise: He HAS been quick to release the internal review of Bridge(t)-Gate that he commissioned...

If you don't even have time to read even a summary, you can check out Rachel Maddow's analysis:
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-s...t-208847427953

However, the reason why Christie was in such a hurry to release the report has nothing to do with trying to reassure his constituents -- there's a big-bucks political donor convention he's attending this weekend:
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/bridgegate-and-christie-2016-208866883593

And here's the interview with Diane Sawyer -- keep a handkerchief handy:
http://youtu.be/Qxd9WSwjdIg

But the good news this Friday is that Samson just resigned :D

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/29/ny...l.html?hp&_r=0

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Originally Posted by Kathleen (Post 1175151)

But the good news this Friday is that Samson just resigned :D

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/29/ny...l.html?hp&_r=0

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...Christie('s) first news conference in nearly three months...came a day after a law firm hired by his administration released an internal report that stated the governor was not involved in the decision to close the traffic lanes, which led to four days of gridlock in Fort Lee, N.J...

The report placed blame squarely on Bridget Anne Kelly, then one of his top aides, and on David Wildstein, a longtime political operative and the second ranking New Jersey official at the Port Authority. The governor fired Ms. Kelly, and Mr. Wildstein resigned...

I wonder why Wildstein didn't tell Samson what he was up to. Shouldn't Samson have fired him?

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Federal prosecutors in New Jersey issued a subpoena earlier this month to the Port Authority seeking records related to Mr. Samson’s potential conflicts of interest. They focused on his votes to award bridge contracts to two large construction companies that have been represented by his law firm, Wolff & Samson...

Samon's name is mentioned only three times in the report. And his law firm is stacked with clients who do business with the Port Authority. Should Christie have hired him? Surely such a blatant conflict of interest is impeachable enough!

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The Washington Post: Christie said..."David tendered his resignation to me this afternoon, effective immediately."

Christie stressed during the news conference, with a raised voice, that he did not ask Samson to resign, saying that the chairman had raised the idea of leaving about a year ago, and Christie had asked him to stay...

In...the Port Authority's e-mail chains about who leaked the bridge story to the Wall Street Journal feature Samson prominently. He told Scott Rechler, who is on the Port Authority's board of commissioners, "I just read it and it confirms evidence of [authority executive director Patrick Foye] being the leak, stirring up trouble...In] this case, he's playing in traffic, made a big mistake..."

Of course Christie wanted him to stay -- he can't claim that he didn't know he'd hired Samson! Now he's going to have to explain why. Samson wasn't supposed to go anywhere without having cashed in on the development deals in Hoboken AND Fort Lee -- surely Christie realizes he could be ousted on that alone!

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New York Times: Once considered a leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination, Mr. Christie...tries to move beyond the scandal — even as...investigations...by state lawmakers and another by federal prosecutors, continue to unfold.

...(A)fter his news conference, Mr. Christie is scheduled to fly to Las Vegas, where he will meet with Sheldon G. Adelson, a billionaire and Republican power broker whose endorsement is coveted by several 2016 presidential prospects...

Christie almost didn't have a choice but to release Samson: his sexist self-exonerating report has been going over like such a lead zeppelin that he needed to blow it away by deploying another weapon of mass media distraction!

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Originally Posted by rocknation (Post 1175158)

Love your last line. That report is a disgrace on so many levels. All of his other aides get treated with kid gloves but Bridget gets fired and insulted. The guy is pond scum.

I've had time to look through Christie's self-exonerating report and summary, and it looks like the root of his problems is that he has been undermined by a scorned slut, a nerdy lunatic, and a paranoid incompetent. The good news is, Christie hired only two of them.

Former Deputy Chief of Staff Turned Scorned Slut Bridget "Bridge(t)-Gate" Kelly

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From the summary:
...(I)n August 2013...Kelly had become Deputy Chief of Staff, assuming the post left vacant by her predecessor, (Bill) Stepien, who had departed in April 2013 to run the Governor’s re-election campaign. Because Stepien was her “benefactor,” Kelly relied heavily on him during this transition. And at some point after Stepien’s departure to run the campaign, Kelly and Stepien became personally involved, although, by early August 2013, their personal relationship had cooled, apparently at Stepien’s choice, and they largely stopped speaking...

From the report:
Evidence in Kelly`s personal life may have had some bearing on her subjective motivations. Her first known communication to David Wildstein about the lane closures occurred around the time her relationship with Bill Stepien had cooled. Apparently at Bill Stepien`s behest and Stepien and Kelly had largely stopped speaking. Indeed, that fact may have affected how Kelly and Stepien conducted themselves...

Kelly gave the order to put a New Jersey town in gridlock because she got dumped? She's been a divorcee since 2012, he's single, and they worked in different departments for Christie, so they had neither a "workplace relationship" nor an "affair." But you know how women are -- she probably mistook the "reliance" Stepien was providing to be a "grand romance."

Former #2 Man at the Port Authority Turned Nerdy Lunatic David "I Don't Have To Show You No Stinking Resume" Wildstein

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From the summary:
...Wildstein started pressing Port Authority engineers to assess the traffic effects resulting from the dedicated Fort Lee toll lanes leading onto the George Washington Bridge...Indeed, Wildstein himself first raised the issue in late 2010. For some reason yet to be determined, Wildstein seemed to be driving this issue again in 2013. It was Wildstein’s “idea,” like so many other “crazy” ones he’d had before that never got off the ground.

From the report:
Wildstein communicated the concept of a traffic study, which Stepien apparently dismissed as one of Wildstein’s “50 crazy ideas.”

And how did such a crazy person get to be the #2 man at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey? Christie certainly should have provided some advance warning -- they were on the baseball team in high school (Christie as a player, Wildstein as a statistician). More to the point, Wildstein's job was created, and his resume was never required. How could that have happened without the governor's approval?

Paranoid Incompetent Hoboken Mayor Turned Public Fund Extortion Victim Dawn Zimmer
From the summary:

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From the report:
Our investigation found that Mayor Zimmer’s allegations are, in material respects, demonstrably false...the subjective perceptions she may have do not match objective reality, as reflected in the hard evidence uncovered during our investigation...

Even crediting this notebook’s contents as genuine, however, they are only as accurate as the perceptions of the writer...what other witnesses say she then told them is not corroboration either because it is as unreliable as the perceptions she recounts...

Whatever subjective perceptions she may have do not match objective reality, as reflected in the hard evidence uncovered during our investigation.

As for Dawn Zimmer, she just doesn't know how to play with "the big boys." Having led an anti-gentrification faction that took over Hoboken she's seen her town get flooded twice, including valuable railroad equipment in the train station, and her inability to be taken seriously is leading to delusions. The report contains photos of her talking with Richard Constable and notes, "A person does not normally yawn when being threatened, coerced, or spoken to improperly." But according to them, she's NOT a normal person, is she? And does a normal person accept extortion threats?

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Originally Posted by Kathleen (Post 1174865)

I want that $1 million back. He has no right to spend my money on expensive lawyers so they can write a report saying he's clean. We know he's not.

You cheered me up with the news about Samson resigning. Turnabout is fair play:

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Christie's bridge scandal lawyers to be subpoenaed
A New Jersey legislative committee probing a political payback operation carried out by Gov. Chris Christie's aides and associates plans to subpoena interview transcripts and other documents from the lawyers the governor hired to carry out an internal investigation...

...Lawyers at the firm, Gibson Dunn, appeared to withhold documents subpoenaed by the legislative panel while their own report on the lane closings was being compiled.

And he'd better put them online, transcripts and all -- after all, WE paid for them!

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Originally Posted by rocknation (Post 1175217)

You cheered me up with the news about Samson resigning. Turnabout is fair play:
And he'd better put them online, transcripts and all -- after all, WE paid for them!

He might have made a fatal mistake there. He used taxpayer money to fund that report and because of that he might actually have to abide by the subpoena. That might expose records that he doesn't want exposed.

I can dream can't I LOL