Showing posts with label abuse of power. Show all posts
Showing posts with label abuse of power. Show all posts

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Bridgegate: Christie Cronies Kelly, Baroni and Wildstein Indicted

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Previous Related Posts:
Christie Talks, Bridget Strikes Back, Samson Quits, Wildstein Still an Outcast
Christie's Bridgegate Report - Time for some Slut-Shaming in New Jersey
Christie Faces Bad Karma for Dissing Wildstein
Chris Christie and the #BridgeGate #BridgeGhazi #BridgeNado
Chris Christie Explains But Holes Remain
David Wildstein Implicates Chris Christie in Bridgegate Scandal
Christie's Well-Named Minion Bridget Kelly


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Federal prosecutors have indicted three of Chris Christie's cronies in the Bridgegate scandal: David Wildstein and Bill Baroni who were appointed by Christie to the Port Authority, and Bridget Ann Kelly, one of Christie's underlings in the Governor's office.

Wildstein is cooperating with Federal Prosecutors and is not expected to serve a long sentence in exchange for information. Baroni and Kelly are still holding out that they didn't conspire with Wildstein or Christie himself to close the George Washington Bridge on the first day of school in September in order to punish mayor of Fort Lee, NJ (a Democrat) for refusing to back Governor Christie in his election.

Originally, the trio and others in the Governor's inner circle swore that there was a "traffic study" to blame for the lane closures, but that was a bogus claim. On the first day of the closure, Kelly herself wrote to Wildstein in a now-infamous email which stated "Time for a few traffic problems in Fort Lee." Traffic was so snarled that some first responders and emergency vehicles were delayed in getting to places where people needed help. It is speculated that Federal Prosecutors are are involved because the Port Authority is shared by New York City, and blocking such a major thoroughfare in or out of New York is considered a danger to Homeland Security.

View David Wildstein's Plea Agreement Here
 View Baroni-Kelly Indictment Here via NYTimes

From NewJersey.com
In emails previously made public, Kelly appeared to give the go-ahead for the lane closures on Aug. 13, 2013, when she wrote: “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” and Wildstein replied, “Got it.” Later emails showed what appeared to be an indifference to the plight of borough children stuck in the massive traffic jam on their way to school.
. . . “Is it wrong that I’m smiling,” Kelly wrote, later adding that “I feel badly about the kids. … I guess.” Wildstein responded dismissively that “they are the children of Buono voters.” After Sokolich sent a text message to Baroni complaining that children were late getting to school, Kelly emailed Wildstein: “Bottom line is he didn’t say safety.”
. . . Prosecutors said the plan wasn’t put into effect until Sept. 9, the first day of school, to “intensify Mayor Sokolich’s punishment,” and that the idea to push it back came from Baroni, who had “recommended against implementing the plan in August when travel was traditionally lighter and the punitive impact would be lessened.”

This week Bridget Kelly made a public statement pleading innocence:



From NewJersey.com
"I am not guilty of the crimes for which I have been accused," Kelly said during a press conference with her attorney, Michael Critchley, after prosecutors unsealed a federal indictment. . . . "David Wildstein is a liar," Kelly said.

Baroni did not speak, but his attorney made a statement also labeling Wildstein a "Liar" who led his client astray with false "traffic study" documents:

NJ.com
. . . one of Baroni's attorneys, Michael Baldassare, asserted that Wildstein provided him with scores of documents that "would lead anyone to believe" that a legitimate traffic study was being conducted.
"No one disputes that David Wildstein is a criminal and a liar," Baldessare said during a news conference Friday afternoon outside the courthouse. "If David Wildstein was willing to repeatedly lie to settle a petty political grudge, no one should be surprised at his eagerness to concoct any story he thinks will help him stay out of federal prison."
























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Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Governor Rick Perry Indicted and Booked in Texas

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Rick Perry's Mug Shot

Previous Related Posts:
Oops, Rick Perry Looks Like Grumpy Cat
Rick Perry thinks Obama is Sending Small Children to the Border
Gov. Rick Perry Attacks Wendy Davis

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Rick Perry, who desperately wants to be President of the United States, has been indicted in Texas for abusing his power as Governor. Maybe he shouldn't plan anymore trips to Iowa to campaign until he gets this cleared up. Just Sayin'.

Getting rid of something called the "Integrity Unit" probably wasn't a great idea. But please, proceed, Governor. Texas Democrats are popping corn. No, make that ALL Democrats.

From CNN
A grand jury in Travis County indicted Perry last Friday on two felony counts stemming from his threat to veto funding for a statewide public integrity unit run by Travis Country District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, a Democrat, unless she stepped down, according to the special prosecutor in the case, Michael McCrum.
The case centers on Perry's June 2013 veto of the $7.5 million budget for the unit run by Lehmberg, after she refused his demand to resign following her drunken driving arrest and conviction.
Perry faces accusations of coercion of a public servant and abuse of his official capacity in connection with the threat and veto.



KXAN News
AUSTIN (KXAN) – Governor Rick Perry arrived at the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center in Austin right at 5 p.m. Tuesday to be booked on felony charges stemming from an indictment issued Friday.
Perry arrived to supporters chanting “Perry, Perry Perry!” before stopping to briefly speak with the media before walking inside.
“I’m here today because I believe in the rule of law,” the Texas Governor said. He continued to speak saying the actions he took were “lawful and legal.”
“If I had to do so, I would veto funding for the public integrity unit again,” he said.
























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Monday, February 24, 2014

#Walkergate Email Dump in Wisconsin

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Previous Related Posts:
Grinchy Scott Walker: Don't Buy Your Kids Toys, Just Send Me Money
Wisconsin Judge Tosses Scott Walker's Anti-Union Law
Wisconsin Aftermath of Walker Recall Vote
Badgers Vote and the Whole World Watches

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Ever since a recall election failed to toss Governor Scott Walker from office in Wisconsin, there have been persistent rumors of wrongdoing on the part of his staff, and many have been tried and convicted. And now that the Chris Christie offenses are mounting up, prosecutors in Wisconsin seem to be zeroing in on Scott Walker once more. Like Christie, Walker downplays the scandal in hopes he might be a viable GOP candidate for President in 2016. But with baggage like this, his chances are shrinking daily, right along with Christie's.

Walkergate Commercial


A few weeks ago, a staffer named Kelly Rindfleisch was back in court appealing her charges when a Judge decided that her emails should be released to the public - probably not the outcome Rindfleisch was hoping for. She has become Walker's scapegoat in much the same way that Bridget Kelly, David Wildstein and others are falling under suspicion for being close to Chris Christie.

From Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal
Court of Appeals Judge Patricia Curley ruled last week that thousands of records in the appeal of Kelly Rindfleisch should be available in the court file of her misconduct in office case, even though the documents have long been sealed as part of a secret investigation of former Walker aides.
. . . (Judge) Curley wrote records collected as part of a criminal investigation are routinely included in court files and that court records are to be available to the public except in unusual circumstances.

Rindfleisch, who served as Walker's deputy chief of staff when Walker was Milwaukee County executive, is one of six people convicted as the result of a John Doe investigation led by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm. John Doe proceedings are often conducted in secret and give prosecutors the power to compel people to produce documents and testify.
The records in question include emails from Rindfleisch's personal computer and private email account, affidavits supporting John Doe search warrants, and a transcript of a secret hearing on search warrants issued the day before Walker was elected governor in 2010.
Likely included in the emails are messages exchanged with Walker or his top political aides as he ran his 2010 campaign for governor.

Although Rindfleisch sat just 25 feet from Walker’s office, was one of his top staffers and was illegally raising funds for Davis while on county time, the governor himself was not charged and the investigation was closed in early 2013. It resulted in the convictions of five former aides and associates and one contributor to Walker’s gubernatorial campaign.
According to prosecutors, there were at least 3,486 emails between Rindfleisch and members of Walker’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign. Most were sent and received during normal business hours while Rindfleisch was at her $59,560-a-year county job.
~ Wisconsin State Journal

Some of the emails uncovered in the investigation are just downright nasty:

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From Time.com
Six former Walker aides and allies have been convicted of wrongdoing following an investigation into improper campaign activities by official staff when Walker was Milwaukee County executive mounting a campaign for the governor’s mansion. The release last week of tens of thousands of pages of documents from that first investigation was branded as “old news” by Walker, who noted repeatedly that a Democratic prosecutor had closed the investigation last year without any accusation that he had done anything improper. ”People want to go through 27,000 pages plus of details, and our approach is ‘case is closed,’” Walker said. “A Democrat district attorney looked at it, and he’s done. It’s done.”

To put it mildly, this is a BFD. For once, we have proof that Scott Walker encouraged government workers to campaign for him while on government time, which is illegal in Wisconsin. Scott Walker has been dishonest about the allegations of corruption surrounding him from the outset, and we finally have indisputable proof that Walker encouraged illegal campaigning.
~ The Prairie Badger



In one message, Walker aide Cindy Archer wrote to deputy chief of staff Kelly Rindfleisch that she used a private email account to communicate with Walker and his chief of staff, Tom Nardelli.
“Consider yourself now in the ‘inner circle’ :) I use this private account quite a bit to communicate with SKW and Nardelli,” Archer wrote, referring to Walker’s initials. “You should be sure you check it throughout the day.”
~ Wisconsin State Journal

From Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal
Tapping out a message on his campaign Blackberry on the afternoon of May 4, 2010, Walker urged county aides, campaign staffers and other trusted volunteers to go to an online Journal Sentinel business story and respond to critics of his plan to privatize the airport in the comments section below the story.
"Someone should comment on the fact that the only way for the county to benefit from that success is to contract out operations," Walker wrote in an email. "Having a well performing airport increases the value that the county could receive."
A half-hour later, Brian Pierick — the boyfriend of Walker aide Timothy D. Russell — posted a comment on the story under the alias "WI_Calvin," calling rising airport traffic "another example of Scott Walker's outstanding leadership."
. . . Pierick and Russell were both later convicted of other activities in the secret probe.
Walker's airport directive came a little more than a week before he ousted county aide Darlene Wink after the Journal Sentinel reported she had been spending much of her government work hours posting anonymous political comments promoting Walker on the JS Online website.

Walker Evades Questions on Fox News, Via aattp.org
Question: if county workers were doing nothing wrong, why should they be using a private e-mail account?

WALKER: Well, but that’s exactly to my point. you had a Democratic district attorney spend almost three years looking at every single one of those communications, interviewing people, talking to people and closed the case.

WALLACE: Did you have your own private e-mail account?

WALKER: It’s one of those where I point out district attorney has reviewed every single one of these issues.

WALLACE: But sir, you’re not answering my question.

WALKER: No, because I’m not going to get into 27,000 different pieces of information.





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Tuesday, February 18, 2014

New Christie Cronies Chip and Jeff

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Previous Related Posts:
Christie's Well-Named Minion Bridget Kelly
Christie Faces Bad Karma for Dissing Wildstein
Chris Christie Has Tumultuous Super Bowl Weekend
David Wildstein Implicates Christie in #Bridgegate Scandal

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So now more cronies have emerged in the never-ending Bridgegate Brouhaha. A high school buddy of Governor Christie was the policeman who helped Port Authority insider David Wildstein tour the bridge after the lanes were closed. And that same cop just happens to be the brother of a wealthy Republican donor who supported Christie's election campaigns. Also there are reports that it was the Port Authority Police who told angry drivers to call the mayor of Fort Lee and complain, as though it was part of a rehearsed plot.

Via Dartagnan on Daily Kos
The "Port Authority Police Officer," Lietenant Thomas "Chip" Michaels, was Christie's childhood buddy, coach of Christie's son's Little League hockey team and his brother Jeff Michaels is (or was) a top Christie donor and one of the most powerful Republicans in the state. Jeff Michaels purportedly delivered the news to Christie that he had won the election of 2009.
Essentially the guy was assigned to monitor the bridge, texting Wildstein at the Port Authority over and over, apparently about how "the plan" was going. According to MSNBC, he took Wildstein for a drive around the area so Wildstein could see for himself.

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From Steve Kornacki on MSNBC
On Sunday, MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki reported that a Port Authority police officer with long-time ties to Gov. Christie drove and exchanged text messages with one of the political appointees, David Wildstein, as he was overseeing the traffic snarl last September. Port Authority police Lt. Thomas “Chip” Michaels grew up with Christie in Livingston, N.J., and in recent years coached one of the governor’s children in youth hockey. Michaels is posted to the PAPD’s George Washington Bridge command. Michaels’ brother, Jeffrey, is a powerful Republican lobbyist in Trenton who was a high-level adviser to Christie’s successful 2009 campaign.

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Port Authority executive director Pat Foye, appointed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, ordered the latest investigation after learning of the connection between Michaels and Christie. Foye was also concerned by a Bergen Record report Sunday on comments Port Authority police officers made to those stuck in the traffic jams. Multiple commuters recalled being told to call Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich to complain, something Sokolich wrote about in a September 12 letter to then-deputy director Bill Baroni, another Christie appointee who has since resigned.

The Governor has never had any conversations with either Jeff or Chip Michaels on this topic.
~ Email from Chris Christie's Office to MSNBC












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Monday, February 3, 2014

Monday Morning Joe Quarterbacking for Christie as Subpoenas Come Due

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Previous Related Posts:
Christie Faces Bad Karma for Dissing Wildstein
David Wildstein Implicates Christie in #Bridgegate
Chris Christie has Tumultuous Super Bowl Weekend

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Today the New Jersey Legislative Committee is expecting an influx of documents from the subpoenas of Christie's minions. But they probably won't release anything right away.

From New Jersey Star-Ledger
State Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), who co-chairs the committee with state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), said Saturday that the delivery of documents is likely to be a drawn-out process because nearly all of those targeted have asked for extensions.
"We have instructed counsel to make reasonable accommodations where appropriate," he said. "Some want a few extra days. Some want to deliver them on a rolling basis."
Once in hand, the documents will be cataloged by the Office of Legislative Services and checked for completeness, Weinberg said. They are not expected to be made public until the people who supplied the records testify before the committee.

Because of the "Abuse of Power" investigation, the Christie gang is in need of legal funds, and sent out a plea to use their campaign war chest to bail themselves out:

From NJ.com
Gov. Chris Christie's re-election campaign is seeking permission to use the remaining funds -- as well as raise additional money -- to pay the legal bills arising from its cooperation with the state and federal investigations into the controversial George Washington Bridge lane closures in Fort Lee.
Without approval from the state Election Law Enforcement Commission, the Christie for Governor campaign will run out of money and be unable to comply with subpoenas to turn over documents sought by the U.S. Attorney and the joint legislative panel investigating the matter, according to a letter Thursday from the campaign's attorney, Mark Sheridan.



From Huffington Post:
Christina Genovese Renna left the governor's office Friday, the same day former Christie loyalist David Wildstein claimed to have evidence contradicting the governor's account of a lane closing operation, apparently to create traffic chaos as a political vendetta.
Renna reported to Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Kelly, who apparently set the lane closings in motion with an email to Wildstein.


I'm going to enjoy it. I'm going to bathe in the tears of Joe Scarborough.
~ Sam Seder




On Monday's Morning Joe, most of the crew tried to bolster Christie. In the first segment, first Mike Barnacle then Joe Scarborough blamed the "Not Ready for Prime Time" staff for writing the Friday memo, apparently forgetting that many of them have resigned or were fired by Christie himself. Later Mika, Joe, and Nicole Wallace say that Christie never said he "didn't know" about the lane closures, when we have video of the two-hour presser at which Christie denied knowledge over and over until "after the fact." So really, Morning Joe brings up an interesting question - how could Christie NOT know the lanes were closed if he drove anywhere? Luckily there were journalists on the show who explained the actual facts to the Morning Joe crowd.

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It's going to be what we in the news business call the "Drip Treatment." And it's going to be there every day, and extended into a period of weeks and into months. And his response over the weekend, if that is his staff at their best work, then he's done nationally.
~ Mike Barnacle

Let's speak the uncomfortable truth that he didn't have people around him who were ready for Prime Time before this happened, obviously. Why is it that he still has people around him that would let something like that go out? And office like that with a boss that people still don't have control over. Why doesn't he bring in a national Republican figure or somebody solid that can tell the kids to just sit in the back when they want to talk about social studies teachers.
. . . The Christie people are saying that Chris Christie knew, while the lanes were closed, that the lanes were closed. Of course. How could you not know that lanes were closed while the lanes were closed, when anybody that was driving, like myself, from New York to — in my case, Connecticut, or people going from New Jersey to New York or Connecticut, it’s impossible not to know while the lanes were closed that the lanes were closed.
~ Joe Scarborough

I was speaking to a source that knows the close internal workings of the Port Authority over the weekend and they describe Wildstein as the Governor's 'operative' at the Port Authority and also said that Wildstein wouldn't be shopping for immunity if he didn't have something . . . that's disparaging to the Governor.
The issues with the Chris Christie Press Conference, which he gave for two hours and everybody thought he did a great job, which he did, but all those statements might come back to haunt him now. Especially if Wildstein has an ax to grind, or Bridget Kelly has an ax to grind. The woman who left on Friday, Christina Renna, is also the one who reported directly to Bridget Kelly; there's an email going on with them where Mayor Sokolich (of Fort Lee) actually called in and Renna sent an email on to Bridget Kelly telling her the fact that the Mayor called. So there's a lot more to come.
~ Thomas Roberts on Morning Joe

A lot of Republicans, especially those sympathetic to Gov. Christie and those among us who want to allow him a presumption of innocence feel like Friday night's story may have been overblown.
~ Nicole Wallace on Morning Joe




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Sunday, February 2, 2014

Christie Faces Bad Karma for Dissing Wildstein

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Previous Related Posts:
David Wildstein Implicates Christie in #Bridgegate
Chris Christie has Tumultuous Super Bowl Weekend

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Well, let me just clear something up, OK, about my childhood friend David Wildstein. It is true that I met David in 1977 in high school. He's a year older than me. David and I were not friends in high school. We were not even acquaintances in high school. I mean, I had a high school in Livingston, a three-year high school that had 1,800 students in a three-year high school in the late '70s, early 1980. I knew who David Wildstein was. I met David on the Tom Kean for governor campaign in 1977. He was a youth volunteer, and so was I. Really, after that time, I completely lost touch with David.
We didn't travel in the same circles in high school. You know, I was the class president and athlete. I don't know what David was doing during that period of time…We went 23 years without seeing each other. And in the years we did see each other, we passed in the hallways.
~ Governer Chris Christie of New Jersey at his Press Conference on January, speaking of David Wildstein, his personal appointee for job at the Port Authority

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From a Memo released by the Christie Administration Saturday evening, Feb 1, to counter an email sent by David Wildstein on Friday, Jan. 31 read Previous Post Here

As he has said repeatedly, Governor Christie had no involvement, knowledge or understanding of the
real motives behind David Wildstein's scheme to close lanes on the George Washington Bridge
. . . In David Wildstein's past, people and newspaper accounts have described him as "tumultuous" and someone who "made moves that were not productive."
• 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
. . . David Wildstein has been publicly asking for immunity since the begin
ning, been held in contempt by the New Jersey legislature for refusing to testify, failed to provide this so-called "evidence" when he was first subpoenaed by the NJ Legislature and is looking for the Port Authority to pay his legal bills.
. . . Bottom line David Wildstein will do and say anything to save David Wildstein

From Philly.com
Before his Port Authority post, Wildstein was known to many as Wally Edge, a pseudonym nod to former New Jersey Gov. Walter Edge. Wildstein used the name as editor of politickerNJ, an insider website. Wildstein's identity was revealed when he took the helm of the Port Authority in 2010.
Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R., Morris) described Wildstein - whom he knew only by the pseudonym - as having "just a spectacular grasp of New Jersey political history."
In an interview this week, Carroll, who had himself been accused of being Wally Edge, said the two would correspond via AOL Instant Messenger.
"He would be up at 2 o'clock in the morning asking political trivia questions you couldn't even Google, they were that extreme," Carroll said. "He should have been writing for Boardwalk Empire," the HBO show about Atlantic City crime and politics.

Chris Christie said he barely knew David Wildstein. That was untrue. He said he hadn’t seen Mr. Wildstein in a long time. That was untrue. He’s repeatedly said that he had no knowledge of the lane closures. Today’s revelations raise serious questions about whether that is true.
~ Mo Elleithee, Spokesman for the Democratic National Committee

He was like a Christie groupie. He was like a teenager where the sun rises and sets on a rock band or something. He was admiring of the guy. To then be pushed to the side…
I bet every one of those words was a stab directly in the heart
~ Anonymous Port Authority Official, quoted by Daily Beast

What if Wildstein is sitting on some goods? Is he going to be happy being dismissed as too geeky for Christie to waste his time on back in high school?
. . . Depending on what Wildstein has, and on whom, he might set off a domino-effect of people flipping, and then who knows. But so far we don't know what his evidence is.
And even if this goes no further, it still damages Christie, fairly or not. Most people already think he's lying, and this popping up on their cable news channels over the weekend of his state's first Super Bowl is just going to pour salt on that wound. And undoubtedly there's more to come. The nerd is striking back.
Michael Tomasky from "Revenge of the Nerd" on Daily Beast

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Kent Dorfmann meets Greg Marmalard, Class President

The relationship with Christie is much more complicated than people understand. The line that Christie had at the presser on the 9th - "I was a scholar-athlete - I didn't mix with David Wildstein" - they weren't buddies, so it's true they weren't best friends. They knew each other, but they're two very different types of personalities.
David Wildstein is a details guy, and doing something that gratuitously insulted him at that press conference was a mistake. A big strategic mistake.
Christie's taking the Greg Marmalard 'scholar-athlete' thing and saying 'I would never hang out with Delta House."
~ Brian Murphy on Up with Steve Kornackie, referring to the movie "Animal House"



I worked for Wally Edge. I discussed it yesterday morning on MSNBC.
I enjoyed working for him. He was a fiercely loyal editor and advocate, and a very skilled observer of all things political. It is true I did not know at the time that Wally Edge was David Wildstein, but I took the job as a professional journalist, with a sense of the ethical obligations I had to sources and readers.
. . . He knew things. He had good sources. He was at least as fair as most other editors I’d worked with. He pushed back against people who gave me a hard time. He put me in a job where I was a daily reporter in one of the most politically cutthroat states in the federal union, and he helped me make it my own while I was there. And he never lied to me. So, yes, I liked Wally Edge. And it’s disappointing to me that we are where we are today.
But you know who else liked Wally Edge back then?
Chris Christie. The same man who earlier today denounced Wildstein for being an “anonymous blogger.”
~ Brian Murphy on Talking Points Memo



Of all the arrows fired at Gov. Chris Christie over the years, the one that inflicted the deepest wound came not from a rival, but from an ally.
David Wildstein, by all accounts, was thrilled to be part of the governor’s inner circle. He was known as a loyal member of the palace guard, the governor’s eyes and ears at the Port Authority, a buddy of Christie’s since their high school days.
. . . His reward for that loyal service? He was forced to resign from his job in disgrace.
And then the governor, for no good reasons, belittled Wildstein at a press conference when asked about their friendship in high school.
. . . Wildstein was not seeking money with this letter, and he was not flirting with prosecutors.
He was after Christie. And that explains the timing as well. With the nation’s eyes on New Jersey for the Super Bowl, Christie finds himself running from reporters, and waving away photographers. If you think that’s a coincidence, you haven’t been following Jersey politics for long.
~ Tim Moran, New Jersey Star-Ledger

That's right, folks. Christie's office is seeking to discredit Wildstein using evidence ... from high school.
Regardless of whether you think that's below the belt -- and several folks on the Sunday shows seemed to think it was -- it's definitely bare-knuckle politics.
Now, Wildstein was never going to be Christie's ally in this whole matter. Everyone involved is in self-preservation mode, and for Wildstein, providing information about Christie could potentially help him personally -- something Christie's office noted Saturday.
But in these kinds of situations, there's a difference between throwing someone under a bus and running them over with that same bus based on information from high school.
In Wildstein, Christie's take-no-prisoners style has created a bitter enemy who now has an extra incentive to take him down.
~ Aaron Blake, Washington Post









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Saturday, February 1, 2014

Chris Christie has a Tumultuous Super Bowl Weekend - Updated

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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, for Chris Christie. New Jersey is hosting the Super Bowl, so the Governor is in demand to rub elbows with the rich and famous. On the other hand - his staff, campaign manager, and ex-best friends are under subpoenas that are due to the Legislature on Monday. Have a nice weekend, Gov.


Oh, the humanity. Today was meant to be Chris Christie’s Super Bowl party, literally. Instead, the Hindenburg, engulfed by flames, is crashing right before our eyes.
~ Scott Raab on Esquire

Friday, January 31, 2014,

After a scathing New York Times article appeared about Bridgegate and Christie was implicated by his old pal David Wildstein, the Governor appeared at an event for radio personality Howard Stern's birthday. He schmoozed and left early without answering questions from reporters.







Saturday February 1, 2014



Governor Christie was booed and heckled by New Yorkers on Saturday.









“You made it across the bridge?” howled one heckler as the problem-plagued Christie — in a navy Windbreaker and black scarf — sat impassively on the stage at Broadway and W. 43rd St.
~ New York Daily News

Super Bowl week was supposed to be another victory lap for Christie on his road to the White House. Instead it has turned into public booing and blink, and you’ll miss him public appearances. Christie’s approval ratings have plummeted both nationally and in New Jersey. The governor is now trailing Hillary Clinton by 12 points in the hypothetical head to head 2016 matchup.
~ From Politicus USA



Also on Saturday, February 1, 2014:

Christie's Office released an email about David Wildstein and the New York Times article that implied knowledge of the George Washington Bridge closure.
Read it Here: 5 Things You Should Know About The Bombshell That's Not A Bombshell


















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Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Debunking Bachmann's McCarthyist Muslim Spy Charges

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It appears that there has been deep penetration in the halls of our United States government by the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood has been found to be an un-indicted co-conspirator on terrorism cases and yet it appears that there are individuals who are associated with the Muslim Brotherhood who have positions, very sensitive positions, in our Department of Justice, our Department of Homeland Security, potentially even in the National Intelligence Agency. I am calling upon the Justice Department and these various departments to investigate through the Inspector General to see who these people are and what access they have to our information.
~ Senator Michele Bachmann speaking to the American Family Assocation


Letter to Bachmann from Congressman Keith Ellison (R-MN), a practicing Muslim
You allege that:
• “Brotherhood operatives” within the U.S. government may have directly influenced the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment of the Muslim Brotherhood, as presented by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper in testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on February 10,2011;
• The mother, brother and deceased father of Huma Abedin, Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary of State 1-lillary Clinton, are connected to the Muslim Brotherhood, and that she, too, by extension, may be working on the organization’s behalf;
• The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, an international organization of 57 countries to which President George W. Bush created a special envoy position, is “determined to impose shariah worldwide” and undermine the U.S. Constitution;
• The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), an umbrella organization of American Muslim groups, is “the largest Muslim Brotherhood front in the United States,” and PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER
• The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and Muslim Advocates, two civil rights Organizations, “exercise influence in ways that align with Muslim Brotherhood agendas.”
(more at link)
. . . I request that you provide my office a full accounting of the sources you used to make the serious allegations against the individuals and organizations in your letters. If there is not credible, substantial evidence for your allegations, I sincerely hope that you will publically clear their names.


Bachmann's 16-page letter reply to Rep. Ellison
I am particularly interested in exactly how, given what we know from the international media about Ms. Abedin’s documented family connections with the extremist Muslim Brotherhood, she was able to avoid being disqualified for a security clearance. ~ Michele Bachmann

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When anyone, not least a member of Congress, launches specious and degrading attacks against fellow Americans on the basis of nothing more than fear of who they are and ignorance of what they stand for, it defames the spirit of our nation, and we all grow poorer because of it. These attacks on Huma have no logic, no basis, and no merit. And they need to stop now.
~ Senator John McCain, R-AZ, quoted by The Hill



From Buzzfeed:


Update from Huffington Post
UPDATE: 2:20 p.m. (July 18) -- In a response on Wednesday, Bachmann said that her letters were being "distorted" but did not directly address Abedin or McCain.
"I encourage everyone, including media outlets, to read them in their entirety," she said in a statement. "The intention of the letters was to outline the serious national security concerns I had and ask for answers to questions regarding the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical group's access to top Obama administration officials."


Rep. Ellison to CNN's Anderson Cooper:
COOPER: You asked for a full accounting of the evidence these members of Congress were using to make their claims. You got a 16- page letter back. Does their evidence hold up?
ELLISON: No, it’s 16 pages worth of nothing. It’s 16 pages worth of repeated false allegations. Just regurgitated nonsense. And, you know, it doesn’t — 16 pages doesn’t take nothing and turn it into something. It’s still nothing…
COOPER: Have you seen any evidence of “deep penetration” — that was the words that Congressman Bachmann used — “deep penetration” by the Muslim Brotherhood into the security apparatus of the United States?
ELLISON: No, it’s not true. It doesn’t exist. It’s a phantom.


From Huffington Post
Anderson Cooper lit into Michele Bachmann on his Tuesday show for spreading rumors about the supposed infiltration by "Muslim extremists" into the U.S. government.
Bachmann, along with four other Republicans in the House of Representatives, has called for investigations into whether or not the government has been infiltrated by Islamic fundamentalists, and has specifically pointed a finger at Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton.

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