Showing posts with label bill baroni. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bill baroni. 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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Thursday, February 20, 2014

Port Authority Under Scrutiny in #Bridgegate



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New York/New Jersey Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye is one of the few heroes emerging from the #Bridgegate scandal. He's the guy who got fed up with excuses coming from the Christie Administration and did the right thing for by opening up the three closed lanes leading to Fort Lee on the George Washington Bridge. Yesterday was the first time the Port Authority has met for a public meeting since all of this hit the fan.

Previous Related Posts:
New Christie Cronies Chip and Jeff
David Wildstein Implicates Christie in Bridgegate Scandal
Christie Faces Bad Karma for Dissing Wildstein
Chris Christie Has Tumultuous Super Bowl Weekend

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From the Press Conference with the Port Authority Executive Director

Pat Foye: I believe I took the right action when I learned about the lane closures, promptly opened them. I stand by my email and my decision. I believed then and I believe now - and given the multiplicity of law enforcement investigations underway there's some question - that there was a question of violations of federal and state law.

Question: Has the Chairman (of the Port Authority, David Samson) ever apologized to you for his emails or whatever attacking you?

Foye: The answer is no, don't expect one.

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About that "special" job created by Chris Christie just for David Wildstein, which has now been eliminated by the Port Authority:


Steve Kornacki: The title that David Wildstein had created for him - Director of Interstate Capital Projects - what was your understand of what his job was? And now apparently that role isn't going to exist in the future, so functionally how will the Port continue without a Director of Interstate Capital Projects?

Pat Foye: Well, look - the decision to eliminate the position was a joint one....we made that decision. I think it was the right one. The absence of someone in that position, whether David Wildstein or someone else, will have zero, nada effect on the Port Authority.

Kornacki: What was his (Wildstein's) job, since there was no formal job description that we have been able to find? What in your understanding did you think his job at the Port Authority was?

Pat Foye: I understood he was primarily interested in politics. Next . . . 





On behalf of the board of commissioners, we are deeply sorry for the inconvenience caused to our travelers.
. . . Recently, there have been many comments and concerns about how the Port Authority operates. I cannot allow this agency to be mischaracterized by the actions of a few individuals when the day-to-day work of so many, including this board, is so important.
. . . While I would like to comment more specifically about some of the outstanding issues, I recognize there are established efforts to examine the events that occurred. I defer to these procedures and I trust when the facts unfold, and they will unfold, the public will have a complete picture.
~ Port Authority Chairman, David Samson, via the Star-Ledger

While Samson's law firm worked for NJ Transit, he cast a vote authorizing the Port Authority to lease a park-and-ride lot in North Bergen to the transportation agency for $1 a year, the report said.
. . . Before the 49-year lease was approved, NJ Transit paid the Port Authority $900,000 a year for the Hudson County lot. Commuters pay $9.50 per day for a parking space and a round-trip bus ticket to the Port Authority bus terminal in Manhattan.
NJ Transit paid Wolf & Samson as much as $1.5 million to "advise" it how to generate additional revenue from its parking facilities, the Record reported.
~ From NJ.com

Over the years, the Port Authority has often served as a political candy jar, providing patronage jobs for political allies. Mr. Christie has been particularly skillful at doling out well-paid jobs at the authority to his supporters. By most counts, there are at least 50 agency employees who owe their jobs to the New Jersey governor.
The traffic scandal that has resulted in numerous investigations and two resignations of Christie appointees is just the latest example of how governance of the Port Authority is tainted by personal politics. And because two states share executive control, and thus responsibility, there is no meaningful oversight.
~ New York Times Editorial

(State Attorney Philip) Kwon, it has been reported, spent four or five days counseling one of Bridgegate’s chief players, Bill Baroni, the Port Authority’s deputy executive director, when Baroni was preparing to testify before a New Jersey state legislative committee investigating the lane-closing affair last November. That’s important because Baroni, a close ally of Christie’s, told the legislators that the closings were due to a “traffic study” being conducted by the Port Authority, which manages the bridge. But if there was no traffic study—and by now it’s widely known that there wasn’t any such thing—then what did Kwon tell Baroni to say? Did he counsel him to lie? Was he unaware that there was no study underway?
~ From "Christie Watch" on The Nation
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