Showing posts with label bill stepien. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bill stepien. Show all posts

Saturday, March 29, 2014

#Bridgegate News: Christie Talks, Bridget Strikes Back, Samson Quits, Wildstein Still an Outcast

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Chris Christie held a lengthy presser today, showing some of his old arrogance with the media, before flying off to Las Vegas to meet with Sheldon Adelson, one of Mitt Romney's top donors in 2012. Because yeah, somehow Christie thinks he can slough off this controversy and run for President in 2016 now that his own lawyers have attempted to clear him. Good luck with that.
At the same time, his crony at the Port Authority, David Samson, resigned his cushy job, possibly because he is under a Federal Investigation for all the sweetheart deals he got for clients of his private law firm. And maligned mother-of-four Bridget Kelly came out swinging through her attorney after the Bridgegate Report called her "too emotional" and referred to her private life as a cause of the George Washington Bridge Closure. Big day in New Jersey for sure!

Previous Related Posts:
Christie #Bridgegate Report: Time for Some Slut-Shaming in New Jersey
Christie's Well-Named Minion Bridget Kelly
Port Authority Under Scrutiny in #Bridgegate
Christie Faces Bad Karma for Dissing Wildstein
Monday Morning Joe Quarterbacking for Christie

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Late today in a Trenton conference room, Chris Christie re-entered the media arena. In his version of "Facing the Lions" the only things missing as he intimidated and taunted the members of the press corps were a chair and a whip. All the rest was on display as he poked and derided the Capitol reporters invited to ask him about his million-dollar defense report he used to day as both shield and weapon. Unfortunately he may not have gotten all that the taxpayers of New Jersey paid for.
~ Chris Matthews on Hardball

He said having David Wildstein at the Port Authority “was a mistake. Let’s leave it at that.” Wildstein is suspected of being a key player in the lane closures. He also denied again that he and Wildstein were friends from high school. Christie appointed Wildstein to the post, though, and the governor’s office praised Wildstein’s skills at the time he took the job.
. . . "What you get with me is what you get. I cannot shed who I am," Christie, a former prosecutor, says, explaining why he didn't question former Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly before he fired her.
. . . It took just eight minutes for Christie to snap at a reporter and warned him to “cut the commentary.”
~ MyCentralJersey.com

Christie at one point referred in the Friday press conference to his aides, who were fired or resigned, but he might be talking about himself when he said:
“People need to understand that if you participate in this kind of conduct, you will not be permitted to hold the public trust, and the authority that goes along with a senior position in this government that comes with it.”
~ NY Daily News



















Ahead of a trip out West laced with 2016 implications, Christie made a great, heave-ho attempt this week to push past the political nightmare known as “Bridgegate.” He is due to speak at a Republican Jewish Coalition event this weekend in Las Vegas, followed by Republican Governors Association fundraising retreat in Park City, Utah.
. . . The former federal prosecutor even reiterated, at some length, that he will decide whether or not to run for president independently of this whole unpleasant saga. Christie said he didn’t think the George Washington Bridge fiasco would weigh heavily on how voters consider “my candidacy, if there even is one.”
~ Politico

“There’s no baggage here because I didn’t do anything,” the Republican governor told Fox News’ Megyn Kelly on “The Kelly File” when asked whether the scandal would hinder a presidential run.
Asked whether Bridget Kelly would back up the governor’s story under oath, Christie said: “I have no idea, but all I can tell you is it's the truth.”
Christie pledged that no emails or phone records or taped calls will emerge showing he knew about this, “because I didn’t.”
~ Fox News

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The lawyer for Bridget Anne Kelly fired back today against allegations that largely blamed her for the George Washington Bridge lane closings, blasting a $1 million report commissioned by Gov. Chris Christie’s office as containing “venomous, gratuitous, and inappropriate sexist remarks.”
Michael Critchley, Kelly’s lawyer, said in a statement, “The report's venomous, gratuitous, and inappropriate sexist remarks concerning Ms. Kelly have no place in what is alleged to be a professional and independent report.”
. . . Calling the report “a preemptive strike” meant to “isolate Ms. Kelly and impugn her credibility,” Critchley said, “Ms. Kelly is not a liar. She is a single mother of four children who was deeply devoted and committed to her job at the Office of the Governor. She worked tirelessly to pursue the goals of the Office during her tenure.”
~ NJ.com













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Governor Christie's Crooked Pals' Club Band



Gov. Chris Christie announced today that David Samson, whose chairmanship of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has come under fire in recent months, has resigned.
In a statement released today, Samson said: "Over the past months, I have shared with the Governor my desire to conclude my service to the PANYNJ. The timing is now right, and I am confident that the Governor will put new leadership in place to address the many challenges ahead."
Christie said that "in line with that belief, David tendered his resignation to me this afternoon effective immediately."
~ NJ.com

Asked why Mr. Samson was leaving, Mr. Christie cited his age. "He's tired," said the governor, who thanked Mr. Samson, an ally he has defended as the scandal unfolded.
Mr. Samson is the fifth Christie ally to depart the governor's circle since the scandal over lane closures escalated in January. Mr. Christie also fired his deputy chief of staff, Bridget Kelly, and cut ties to his former campaign manager, Bill Stepien, whose roles in the closures are scrutinized in the report. David Wildstein, the Port Authority official who engineered the closures, and another top Christie appointee there, Bill Baroni, have also resigned.
. . . With Mr. Samson resigning, Mr. Christie turned to the Gibson Dunn report's call for changes at the Port Authority, and suggested he would even support dismantling its operations, a drastic step that would represent a sea change in New York and New Jersey government.
~ Wall Street Journal

Samson is also connected to the controversy that flared in the wake of the "bridgegate" scandal, involving distribution of hurricane Sandy relief funds. Dawn Zimmer, the mayor of the New Jersey city of Hoboken, alleged in January that the Christie administration leaned heavily on her to pave the way for a lucrative development project by the Rockefeller Group, which was represented by Wolf and Samson.
Samson is not accused of directly intervening in the affair. But Zimmer claimed other Christie officials quietly warned her that Hoboken would be starved of aid money unless she got behind the development project backed by Samson's law firm.
~ The Guardian

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Friday, March 28, 2014

Christie #Bridgegate Report: Time for some Slut-Shaming in New Jersey

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So Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey paid his attorneys one million dollars of taxpayer money to come up with a report that scapegoats his minions in the Bridgegate Scandal. It names David Wildstein as a major player - and recall that he has been slammed previously by the Governor as the nerdy kid in high school whom Christie didn't know very well in spite of the well-paying post at the Port Authority where Christie himself placed him.

Read the Governor's Report Here

But Attorney Randy Mastro mainly focuses on the women involved in Bridgegate, especially Bridget Kelly, who is hinted to be some kind of "woman scorned" over a relationship with another staff member, Bill Stepien, Christie's campaign manager. Their relationship, break-up and supposedly emotional fall-out for Kelly seems to be the key, according to the report, and that somehow vindicates Governor Chris Christie.

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And what about the allegations of withholding Sandy funds from Hoboken by another woman, Mayor Dawn Zimmer? Well, she's obviously lying because they have a picture of her yawning during a meeting, and another picture of her smiling - both included in the report. Body language, people! Obviously, case closed. Nothing to see here. Move along, right? But first, blame the women!

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We found that Governor Christie had no knowledge beforehand of this George Washington Bridge re-allignment idea.
. . . We further found that no one in the Governor's Office besides Bridget Kelly knew of this idea in advance, played any role in the decision or the implementaion of it.
. . . There was some personal or political animus that Wildstein must have had that Kelly joined him in approving that. She was covering up from her colleagues, like the chief of staff and the governor, who didn’t know what she did.
. . . Mayor Zimmer's perceptions do not match the objective reality reflected in the hard evidence that we uncovered in our investigation.
~ Randy Mastro of Gibson Dunn


The Woman-Scorned Theory

The word "emotional" was used five times in the report. Three times, the word described the Jan. 8, 2014, session in which Kelly was fired. Those instances highlight Christie's sensitivity, noting he was "welling up with tears." A fourth time, the word was used to describe the "heartfelt" manner in which Christie begged his staff to come forward with information on the lane closings.
The fifth time, "emotional" was ascribed to Kelly. Of the four individuals classified as "involved in the lane realignment" -- Wildstein, Stepien, Kelly and then-Port Authority official Bill Baroni -- Kelly was the only one described as "emotional."
~ Huffington Post

Randy Mastro’s report put the blame squarely on two fired staffers, David Wildstein and deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly. But its treatment of Kelly was mind-blowingly mean, describing her as “emotional,” “erratic” and as a liar; confirming Trenton gossip that she was “personally involved” with chief of staff Bill Stepien, and that Stepien apparently dumped her; alleging that she asked an aide to delete an incriminating email when the investigation began, thus implicating her not only in the plot’s execution but its coverup.
. . . Bridgegate is turning into Bridgetgate, another story about Christie’s bullying sexism.
~ Joan Walsh on Salon



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Mayor Zimmer Yawning During a Meeting - Evidence?

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Randy Mastro could have written his report the day he was hired and saved the taxpayers the million dollars in fees he billed in generating this one-sided whitewash.
~ Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer

 The idea that Bridget Kelly and David Wildstein by themselves concocted the lane closure is frankly hard to believe. Lawyers hired and paid for by the Christie administration will not be the final word on this matter.
~ State Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski





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Sometimes people do inexplicably stupid things.
~ Governor Chris Christie on ABC



Diane Sawyer: The taxpayers of New Jersey just paid for your lawyers to find you blameless. Why should the taxpayers be paying for this report?

Chris Christie: Well a few things - first off, these are not my lawyers.

Diane Sawyer: But it's a law firm you've been affiliated with in the past. You know one of the partners. It's chosen by the office.

Chris Christie: Sure. But there's hardly a law firm in this area that I haven't had some action with after being the United States Attorney. But the bottom line is that these people have their own personal and professional reputations. Six of them are former Federal Prosecutors. They're not going to whitewash anything for me.

Diane Sawyer: If Bridget Kelly talks, will she blow this report out of the water?

Chris Christie: Not credibly, no. (shakes head) Absolutely not.

Diane Sawyer: You think she'll come after you?

Chris Christie: I don't see any reason why she would.

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Diane Sawyer: David Wildstein has said that at a 9-11 event he talked to you about traffic - it's a little ambiguous. Did he?

Chris Christie: I don't have any recollection of that, Diane. David was one of hundreds of people that I spoke to that day. We stood around and spoke briefly that day. I don't have any recollection of him saying anything, but I'll tell you this - I'll tell you what he didn't say - he didn't say "By the way, Governor, I'm closing down some lanes on the George Washington Bridge to stick it to the mayor. Is that okay?" Uh, that I'd remember.

. . . I don't think that this is something I've inspired in that any of them thought this was acceptable conduct....I think that in the end I obviously didn't make it clear enough to these folks that this kinda stuff was unacceptable. This is an abuse of the trust, of the authority that was granted to you. And that's unacceptable. And to the extent that anyone didn't understand that? Believe me, from this day forward anyone who works for me will understand that.

From the New York Times
At a heated televised news conference, the former federal prosecutor who led the internal inquiry, Randy M. Mastro, frequently sounded like a defense lawyer making his case to a jury. He referred to Ms. Kelly as a liar, cast doubt on the credibility of the mayor of Hoboken, who accused the Christie administration of political intimidation, and slipped into lawyerly exhortations to the “ladies and gentlemen” sitting before him.
Mr. Mastro, and his report, went so far as to describe a romantic relationship between Ms. Kelly and a top adviser to Mr. Christie who has been caught up in the imbroglio, seemingly insinuating — without providing specific evidence — that its breakup may have colored her judgment.
The report seemed to anticipate a looming showdown between Mr. Christie and the person who may become the most menacing witness against him: Mr. Wildstein, who, Mr. Mastro said, harbored “bizarre personal and political animus.”

New York Daily News
The 344-page review compiled by the governor’s hand-picked counsel blamed the punitive traffic jam solely on Christie’s ex-deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly and former Port Authority executive David Wildstein.
In addition to sparing any other administration or PA officials, the report flatly dismissed Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer’s claim of a Hurricane Sandy relief shakedown by Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno.
And it included bizarre details about an alleged romance between Kelly and Christie’s former campaign manager — and how a teary-eyed governor met with his staff in January as the scandal mushroomed.
“It reads more like a novel than a work of fact,” sniffed Assemblyman John Wisniewski, co-chair of the New Jersey legislative panel investigating the Sept. 2013 lane closures.

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First of all, how do they know that Bill Stepien was the one who "cooled" this relationship? That is so gratuitous and so inappropriate. And the kindest thing I can say about this report is that it's pretty premature. They draw certain conclusions without ever having a discussion with any of the main characters in this drama: David Wildstein, Bridget Kelly, Bill Stepien. And how about David Samson and Bill Baroni? Bill Baroni, who was sent out to do the "cover-up" which wasn't a very good cover-up.
And Mr. Mastro, with his high hourly salary didn't do a very good report. He issues a report without knowing the motive, unable to speak to any of the main people in this. And then throwing in the gratuitous remarks about the so-called personal relationship is really - they describe David Wildstein as the man with the "crazy ideas," but that man with the "crazy ideas" was hired to be the Governor's eyes and ears at the Port Authority.
And how are they depicting Bridget Kelly here? That she's this "woman-scorned" therefore gone off kind of wild on herself? That's a woman that he hired in his office.
~ New Jersey State Sen. Loretta Weinberg on Hardball

Wildstein has said that he told the Governor about this when it was happening. Now this report that cost all this money, what, $600,000, whatever, doesn't even say whether the Governor had a conversation with Wildstein or not during the course of these bridge closures. It does however, . . . characterizes as saying well, obviously it left NO impression on the Governor. How can they NOT know there was a conversation, these lawyers, but at the same time characterize it as not being "provocative" enough to have grabbed the attention of the Governor? One thing or the other happened.
. . . They just dismiss it. Whether it happened or didn't happen, doesn't matter. That's the sort of conclusion they draw on the possibility that that guy, the Governor, knew what was going on.
~ Chris Matthews on Hardball


Complete Statement from Bill Stepien's Attorney
“One will search the 360-page Mastro report in vain for a jot of evidence to support the governor’s decision to sever ties with Bill Stepien. The investigation, in which Mr. Stepien did not cooperate, found that he had no involvement in the origination, planning, execution, or concealment of the lane closures and that he did not lie to or deceive anyone at any time about his limited knowledge of the subject, including the governor. Indeed, the report makes clear that Mr. Stepien truthfully advised the governor that Mr. Wildstein had raised the specter of a traffic study at the GWB with him — one of many ‘small ball’ ideas Mr. Wildstein conceived during his tenure at the Port Authority — and that Mr. Stepien had appropriately referred Mr. Wildstein to the authorities in Trenton responsible for such matters. There is simply no support for the notion, implied by his summary banishment, that Mr. Stepien was somehow blameworthy in this incident. He was not.
“The report’s inclusion of a gratuitous reference to Mr. Stepien’s brief dating relationship with Bridget Anne Kelly — which began after he left the Governor’s Office, ended before the lane closure debacle began, at took place at a time when both he and Ms. Kelly were single — is a regrettable distraction that has no place in this report. Predictably, that has become a tabloid headline, masking the injustice done to Stepien and distracting the public from those aspects of the report that would otherwise have commanded its attention.
“Finally, the report’s statement that it is permissible to draw an adverse inference from Mr. Stepien’s invocation of his Fifth Amendment right in the face of a criminal investigation, rather than in the context of civil litigation, is dead wrong as a matter of law. Mr. Stepien is an innocent man who will continue to avail himself of the rights assured him under the constitution and laws of the United States and the state of New Jersey. It is simply not right for a seasoned and talented team of former federal prosecutors to suggest that the public should read his reliance on those rights as evidence of wrongdoing. It is not.”


















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Friday, January 31, 2014

David Wildstein Implicates Christie in #Bridgegate

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Huge Developments in the #Bridgegate Scandal today: David Wildstein filed a complaint through his attorney that the Port Authority of New Jersey wasn't going to help with his legal fees. Hidden in that complaint was a statement that he has information leading to the conclusion that Chris Christie lied during his press conference about the Fort Lee Bridge closure scandal. Christie's carefully worded response raises even more questions, as he now says he knew nothing about the lane closures "before" they happened, but nothing about "during." Is that evidence of guilt?

On Sunday, New Jersey hosts the Super Bowl, which would be a happy thing except that about 20 subpoenas from Christie minions are due to the Legislative Committee investigating Bridgegate the following day, on Monday. So this won't be the Super Bowl Party of his dreams. More like crying into his nachos.

Previous Related Posts
Christie Strikes Back at MSNBC on Hoboken Story
Christie Tries to Deflect and Dissemble on #BridgeGate
Christie's Well-Named Minion, Bridget Kelly
Christie Bridge-Splains But Holes Remain
Chris Christie and the #BridgeGate #BridgeGhazi #BridgeNado

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From New York Times
In a letter released by his lawyer, the official, David Wildstein, a high school friend of Mr. Christie’s who was appointed with the governor’s blessing at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which controls the bridge, described the order to close the lanes as “the Christie administration’s order” and said “evidence exists as well tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures, during the period when the lanes were closed, contrary to what the governor stated publicly in a two-hour press conference” three weeks ago.

“Mr. Wildstein contests the accuracy of various statements that the governor made about him and he can prove the inaccuracy of some,” the letter added.

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From CNN Political Ticker: "Who is David Wildstein?" January 9, 2014
"He's made a point to stay in the shadows and be the person directing the show from behind the curtain," said Shawn Boburg, a reporter for the Bergen County Record who wrote a profile of Wildstein in 2012.

Until he resigned last month, Wildstein was the director of interstate capital projects for the New York and New Jersey Port Authority. But his unofficial title was maybe even more important: Chris Christie confidante.

"Wildstein was known as the Governor's eyes and ears inside this massive agency," Boburg said.
While the Port Authority had historically operated independently of the governors of the two states it served, Christie named Wildstein to the authority in 2010 to increase oversight.
"A lot of people felt afraid of him because of his direct line to the governor's office," Boburg said.

Governor Christie Responds, via NJ.com
Mr. Wildstein's lawyer confirms what the governor has said all along — he had absolutely no prior knowledge of the lane closures before they happened and whatever Mr. Wildstein's motivations were for closing them to begin with," the statement said.
"As the governor said in a Dec. 13 press conference, he only first learned lanes were closed when it was reported by the press and as he said in his Jan. 9 press conference, had no indication that this was anything other than a traffic study until he read otherwise the morning of Jan. 8. The governor denies Mr. Wildstein's lawyer's other assertions."

This is a shocking development. Christie is now damaged goods. If Wildstein's disclosures are as powerful as he claims, the governor must go.
~ New Jersey Star-Ledger Editorial Board

Also this about Bill Stepien, Chris Christie's former Campaign Manager via Politico
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s former campaign manager is fighting a subpoena from state lawmakers investigating the George Washington Bridge traffic scandal, according to a letter POLITICO obtained Friday.
Bill Stepien’s legal team is asking the lawmakers to withdraw his subpoena on the grounds that it violates his Fifth Amendment rights — becoming the second person to turn to that constitutional protection since probes of the controversy have begun.

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This weekend is the Super Bowl and it is in New Jersey. And on that occasion I'm sure Governor Christie is delighted to be doing, like, sports interviews where nobody asks him whether he really is dealing with a Federal Grand Jury subpoena of his governor's office in this corruption scandal. But the Super Bowl is Sunday, and it will end on Sunday, and then will come and all of next week. And right now it looks like all of next week is going to be a real doozy.
~ Rachel Maddow





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Conservo-Pundit Mark Halperin of MSNBC Has a Sad:










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