Showing posts with label david samson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label david samson. 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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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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Saturday, January 18, 2014

Christie Strikes Back at MSNBC Hoboken Story ~ #Floodgate Update

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Previous Related Posts
Hoboken Mayor Throws Christie Down on UP with Steve Kornacki MSNBC
GOP Spin on Christie - Bad Bromance and Benghazi
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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Governor Chris Christie isn't having a good weekend. Today he flew to Florida to talk to possible donors for his Presidential campaign but it all hit the fan anyway when MSNBC's Steve Kornacki interviewed the Mayor of Hoboken, Dawn Zimmer, who came forward with a brand-spankin' new scandal to dump on the Christie administration. Looking and sounding almost like a frightened refugee in her own state, Zimmer described a pattern of manipulation and extortion played out by everyone from Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno to David Samson, Christie's mentor and head of the Port Authority. Now we have even more players involved, and a widening net that will probably include future subpoenas as both federal and state officials seek answers. Christie is livid and blaming MSNBC for all his woes in a hissy fit of "shoot the messenger." Make popcorn and stay tuned.

From New York Daily News
A pair of bully-boy Gov. Chris Christie’s top lieutenants delivered a “Sopranos”-style shakedown message to the mayor of Hoboken, MSNBC reported Saturday.
Mayor Dawn Zimmer, in an exclusive interview with the cable channel, said Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno told her that Hurricane Sandy relief funds for Hoboken were tied to the approval of a city redevelopment plan.
In true Jersey fashion, the conversation occurred last May 13 in the parking lot of a Hoboken ShopRite, according to Zimmer.
Guadagno “pulled me aside ... And she said, ‘I know it’s not right, I know these things should not be connected, but they are. And if you tell anyone, I’ll deny it,’” Zimmer said in a Saturday interview.

Hoboken Damage from Hurricane Sandy





In a nearly 1,600-word statement issued while Christie was in Florida on a fundraising trip, spokesman Colin Reed went after multiple MSNBC hosts for reporting on the so-called “Bridgegate” scandal that has plagued the governor’s administration for weeks.
~ MSNBC

Excerpt via Huffington Post
"MSNBC is a partisan network that has been openly hostile to Governor Christie and almost gleeful in their efforts attacking him, even taking the unprecedented step of producing and airing a nearly three-minute attack ad against him this week.
Governor Christie and his entire administration have been helping Hoboken get the help they need after Sandy, with the city already having been approved for nearly $70 million dollars in federal aid and is targeted to get even more when the Obama Administration approves the next rounds of funding. The Governor and Mayor Zimmer have had a productive relationship, with Mayor Zimmer even recently saying she’s ‘very glad’ he’s been our Governor. It’s very clear partisan politics are at play here as Democratic mayors with a political axe to grind come out of the woodwork and try to get their faces on television."

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The lane closings were an abuse of power. These new revelations suggest a pattern of behavior by the highest-ranking members of this administration that is deeply offensive to the people of New Jersey. If true, they could be illegal. There is no place in public service for actions like this or for the people who are responsible.
~ Steve Sweeney, President of State Senate on UP with Steve Kornackie

It’s just another example of the pattern of bullying and intimidation and retribution that takes place if you don’t do what Chris Christie wants. My understanding was that 80 percent of Hoboken was underwater, that they desperately needed those recovery funds.
~ Democratic National Committee Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz

This one is beyond ugly. Because in the end, Zimmer did get shorted. Hoboken got $342,000, a pittance for a town that was 80 percent under water after the October 2012 storm. She had requested $127 million.
This is a credible charge. Zimmer is describing the same kind of thuggish behavior from the Christie administration that we saw during Bridgegate.
But this one cuts deeper. Leaving people stranded in horrid traffic for four days is bad enough. But denying aid to victims of Sandy as a means of leverage against an elected official is simply revolting. And surely illegal.
~ Tom Moran, New Jersey Star-Ledger

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#Bridgegate ~ Hoboken Mayor Throws Christie Down on "Up"

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Previous Related Posts
GOP Spin on Christie - Bad Bromance and Benghazi
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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I’d be more than willing to testify under oath and – and answer any questions and provide any documents, take a lie detector test. Would all of you? Would all of you be willing do that same thing, to testify under oath, to take a lie detector test?
~ Hoboken, NJ, Mayor Dawn Zimmer on UP with Steve Kornacki

From MSNBC, UP with Steve Kornacki
. . . senior members of Gov. Chris Christie’s administration warned a New Jersey mayor earlier this year that her town would be starved of hurricane relief money unless she approved a lucrative redevelopment plan favored by the governor, according to the mayor and emails and personal notes she shared with msnbc.

In an exclusive interview, Zimmer broke her silence and named Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and Richard Constable, Christie’s community affairs commissioner, as the two officials who delivered messages on behalf of a governor she had long supported.

“The bottom line is, it’s not fair for the governor to hold Sandy funds hostage for the City of Hoboken because he wants me to give back to one private developer,” she said Saturday on UP w/ Steve Kornacki. “… I know it’s very complicated for the public to really understand all of this, but I have a legal obligation to follow the law, to bring balanced development to Hoboken.”

Constable and Christie – through spokespersons – deny Zimmer’s claims.





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Yes, Me! I tweeted this without seeing her tweet!



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