Jersey Shore Drama: Chris Christie Aides Caught Up In Traffic Jam Scandal

[Callisto]

Surprised there hasn't been a thread for this yet: http://www.northjersey.com/news/chri...es_emails.html

It's a long story so I'm not going to quote it, tl;dr is that Chris Christie aides are being busted for ordering four-day lane closures on a major bridge that created massive traffic chaos, including making it so schoolbuses could not get kids transported on time and risking the lives of a handful of people who needed emergency vehicles that got held up by the traffic(I didn't see a followup on if all of them were okay, but I believe they were). The lane closures were apparently ordered to punish the Democrat mayor of the town it affected for not backing Christie in the last gubernatorial election.

There's currently a state assembly inquisition on the matter and one of the aides has already pleaded the fifth: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014...-bridge-fiasco

Christie is not surprisingly disavowing any and all knowledge, and at the moment there appears to be nothing directly linking him to any of it.

You can see the documents that were uncovered that blew the whole thing up here: http://www.northjersey.com/news/Docu...istration.html

[Ksandra]

Holy crap. Dumbasses.

[Quixon]

Major Bridge is even an understatement.

It's the busiest bridge crossing in the world.

[Callisto]

Yeah I know nothing about NY/NJ geography/transit but from what I gathered it seemed like this was a very big deal that caused major problems. Obviously everyone involved was immediately fired when the story broke yesterday, and so far there doesn't seem to be anything showing that Christie had any knowledge of it; it's a little bit of a stretch to think that some of his closest aides did things like this without his knowledge but in fairness he seems like the kind of person who does his battles in public instead of this backdoor stuff.

[Waraji]

Christie is so full of shit on this though. Don't forget for a minute that he is a Good Old Boy Republican, one with his eyes set for the White House. This press conference denial is so much gd in my opinion.

Been following this story since news broke out about it some 2-3 months ago, and the whole time he's being doing this duck and dodge.

[BaneTheBrawler]

dodge duck dip dive dodge.

[Quixon]

Yeah I know nothing about NY/NJ geography/transit but from what I gathered it seemed like this was a very big deal that caused major problems.

Background info:

The George Washington Bridge links NYC (Manhattan Island) to New Jersey. Fort Lee is the town the NJ side of the bridge lands on. Traffic wise you are talking 281,000+ cars a day.

[myreality]

So politicians being politicians.

[Stromgarde]

Neither of the saving face prospects for him seem particularly good. Either he was actively involved or too incompetent to notice it going on under his nose.

[Serra]

If you're willing to take Christie's word, it only takes a few calls/emails, so it's not that implausible that someone did all this without him knowing.. But the question is are you willing to take Christie's word.

[ronin sparthos]

Neither of the saving face prospects for him seem particularly good. Either he was actively involved or too incompetent to notice it going on under his nose.

Incompetence is going to look a whole lot better than being involved in fucking interstate commerce.

Also, I'm not seeing what Christie stood to gain by fucking with a nobody mayor in Fort Lee. A mayor on the record saying he wasn't actively chased for an endorsement which makes the political retribution angle weak.

[Talint]

Christie's presidential prospects will be fine if the story doesn't escalate. Voters have short-term memories, and enjoy giving politicians second chances, no matter how terrible they are.

What an amazingly dumb, petty act to get undermined with though.

[Stumblingdrunk]

the political retribution angle weak.

Not anymore

Christie's presidential prospects will be fine if the story doesn't escalate.

It just did
http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com...5#.UtAOoLhOk0N

[Stromgarde]

It just did
http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com...5#.UtAOoLhOk0N

I don't buy it. While interesting, it doesn't track with the evidence at hand which exclusively refers to the mayor.

[Stumblingdrunk]

I don't buy it. While interesting, it doesn't track with the evidence at hand which exclusively refers to the mayor.

The evidence that refers to the mayor exists after the fact. This explanation actually makes a whole lot more sense

[Waraji]

Albeit, still largely petty.

[Ksandra]

Christie is never going to be the Republican presidential runner. So the prospects don't really matter imo.

[Talint]

The evidence that refers to the mayor exists after the fact. This explanation actually makes a whole lot more sense

The timing, while suspicious, doesn't offer any corroborative evidence yet.

So I'll just say what I said when this whole thing started. "There's no way this will turn into something".

Christie is never going to be the Republican presidential runner. So the prospects don't really matter imo.

There was a decent enough shot. Romney did win out in the end, and there's not much distance between Romney and Christie in terms of politics.

[Ksandra]

and there's not much distance between Romney and Christie in terms of politics.

Ya but that's not what people care about. Christie has been blasted time and time again by repubs for being too nice to the democrats and Obama. When the majority of the Repubs get spoonfed by fox news, and fox news likes to use him as a scapegoat, then he isn't going to get anywhere.

[hey]

Albeit, still largely petty.

Christie? Petty? I don't believe it!