Clues but No Full Account of Order That Turned a N.J. Town Into a Parking Lot

[jeffandnicole]

Bridget previously said she had nothing to do with it.  But yet, there is plenty of written documentation that Bridget had a lot to do with it.  She lied.  Blatantly.  It wasn't even a "Well, I might've said something".  It was a flat-out no. 

What investigation do you want?

[agentsteel53]

it might have been a traffic study.

the first rule of traffic study club is you do not talk about traffic study club.

[bugo]

Have you ever run a large organization?  My guess is no.  You are not incompetent beucase you failed to stop one of your employees from doing something stupid.

Yes, it does make you incompetent.  If you can't keep your administration officials for a fuck up of these proportions, then you have no control over them, which makes you incapable of being governor.  Face it, Krispy Kreme is either 1) guilty of ordering the lanes closed (which makes him also guilty of manslaughter) or 2) incompetent of leading his administration.  Either way, he's gotta go.

[bugo]

I would suspect that she would be covered under any applicable whistleblower protections if she does decide to spill any beans.

It's New Fucking Jersey.  If the governor wanted her to swim with the fishies, she would be wearing concrete shoes by now.

I also saw it noted that she used her personal email account to send the "Time for some traffic problems" email. That should have nominally protected her against prying eyes. Government emails are public records; private emails can only be obtained by a subpoena and I would think there would have to be some sort of probable cause to get the subpoena. If she sent that email to the Port Authority guy's government email address, she screwed up and opened up that can o'worms all on her own.

The emails in question were sent from a Yahoo account to a Gmail account.

[bugo]

it might have been a traffic study.

the first rule of traffic study club is you do not talk about traffic study club.

It's posts like this that make me want a like button.

[bugo]

Politically, this is much ado about nothing and appears to be an attempt by the left-leaning mainstream media to take out a potential GOP presidential candidate early in the game.

LOL @ "left-leaning mainstream media"

The only reason you're defending Christie is because of your mancrush on all Republicans.  If Christie were a Democrat, you'd be calling for his head.

Before you accuse me of being partisan, I am not a Democrat nor a Republican and I would be calling for an investigation and/or a resignation if Obama himself ordered such a "traffic study".

[PHLBOS]

(which makes him also guilty of manslaughter) or 2) incompetent of leading his administration.  Either way, he's gotta go.

Sounds like you'd be saying the same thing about MA Gov. Deval Patrick regarding the following excerpt (key point to your post in bold) from last Friday's Boston Herald commentary from columist Howie Carr (who's certainly no recent fan of Gov. Christie):

Judging from the gathering lynch mob (media), this is a bigger scandal than Benghazi, the IRS, Fast and Furious, NSA, Obamacare and Solyndra rolled into one. But why? Obama shut down the national parks and now his BFF (big fat friend) is just following in his footsteps, closing off some lanes on a bridge.

A 91-year-old woman may have died, and Democrats are up in arms. Maybe they wanted one of their new Obamacare death panels to take her off the board.

If only he'd been a Democrat, would Christie have been allowed to say, well, try this one on for size:

"What difference at this point does it make?"

That was Hillary sloughing off Benghazi last year.

But let's compare Christie to Gov. Deval Patrick. When is Deval going to have to go out and face the cameras wearing sackcloth and ashes like Christie did yesterday for 107 minutes in Trenton?

Look at the blood Deval's got on his hands – one child apparently dead (so far) in this DCF (Department of Children & Families) scandal. One murdered (so far) by drug dealers released because of Annie Dookhan's crimes at Deval's state crime lab. And 64 –yes, 64! – dead because Deval's minions didn't keep proper tabs on the New England Compounding Center pharmacy in Framingham.

More Americans have died because of Framingham than because of Benghazi – and that doesn't even include when Uncle Omar is out on a bat in his car.

And the media's reaction to Deval's scandals? Nothing to see here folks, move along.
Deval Patrick Should Do the Chris Christie Dance

Long story short, if Gov. Christie was a Democrat and pondering a Presidential run for 2016 and the same thing occurred (but the Fort Lee Mayor was a Republican); would you still be saying that he's got to go?

IMHO, I don't think there'd be that much of a nationwide media frenzy as there presently is had the political parties of Gov. Christie and Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich been reversed.

[corco]

Politically, this is much ado about nothing and appears to be an attempt by the left-leaning mainstream media to take out a potential GOP presidential candidate early in the game.

LOL @ "left-leaning mainstream media"

The only reason you're defending Christie is because of your mancrush on all Republicans.  If Christie were a Democrat, you'd be calling for his head.

Before you accuse me of being partisan, I am not a Democrat nor a Republican and I would be calling for an investigation and/or a resignation if Obama himself ordered such a "traffic study".

I actually agree with Elkins on this- this reminds me of the Obama IRS scandal where the IRS was allegedly targeting Tea Party groups from a few months back. People who hate Christie are going to be pointing their fingers at him, and people who like Christie are going to blame his staff, just like with the Obama IRS scandal. At the end of the day, we learn nothing, and very few people's opinion of him is going to change. People like you who already thought Christie was a bully repub- hooray, you just got confirmation bias. People who like Christie and think he's a good governor...well, there's enough reason to believe it was his staff that a person could believe he had nothing to do with it and not really be wrong. It's ugly, sure, but every bigtime politician deals with a scandal at some point or another.

The other political party will capitalize on it, as the Democrats are very clearly doing here. You can't blame the Dems for doing that - that's just politics. As long as Republicans acknowledge that they would be doing the same thing in this situation if Christie were a Democrat and don't pretend they're morally superior because they wouldn't do this, I don't see the problem.

[bugo]

Politically, this is much ado about nothing and appears to be an attempt by the left-leaning mainstream media to take out a potential GOP presidential candidate early in the game.

LOL @ "left-leaning mainstream media"

The only reason you're defending Christie is because of your mancrush on all Republicans.  If Christie were a Democrat, you'd be calling for his head.

Before you accuse me of being partisan, I am not a Democrat nor a Republican and I would be calling for an investigation and/or a resignation if Obama himself ordered such a "traffic study".

I actually agree with Elkins on this- this reminds me of the Obama IRS scandal where the IRS was allegedly targeting Tea Party groups from a few months back. People who hate Christie are going to be pointing their fingers at him, and people who like Christie are going to blame his staff, just like with the Obama IRS scandal. At the end of the day, we learn nothing, and very few people's opinion of him is going to change. People like you who already thought Christie was a bully repub- hooray, you just got confirmation bias. People who like Christie and think he's a good governor...well, there's enough reason to believe it was his staff that a person could believe he had nothing to do with it and not really be wrong. It's ugly, sure, but every bigtime politician deals with a scandal at some point or another.

As I said earlier, I would be calling for the resignation of any politician - Democratic, Republican, or independent - for pulling for such a stunt or for allowing it to happen.

[Alps]

Politically, this is much ado about nothing and appears to be an attempt by the left-leaning mainstream media to take out a potential GOP presidential candidate early in the game.

LOL @ "left-leaning mainstream media"

The only reason you're defending Christie is because of your mancrush on all Republicans.  If Christie were a Democrat, you'd be calling for his head.

Before you accuse me of being partisan, I am not a Democrat nor a Republican and I would be calling for an investigation and/or a resignation if Obama himself ordered such a "traffic study".

I actually agree with Elkins on this- this reminds me of the Obama IRS scandal where the IRS was allegedly targeting Tea Party groups from a few months back. People who hate Christie are going to be pointing their fingers at him, and people who like Christie are going to blame his staff, just like with the Obama IRS scandal. At the end of the day, we learn nothing, and very few people's opinion of him is going to change. People like you who already thought Christie was a bully repub- hooray, you just got confirmation bias. People who like Christie and think he's a good governor...well, there's enough reason to believe it was his staff that a person could believe he had nothing to do with it and not really be wrong. It's ugly, sure, but every bigtime politician deals with a scandal at some point or another.

The other political party will capitalize on it, as the Democrats are very clearly doing here. You can't blame the Dems for doing that - that's just politics. As long as Republicans acknowledge that they would be doing the same thing in this situation if Christie were a Democrat and don't pretend they're morally superior because they wouldn't do this, I don't see the problem.

So then the question going around - does this weigh him down in 2016? (That is NOT a fat joke. I didn't notice that until after I typed it.) I've been saying all along, he's too forceful for the national stage, so I don't think this matters.

[J N Winkler]

Long story short, if Gov. Christie was a Democrat and pondering a Presidential run for 2016 and the same thing occurred (but the Fort Lee Mayor was a Republican); would you still be saying that he's got to go?

I lean left, which means I usually want to see a Democrat in the White House.  I wouldn't say this scandal means Christie should resign as governor, though it would give me considerable pause if he were considering a run for the Presidency as a Democrat.  There are plenty of Democrats of national stature, like Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania and Martin O'Malley of Maryland, whom I dislike for various reasons and am happy are not thinking of running for President.  Rendell in particular strikes me as temperamentally quite similar to Christie.

IMHO, I don't think there'd be that much of a nationwide media frenzy as there presently is had the political parties of Gov. Christie and Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich been reversed.

I don't think the analysis is that simple, largely because if the parties were reversed, people would be less scared about the possibility of Christie becoming President.  The Democrats already hold the White House and will have had it for two terms by 2016.  Unlike the Republicans, the Democrats have no postwar history of holding on to the White House for more than two terms.  Circumstances therefore seem to favor election of a Republican in 2016, never mind that this is a manifestation of the "law of averages" statistical fallacy.  This is why media coverage in the next couple of years (2014 and 2015) will focus much more sharply on red governors, especially blue-state reds who sell themselves on their ability to work both sides of the aisle and are known to have Presidential ambitions.

[NE2]

You're forgetting about Bengoatse. Those Alanlandian soldiers didn't kill themselves.

[hbelkins]

The only reason you're defending Christie is because of your mancrush on all Republicans.  If Christie were a Democrat, you'd be calling for his head.

You haven't been paying attention. I think overall Christie's been a decent governor for New Jersey -- about as good as one could hope for in a New Jersey Republican -- but I won't support him if he runs for president. And given what I've been saying pretty publicly about McCain, Boehner, McConnell, etc., I don't think anyone can say I have a mancrush on Republicans. I don't think at this point that this controversy takes him out of the running for the 2016 nomination, but I won't complain if it does. I don't want him as the GOP nominee. It'd be McCain and Romney all over again.

I think the jury's still out on this. Let's see if he had any personal involvement. As of now I think this has been handled appropriately, if the facts are as they have been presented (Kelly denied any involvement and then it was found out that she pulled the trigger on the plan, so she rightly got fired).

[bugo]

I think the jury's still out on this. Let's see if he had any personal involvement. As of now I think this has been handled appropriately, if the facts are as they have been presented (Kelly denied any involvement and then it was found out that she pulled the trigger on the plan, so she rightly got fired).

Nope.  The jury (the American public) has already found him guilty.  He might not have ordered it but he still is responsible for the actions of his administration.  Where there's smoke, there's fire, and Trenton is full of smoke these days.

[corco]

I think the jury's still out on this. Let's see if he had any personal involvement. As of now I think this has been handled appropriately, if the facts are as they have been presented (Kelly denied any involvement and then it was found out that she pulled the trigger on the plan, so she rightly got fired).

Nope.  The jury (the American public) has already found him guilty.  He might not have ordered it but he still is responsible for the actions of his administration.  Where there's smoke, there's fire, and Trenton is full of smoke these days.

We have? http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/15/22316680-poll-christie-cruising-through-bridge-scandal-so-far?lite (and that's from the definitely liberal media!)

[NE2]

NBC isn't the liberal media. MSNBC is barely to left of center.

[bugo]

CNN has been leaning right here lately.

[jeffandnicole]

I think the jury's still out on this. Let's see if he had any personal involvement. As of now I think this has been handled appropriately, if the facts are as they have been presented (Kelly denied any involvement and then it was found out that she pulled the trigger on the plan, so she rightly got fired).

Nope.  The jury (the American public) has already found him guilty.  He might not have ordered it but he still is responsible for the actions of his administration.  Where there's smoke, there's fire, and Trenton is full of smoke these days.

Even in New Jersey this statement's mostly false.  His favorability numbers have dropped a little, but not by much.  The people calling for his resignation are the same ones that call for his resignation every time he speaks.

[Brandon]

NBC isn't the liberal media. MSNBC is barely to left of center.

MSNBC is as far to the left as Fox is to the right.  Your view is distorted.

[NE2]

MSNBC is as far to the left as Fox is to the right.

holy crap both sides do it

[hubcity]

NBC isn't the liberal media. MSNBC is barely to left of center.

MSNBC is as far to the left as Fox is to the right.  Your view is distorted.

Yeah, I really like Fox's liberal-leaning morning show.

[Sykotyk]

The Goog shows popo stationed there in its (normal configuration) street view photos.

To elaborate,

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=40.853879,-73.966527&spn=0.001171,0.002642&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=40.854007,-73.966802&panoid=RFpvjRhyO47x2oew4Juxtg&cbp=12,323.98,,0,12.61

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=40.854084,-73.967015&spn=0.001179,0.002642&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=40.854148,-73.967112&panoid=sFB2JvG8fbCZ-d9IdS4bGw&cbp=12,86.48,,0,10.51

I'm more impressed with the absolute lack of traffic at the toll booth in the first pic.  In the hundreds of times I've crossed the GWB in my life, I don't think I've ever seen it that empty.  I realize they probably did this at sunrise on a Sunday, but still...

That particular "clip" ends at the toll booth itself, because if you follow it through the booth, the car exits a different lane, they're following a different white car and there's much heavier traffic.

I've been across the GWB many times, day and night. And can never remember seeing the cash lanes that bare. Was there a big accident up the road that the GSV car missed? Though I've always used the EZ Pass lanes to the far left, it still was always backed up enough to start slowing down traffic before the road widened for the toll booths.

[hubcity]

Subpoenas fly. Wildstein offers to sing for immunity. Christie lawyers up. I invest in popcorn futures.

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/01/chris_christie_bridge_scandal_20_subpoenas_issued_governor_hires_attorney.html#incart_m-rpt-1

[bugo]

I think the jury's still out on this. Let's see if he had any personal involvement. As of now I think this has been handled appropriately, if the facts are as they have been presented (Kelly denied any involvement and then it was found out that she pulled the trigger on the plan, so she rightly got fired).

Nope.  The jury (the American public) has already found him guilty.  He might not have ordered it but he still is responsible for the actions of his administration.  Where there's smoke, there's fire, and Trenton is full of smoke these days.

Even in New Jersey this statement's mostly false.  His favorability numbers have dropped a little, but not by much.  The people calling for his resignation are the same ones that call for his resignation every time he speaks.

Give it time, give it time.

[bugo]

NBC isn't the liberal media. MSNBC is barely to left of center.

MSNBC is as far to the left as Fox is to the right.  Your view is distorted.

If SPUI's view is "distorted", then you are a blind man.