The GW Bridge Traffic Scandal: Blame Christie! Don't Blame Christie!
Right and left are lining up boringly predictably on L'Affaire Christie. (More on that below.)
New emails suggest a senior aide to Christie--a 2016 presidential contender--ordered a nasty traffic jam in Fort Lee as political payback, write Molly Redden and Andy Kroll at Mother Jones. Two lanes were closed on the Jersey side of the GWB (George Washington Bridge), a massive traffic jam ensued, and ambulances were delayed in going to the sick and dying because of the jam:
"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," Bridget Anne Kelly, a top Christie aide, wrote in an email to Wildstein. "Got it," Wildstein replied.One text message sent to Wildstein on the day of the lane closures referenced mass school bus delays. "Is it wrong that I'm smiling?" the message read.
"No," Wildstein wrote.
"I feel badly about the kids. I guess," the person, who is unidentified, texted back.
Wildstein replied, "They are the children of Buono voters." Barbara Buono was the Democratic challenger to Christie who lost handily to the governor last November.
Numerous messages mock Fort Lee's mayor as he scrambled to learn the reason behind the closures from the Port Authority and spoke publicly about the closures in the aftermath. In one email sent the day of the closures, Wildstein assures Kelly that the Port Authority was responding to Sokolich with "Radio silence."
As Sokolich began speaking to press after the closures, Bill Sepien, Christie's campaign manager wrote, "The mayor is an idiot."
"It will be a tough November for this little Serbian," Wildstein wrote to Sepien, apparently referencing Sokolich's nationality. Elsewhere in the documents, Bill Baroni, the deputy executive director of the Port Authority, refers to Sokolich as "Serbian." Sokolich is Croatian.
Update: Here is Christie's statement on Wednesday's revelations:
"What I've seen today for the first time is unacceptable. I am outraged and deeply saddened to learn that not only was I misled by a member of my staff, but this completely inappropriate and unsanctioned conduct was made without my knowledge. One thing is clear: this type of behavior is unacceptable and I will not tolerate it because the people of New Jersey deserve better. This behavior is not representative of me or my Administration in any way, and people will be held responsible for their actions."Senator Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, replied to Christie's statement, saying, "These revelations are troubling for any public official, but they also indicate what we've come to expect from Governor Christie--when people oppose him, he exacts retribution...And when anyone dares to look into his Administration, he bullies and attacks."
My thinking: It's ridiculous to blame this on Christie, since there's no evidence he knew. This is what grubby politicos do on either side. I'm tired of the positioning, right and left, of their side as angels and the other side as devils. Each side sells us all out in its own boringly human ways.
It's been an interesting kerfuffle because it lays so bare the conceit that our political class has these days, which is that government power is theirs to do with as they please. No, there's no evidence that Christie knew what was going on, but I blame him for not creating a leadership environment where it would be made clear that this sort of thing is unacceptable. But Christie certainly isn't alone in that; it's a bipartisan problem.
In the coming political environment, the alignments will not be liberal vs. conservative, or Democrat vs. Republican. It will be inside-the-Beltway vs. outside-the-Beltway.
Cousin Dave at January 9, 2014 6:25 AM
I haven't checked -- has Governor Christie fired both Kelly and Wildstein? That would be a start.
And Cousin Dave is right -- maybe we can phrase it as "bush league" versus "not bush league."
Old RPM Daddy (OldRPMDaddy at GMail dot com) at January 9, 2014 7:22 AM
What happened to the buck stops here?
Wildstein and Kelly should be charged with corruption and improper use of taxpayer funds. Bill Baroni needs to resign.
Bring Wildstein and Kelly up on charges. If they don't implicate Christie, then fine, I won't either.
But I think it's fair to criticize Christie over the shitty people he hired and the environment of corruption he apparently fostered and certainly to consider that when he runs for President.
jerry at January 9, 2014 7:52 AM
What happened to the buck stops here?
Wildstein and Kelly should be charged with corruption and improper use of taxpayer funds. Bill Baroni needs to resign.
Bring Wildstein and Kelly up on charges. If they don't implicate Christie, then fine, I won't either.
But I think it's fair to criticize Christie over the shitty people he hired and the environment of corruption he apparently fostered and certainly to consider that when he runs for President.
Posted by: jerry at January 9, 2014 7:52 AM
Wouldn't it be great if the Dems were willing to hold Obama to even half the standards that they want to hold Christie to?
Isab at January 9, 2014 8:51 AM
"I'm tired of the positioning, right and left, of their side as angels and the other side as devils. Each side sells us all out in its own boringly human ways."
Exactly, Amy. Partisanship is killing this country and causing most of the gridlock in Congress IMHO. It's to the point that I personall believe the parties in DC would rather not solve a lot of our current issues/problems than allow the "other side" to have any role or credit for helping make life better. They're party members first and Americans a distant second.
qdpsteve at January 9, 2014 9:22 AM
Geez, Amy, this one seems like a slam dunk: Of course the politician is responsible for his staff, of course he is. And apparently CC was really attached to these particular people. He knew the kind of people he was working with, and he's fully accountable for their behavior.
I've never thought of Christie as our Great Shining Exemplar of Conservative Insight anyway. Throwing him overboard is easy. His watery principles were never going to do as much for conservative thinking as running out of money will do. Who needs him?
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at January 9, 2014 9:30 AM
> Partisanship is killing this country and
> causing most of the gridlock in
> Congress IMHO.
I think this is just despicably dumb.
Yeah, right, I'm all cranky and mean-spirited...
OR IT'S TIME TO STOP BEING STUPID. M'KAY?
Partisanship is your right and responsibility as an aerobic organism. Jesus Christ, son. You have and should have every right to associate with, and trade ideas with, whoever the fuck you want.
When people say things like that, what exactly are they describing as paradise? Some magnificent fairy land were the best-of-all-human Kings tells the rest of us how to live? Is it absolutely essential to you that we all be thinking the same thing? Are you THAT terrified of conflict?
If "partisanship is killing this country," then fuck this country.
It isn't killing this country, of course, quite the opposite. The eagerness to challenge and compete and persuade is what makes this the leading nation on the globe. Look around: There are still plenty of places on the planet where you don't have to worry about "partisans." We've noticed that you don't want to live in any of them.
And for Christ's sake, will someone please explain to me exactly how Congress can be regarded as "gridlocked?" WTF is that? Regulations are exploding, as are expenditures. The counties around DC are the richest in the world.
Damn.... If government were as effective as you apparently want it to be, our lives would be a simpering, loathsome Hell. They're going that way anyway, because of effective government.
I'll never understand why people absorb and parrot these chicken-hearted sayings about politics... When even the blind can see that courage, liberty and fortitude are what make things work in life.
Good Morning, Buttercup! Here's the thing: Your opinion is "humble" for some VERY good reasons.
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at January 9, 2014 9:48 AM
Cot dam.
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at January 9, 2014 9:49 AM
Crid, when I talk about partisanship, I'm not talking about people having values and sticking with them, or about people who want to be on a team with other people who share those values.
What I'm talking about (and I guess, I should have said) is the *rabid and poisonous* partisanship that we see today in DC and our state capitals. Like I said, it's one thing to have values, but that's not what are leaders are displaying.
In order for our system to work, our leaders need to behave like adults and cooperate together. They don't have to be best friends, hang out together or sell out their values, but they should at least know how to listen, have some respect for each other and hammer out solutions, But these people REFUSE to do so. Instead, they're happily making, letting and seeing citizens suffer, in pursuit of forever retaining their ultra-cushy elected perches and/or activist positions. Angry, shortsighted and corrupt factions in the parties are in charge, NOT the individuals seated in the chambers of power.
If the members of our Congress and Senate wanted to just sit back and collect mucho dinero for parroting whatever their friends want to hear, they should have taken PR positions in their parties and related groups, instead of going to the Congress reciting a lot of empty promises that they'll solve problems, when they have no interest in doing anything other than promoting the status quo, gaining power for their cronies, and feathering their already obscenely luxurious nests. But no, they all were so damn full of themselves, they had to be in Congress. Now they're there and they don't want to have to do their damn jobs, they just want to mouth off about the "other side" and hurt people who disagree. Fire them all.
qdpsteve at January 9, 2014 10:12 AM
Listen, it doesn't matter what color of daydreams you use as wallpaper for your distracted intellectual interiors. Go ahead and build your little fantasies of success in sports, or sexuality, or show business, or high finance, or warfare... Whatever you want.
But you must never allow yourself to believe that we didn't understand you correctly this morning. We did. And then you proved it by saying the same profoundly stupid things AGAIN.
I like "rabid and poisonous" partisanship! It's my favorite kind! Human nature sucks. When the postures are as aggressive as they need to be, it's often because the worst enthusiasm in the Cosmos is being contained... There's a lot of bad energy, so it's a lot of work to hold it at bay.
You used the word twice, but I have no "leaders." My public servants are no less "citizens" than I am. Because America, Sugarbun.
You have some inherently servile presumptions rattling around in there.
They're really ugly.
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at January 9, 2014 10:37 AM
This isn't partisanship (my Republican construction company buddies get first shot at the sidewalk cement contracts), this is vicious, retaliatory punishment against the taxpayers in the vain hope they will turn against their own mayor.
Result - ambulance delayed, 91 year old woman dead (may have died anyway, but what kind of criminal asshat delays an ambulance for political payback?).
Send these assistants to prison for violation of the public trust and whatever else comes to mind.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at January 9, 2014 10:37 AM
Hey Crid: what's with the bad attitude? I'm trying to argue and you're calling me names.
qdpsteve at January 9, 2014 11:16 AM
Crid,
The problem isn't partisanship that differs and disagrees on real issues. The problem is partisanship that puts team membership over honor, honesty, and competence, so that Team A votes for and protects their scoundrels over Team B's honorable public servants and vice versa.
Of course, that makes it sound like a two way street, but it's not--head to NRO or other right wing sites and you'll see a hell of a lot more condemnation of Christie for this scandal than we ever saw from the MSM, let alone left wing media, for any of Fast and Furious, Benghazi, the IRS targeting scandal, NSA wiretapping--or the most accurate parallel, Obama's vindictive shuttering of monuments and parks during the shutdown.
Brian at January 9, 2014 11:21 AM
Not really.
We don't elect people to Congress to immediately compromise with the guys we think are wrong.
We elect them to go to Congress and fight for the principles we believe will move the country forward and which will result in a government with which we can live.
I want a partisan in Congress. I want my Congressman or Senator to fight for [my] principles and prferred breadth and scope of government.
Partisanship is what drives government forward by encouraging - nay, mandating - debate.
Gridlock is good. Gridlock serves to rein in Congress' extremist impulses to interfere with things that are better left alone or to private interests - a bill must be seen as worthy by enough people on both sides to get past the gridlock.
Unfortunately, our so-called representatives have discovered the art of scratching each others' backs - attaching expensive pork-barrel riders to bills to buy votes. As a result, we get runaway spending and the the taxpayers get stuck with the ever-increasing tab. It's like leaving your alcoholic friend at a bar with an open tab on your credit card. We haven't elected representatives, we've elected dependents.
With fewer people qualifying as taxpayers, but still being able to vote, the list of dependents is growing exponentially.
Both sides of the political aisle are so busy trying to pick up points with their special interest groups, padding their own wallets, and puffing their own egos that they've forgotten to govern. We now have rampant government spending, exploding regulation, and a government that is defining more and more of our private lives and liberties as subject to its control.
So, go ahead, re-elect Politician X, who's never held a job outside of politics. After all, he's got the country's best interests at heart. Ignore the fact that he's gotten rich while in office without ever inventing anything, investing anything, or inheriting anything.
Conan the Grammarian at January 9, 2014 11:23 AM
Brian: you've got it.
And Conan, also good points about when partisanship is healthy and necessary. I like that the parties keep the brakes on the extremist impulses of each other. Plus you're right about gridlock. IMHO the gridlock that existed during the Clinton admin was fabulous for America. It basically kept the government out of the way while the economy grew during that period.
Unfortunately what we have today isn't just gridlock, it's warfare. Both the Republicans' overuse of the filibuster and Harry Reid invoking the nuclear option in the Senate are good examples. Both were invoked in order to marginalize and push out the opposition, not promote cooperation.
qdpsteve at January 9, 2014 11:33 AM
> what's with the bad attitude?
My attitude is magnificent, and the best people adore me for it. Your presumption that everyone is supposed to speak sweetly and be submissive and have a good "attitude" is precisely the problem.
Whatever Amy's confusions about this particular scandal, she well understands that there's no difference between Democrats and Republicans (partisans, Little Stevie!) in the most important respect: Both of them want government —mostly themselves— to accrue and wield intrusive, costly power over the rest of us.
When demonstrated in the clearest terms, it becomes apparent that these men knew they were lying about being different from each other all along.
When you blubber and fizz about "partisanship," you're silently (and perhaps blindly) affirming that government is supposed to be doing more things... Spending more money, making more rules. Your witless chatter is exactly what it takes for an authoritarian fuckball like Christie, he of the criminal response to hurricanes and traffic jams, to be regarded as a shining light for conservative thought.
> I'm trying to argue and you're
> calling me names.
There are no points for participation. (Hey! Participation almost rhymes with 'partisan'... How 'bout that!) You're not arguing for anything but submission, and I mean to call you names, Stevie-pie. BIG disagreement, OK? You said what you meant to say, and I know that you're terribly, terribly wrong. I sincerely believe you should be ashamed.
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at January 9, 2014 12:18 PM
Brian, are you paying for your health care in "honorable" terms? Yet?
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at January 9, 2014 12:20 PM
Y'know, Big Mac is often as thoughtlessly elitist as anyone in DC, and she gets on my nerves a lot. But she can swing a sharp blade.
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at January 9, 2014 12:23 PM
OK, if you're blubbering and fizzy, you're probably not silent. But you guys knew what I meant. Steviepants has chosen a team without even admitting it... Or confessing it.
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at January 9, 2014 12:25 PM
OK, admitting and confessing are kinda the same thin
Fuggit, I'm still catching up to his press conference through the Twitter feed. In you heart of hearts, you know what I meant.
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at January 9, 2014 12:29 PM
Christie is less upset about the pain he caused the people he chose to serve, and more upset about disregard for a "governor" and his "authority."
This is a conservative?
No.
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at January 9, 2014 12:43 PM
LOL. Whatever Crid. Thanks for letting me know you don't care about being taken seriously, among many other things.
qdpsteve at January 9, 2014 12:49 PM
Be even humbler, Little Stevers.
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at January 9, 2014 12:58 PM
"And for Christ's sake, will someone please explain to me exactly how Congress can be regarded as 'gridlocked?' "
Right. If Congress was gridlocked, we'd probably all be better off. The only caveat I'll add is that a lot of regulatory and spending sprawl is now baked in; Congress set up the conditions where it can continue to live and grow without any further Congressional action.
Cousin Dave at January 9, 2014 1:18 PM
"No evidence that he knew"? Christie has had a working relationship with these people for a number of years. Are we to understand that a man as intelligent as Christie had no idea as to what sort of dirty tricks his employees were capable of?
Amy, this is rather like the advice you give your letter writers who find that they've hooked up with abusers: there had to have been signs.
So, Amy, let's be consistent and apply this rule to Christie. You insist vehemently that the lovelorn who end up with total cockroaches simply ignored the signs. Christie had to have known he had some real douchebags working for him. He chose to ignore the warnings.
Patrick at January 9, 2014 1:21 PM
Patrick: I don't think this post of Amy's is so much about protecting or muddying Christie as it is about the pathetic partisan (note to Crid: I'm gonna keep using that word in a negative sense, so go ahead and keep on throwing that tantrum) excusemaking and blameshifting that today's political scene is WAY too full of.
And also: I'm beginning to really understand why you have such a loooww opinion of Crid. :-)
qdpsteve at January 9, 2014 1:30 PM
Taranto gave Christie a rough ride yesterday:
And Ace of Spades HQ is even less complimentary.
Jeff Guinn at January 9, 2014 1:34 PM
This is fun.
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at January 9, 2014 1:37 PM
Not that Crid will care, but that piece he links to above isn't bad.
qdpsteve at January 9, 2014 1:53 PM
qdpsteve: I don't think this post of Amy's is so much about protecting or muddying Christie as it is about the pathetic partisan (note to Crid: I'm gonna keep using that word in a negative sense, so go ahead and keep on throwing that tantrum) excusemaking and blameshifting that today's political scene is WAY too full of.
Not too long ago, Amy ran a column in which the LW's girlfriend had fed him some sob-story about a relative with cancer, which turned out not to be true. After giving a drippingly sarcastic moment of silence for the LW with the vicious girlfriend, Amy snarled like a beast, "Bend over, because you're about to get paddled!" then launched into a harangue about how there had to be have been signs and that he just ignored them, even though Amy had no specific examples of warning signs that he might have ignored.
But when it comes to Chris Christie, snuffling pitifully that he was ignorant of the dirtbags on his team, Amy's attitude is, "But, but, but...there's just no evidence he knew."
To which I reply, "Bu-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-ullSHIT!"
Patrick at January 9, 2014 2:12 PM
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/10/nyregion/christie-controversy-bridge-lane-closings.html
With this strong a denial, if Chris Christie is found to know anything about the bridge holdup, he's done in 2016. Video of today's event will be a Greg Stillson baby shield moment.
jerry at January 9, 2014 2:19 PM
This is EXACTLY how I feel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8-VVaoUNAo
Ppen at January 9, 2014 2:32 PM
This is EXACTLY how I feel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8-VVaoUNAo
Ppen at January 9, 2014 2:32 PM
> that piece he links to above isn't bad.
Jeff's is even better.
Listen, if partisanship is the problem, why don't you simply abandon your principles? I mean, if people holding strong opinions are the problem more than any particular opinion is the problem, why not just surrender your fondest beliefs as the most thoughtful and powerful contribution to our public well-being?
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at January 9, 2014 2:39 PM
Ppen: thread winner.
jerry at January 9, 2014 2:51 PM
Crid, reread my first response to you.
There's a difference between cooperation and capitulation.
qdpsteve at January 9, 2014 3:25 PM
Okey fine. As Warren Rudman once said, the American people have the right to be wrong.
But they don't have the right to be stoopit, or to kid themselves. Or to kid you or me.
It's not true, it's not true. The relentless machinery is grinding every hour of every day, chewing up everything and everyONE(and spending every dollar, however imaginary) in its path.Every person on the surface of our globe thinks that politics —and (American) political power— are the only way to move civilization forward. Religion and persuasion and private matters mean nothing anymore.
It's amazing that over my lifetime, policy has taken this position of centrality in human identity. Frickin' amazing.
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at January 9, 2014 3:33 PM
> There's a difference between cooperation
> and capitulation.
Golly Steve, I'm not sure your attitude is good enough. The authorities might be growing concerned....
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at January 9, 2014 3:35 PM
"Never let anyone tell you that Congress is gridlocked, or that politics is dysfunctional."
Golly. Agreement.
This is misdirection serving to confuse the public, like the insistence that "health care" is delivered by letting Ma and Pa buy a policy, not by paying doctors - or that by frisking Ma and Pa when they want to get on an airplane, the whole nation is magically protected.
I am unaware of a term for this misdirection. If any of you have one handy, please post it so we can all flag all such things more conveniently. It's not quite "red herring" or "bait and switch".
Radwaste at January 9, 2014 5:44 PM
First off on the GW bridge retaliation (Fat and Furious of F&F).
The governor CC may have not been informed ahead of time F&F by his proxies when they did it. But his F&F proxies include "advisers" that he has known since childhood.
So the question that needs to be asked of CC: "Did you know that your advisers might do this?"
If he says No: That means that he didn't know his cronies as well as he thought he did. He also didn't know they could be vindictive. So he has a large failure on judgement of character.
If he say Yes: That mean that he has no problem with the fact his cronies could be vindictive and petty and it didn't truly surprise him. That also reflects on his character.
Contemplate that.
Jim P. at January 9, 2014 6:34 PM
For a rare occurrence I have to agree with Crid especially compared to your view. The federal government shouldn't be the end-all overreaching body as they exist now.
Here is the list of enumerated powers:
I want you to find marriage, homosexuality, social security, medicare, EPA, FDA, Department of Ed, NSA, or most of the rest of the alphabet soup.
And then you say partisanship is the reason for the failures? The reason is how many times do the people who want to follow in the government as established by the Constitution have to give in.
Right now I see the left saying "Fuck the limited government so the right is wrong."
I want to be able to walk down the street without worrying about an EPA thug fining me because I spit on the sidewalk.
Jim P. at January 9, 2014 7:17 PM
There are two things that you have to believe to believe that Gov Christie wasn't involved in coordinating a/o covering this up.
1. That his senior staff would pull something like this without at least warning him.
2. That they would then lie to him for months while he made emphatic public denials.
And if you believe these things, you'd have to assume that they were trying to set him up. It just doesn't make sense.
norm at January 9, 2014 7:18 PM
Jim P.: I'd love to know how the #*$% you found rationalization for big government in my comment.
When I talk about partisanship, I'm not talking about American history. I'm talking about the issues and leadership failures effecting America *today.*
IMHO (there I go again) if we had representatives who were (a) smart, (b) really knew how to negotiate rather than pontificate, and (c) understood the Constitution, that bowl of alphabet soup would be served in a much smaller serving size.
qdpsteve at January 9, 2014 7:31 PM
Another thing that crid, Jim P. and others don't seem to understand: I'm not making excuses for, or praising, either the left or the right.
I *will* say that again IMHO it's the right these days that does virtually ALL of the capitulating in government, and the left that does the most damage to the constitution. I also personally think it's the Democrats who are the champions of divisive, hateful and-- yes-- PARTISAN behavior, rather than good governing. But I don't want to turn this thread into yet another D vs R pissing contest.
Now Patrick is going to come in here and flame me to a crisp for saying what I did about the left.
qdpsteve at January 9, 2014 7:38 PM
> I'm not making excuses for, or praising,
> either the left or the right.
Again... Let's never pretend that our problem is that these people can't get along... They're pants-down lovers, and they love it when you watch.
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at January 9, 2014 8:32 PM
qdpsteve, I'm not sure why you think I'd flame you, since I happen to agree. Oh, well.
Flame, qdpsteve! Flame! Flame! Flame!
(Feeling crispy, yet?)
Patrick at January 9, 2014 8:56 PM
Patrick, I was afraid you'd be next on the "flame/FryDaddy qdpsteve" list because I said I tend to side with the right in the great "who's more civil and less partisan?" contest.
But happy to hear you agree with me in this instance and that at least you're not flaming me in this instance. Thanks. I'm already quite crispy enough as it is. :-)
qdpsteve at January 9, 2014 9:37 PM
"It's amazing that over my lifetime, policy has taken this position of centrality in human identity. "
And it's not even an intellectual argument. It's tribal: "Our policy is better because we are the ones who came up with it!" That's not to be said that there aren't intellectual arguments to be made. But precious few are making them.
Cousin Dave at January 10, 2014 10:46 AM
Let's see the House has passed the [un]ACA repeal bill 40+ times. Somehow the bill has never made it to the floor of the Senate once.
The House tried to build smaller budgets. The Senate pretty much rejected it.
And it isn't just current leadership. Ronald Reagan tried to get rid of the Department of Education. He also tried to get rid of the Department of Energy. Somehow a partisan congress rejected those ideas.
You are whining about the partisanship of the current congress. Bite me. It has been going on since the 1790's. Just look at the nullification arguments about the Alien and Sedition Acts by Jefferson and Madison.
Please try to grasp that there has been a steady progressive creep since Wilson was president, and the Constitutional Conservatives have been steadily losing.
The latest and greatest is Paul Ryan's $3.9 Trillion Budget as The New "Conservative" Benchmark.
How is $3.9T conservative?
Jim P. at January 10, 2014 5:28 PM
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