Bruce Springsteen Mocks New Jersey Governor

Kathleen · #**261** 09-24-2016, 12:10 AM

He has a deposition on file. He probably won't be called.

rocknation · #**262** 09-24-2016, 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rocknation

Christie should know as well as anyone how much thicker blood is than water:

Chris Christie Officials Give Atlantic City Contract To Firm Of Governor’s Brother

Governor Christie's brother invested in real estate near new PATH station in Harrison

rocknation · #**263** 09-24-2016, 06:04 PM

The opening of the Bridge(t)-Gate Trial:

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(The) Assistant U.S. Attorney...said David Wildstein will testify that he and (defendant) Bill Baroni made Christie aware of the plan while they were attending Sept. 11 commemorations in Manhattan. (Wildstein), who was second in command at the bi-state agency, pleaded guilty last year...would..."admit that he was the one who came up with that idea. He will also tell you that (defendant Bridget Anne) Kelly instructed him to take that action and Baroni blessed it..."

But will Wildstein also testify that he presented the idea to Kelly and Baroni beforehand? He must have in order for them to have given him the go-ahead. Then why not tell Christie, too, if Wildstein had direct access to him? Will Wildstein also testify that he himself did not tell Christie, or was it was Wildstein's way giving him an alibi? The prosecution isn't being cunning: they're also making a case for Christie's culpability prior to the September 11 commemoration.

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“David Wildstein is a vicious guy,” (Baroni's attorney) said, referring to comments he said former coworkers of Wildstein had made about him. “He’s a bully. I’m sorry judge, everyone — he’s an asshole. He’s a horrible person. He’s the most complicated person I’ve ever met. He is a vindictive individual who would destroy your life...He had a twisted mind...He’s maniacal. I apologize, again — David Wildstein is a miserable prick. The governor referred to David Wildstein as his fixer. His fixer. And the governor used to joke that David Wildstein was his Mr. Wolf. Mr. Wolf from the movie ‘Pulp Fiction.’...The government made a deal with the devil and they're stuck with him."

Most of us here love Bon Jovi enough to hold them to a basic standard of professionalism and to speak out when they violate it. As much as I hate Crew Christie, I'm not going make an exception just because it might look like I'm kicking them while they're down. What kind a language is that for LAWYERS to use in court? If Wildstein is so awful, why didn't anyone else in Christie-land notice, and why was he hired without a job description or resume? Isn't it more logical that in reality, Christie and Wildstein were such a successful team because they had so much in common?

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(The) attorney for Bridget Anne Kelly told jurors that the smoking gun email was banter, just a joke, exchanged as part of a casual conversation with Wildstein. The mother of four going through a divorce at the time of the email was juggling lower-level duties -- ordering food for events and scheduling meetings at the governor’s mansion. “The idea that Bridget Kelly is directing the affairs of the state of New Jersey, ordering the shutdown of the George Washington Bridge...it’s almost absurd...”

Not as absurd as the idea of Kelly passing along Christie's orders -- a lower-level job duty indeed. Why else would Kelly be having ANY kind of conversation with Wildstein?

At any rate, let the witness parade begin...

rocknation · #**264** 09-25-2016, 03:14 AM

Painting Testimonial Pictures, Oh, oh oh oh

Quote:

Witness #1: Fort Lee New Jersey Police Chief Keith Bendul. The first day in September 2013 that Fort Lee was mysteriously paralyzed with traffic caused by the shutdown of local toll lanes at the George Washington Bridge, Police Chief Keith Bendul said he could not get any answers from the Port Authority -- which operates the bridge -- until he finally reached Robert Durando, the general manager of the Hudson River span.

Durando told him he would meet him at the municipal lot and instructed him not to come to Port Authority offices. "I thought it was very weird. It just struck me as very, very odd," Bendul testified. "He was very nervous. Seemed afraid."

Durando would not say much. He told the police chief he would have the mayor call Baroni. "He told me if anyone asked that this meeting occurred, he would deny it."

Quote:

Witness #2: Fort Lee New Jersey Mayor Mark Sokolich. There were tickets to New York Giants games at the Governor's Box at MetLife Stadium. Private tours at Ground Zero for visiting relatives. An invite to a taping of MSNBC's Morning Joe at Fort Lee High School. A personal gift from the governor of an American flag that had flown over the World Trade Center site. And despite assertions by Gov. Chris Christie in the aftermath of the Bridgegate scandal that the mayor "was not on my radar screen," and that he had never heard Sokolich's name "until all this stuff happened," there had been a private lunch with the governor at the governor's mansion in Princeton.

Then, the governor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs began talking about an endorsement. The mayor said they pointed to other Democrats willing to back the Republican governor. They asked him if he would be comfortable expressing his support. And when he finally said no, he woke up one morning to find...the traffic just outside his driveway..."completely stopped...It was concrete gridlock."

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Witness #3: Port Authority New York Executive Director Patrick Foye. Upon learning about the toll lane shutdowns, he said he sent out an email calling the move to block the lanes an "abusive decision which violates everything this agency stands for." Yet after ordering the toll lanes reopened, Foye acknowledged that he agreed to put out a press release prepared by Baroni asserting it was all part of a legitimate traffic study—despite knowing full well that the claim was untrue...

Foye testified that he thought Wildstein was the "culprit"..."He was abusive to employees, he terrorized people..." (and)...was “hated by hundreds, thousands, of people.” Wildstein’s office phone included a mysterious “extension pack” which agency staffers suspected allowed him to listen in on phone calls...

Foye said that after Wildstein resigned...in December 2013, he refused to immediately hand over his agency iPad and cellphone. Foye ordered that Wildstein’s photograph be posted at all Port Authority facilities. "...Given what I knew about his personality...I was concerned about him trying to get access..."

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Witness #4: Patrick Foye’s chief of staff John Ma...tipped off a Record reporter that the closure of two of the three local access lanes to the world’s busiest bridge could have been politically motivated.

Ma said that he contacted The Record’s Road Warrior columnist, John Cichowski, on the fourth day of the crippling lane closures in Fort Lee after learning that the agency’s media office was attributing the lane reductions to a traffic study.

“I told him, off the record, that to my knowledge there was no traffic study and that the lane closures had been ordered by David Wildstein,” Ma testified. “What I hoped to accomplish was to have the reporter dig further, ask follow-up questions.”

Reporters from The Record did dig further, eventually publishing a story that described how the closures were set in motion by an email from Kelly to Wildstein that simply said: “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”

Quote:

Witness #5: Port Authority Official Tina Lado...testified that before the Fort Lee lane closures, Baroni had always been responsive to local officials. Baroni was always very interested, supportive and involved, Lado said, describing his relationship with local officials in Fort Lee, Weehawken and Perth Amboy. But contrary to the agency’s practice, Lado said there was no advance notification to Fort Lee about the lane closures and that she only got word (three days) before they were implemented...

She finally did hear from Baroni two days later, after inquiring whether she should return the mayor’s calls...(Baroni) told her that he had looked at her unit’s phone bills and they were rather high “so we had to be careful and not make unnecessary calls outside, particularly to New Jersey.” She said she understood that to mean “he did not want me to call back.”

Quote:

Witness #6: Former Office of Intergovernmental Affairs Official Matt Mowers...worked under Kelly in the IGA from January 2011 to April 2013...By late 2011, state employees, using personal email accounts, were already eyeing "Dem targets" to woo for Christie's 2013 re-election bid...No detail was left off...the(ir) list...Everyone was given a number which would designate that person's likelihood whether to back Christie in an election that was still years off...IGA also kept tabs on the amount of money local municipalities received from government entities, including the Port Authority...

But of course, they're only the opening acts, the table setters. Next up -- the witness for the prosecution!

rocknation · #**265** 09-25-2016, 09:05 PM

A Star (Witness) Is Born

Before delving into the testimony of the star witness, this would be handy to know:

Quote:

NYMag.com: (As a U.S. attorney circa 2005) Christie...arrests...Charles Kushner...a major Democratic contributor, who ultimately pleads guilty to making illegal campaign contributions and retaliating against...his brother-in-law...

Charles's son Jared Kushner...(purchased) media properties...in New York (and) New Jersey...Wildstein...(who)...attend(ed) Kushner’s wedding to Ivanka Trump...agrees to sell (controlling interest in) his website PoliticsNJ...on condition...that he (continue to run it) anonymous(ly)...

Christie (was) on the ballot...(for) the 2009 governor’s race...(Jared) harbors a deep antipathy toward the prosecutor who locked up his father...and (Wildstein) knows how his new boss wants the race to be covered...When Christie wins, though, the governor is forgiving: He has a job for (Wildstein) (as) an agent at the Port Authority. When Wildstein defects, sources say, the Kushners are furious. Someone leak(ed) his true identity...

Why would Christie want to turn David Wildstein into a power broker? The Port Authority may look like a boring bureaucracy, but it’s really a self-propelled patronage machine...The governors of New York and New Jersey jointly control the authority, and the two sides clash eternally...

Why would Christie want to turn David Wildstein into a power broker? Maybe because Wildstein "earned" the Port Authority job by only pretending to be against Christie and for Kushner!

Quote:

NorthJersey.com: Taking the stand at the Bridgegate trial in the federal courthouse in Newark, Wildstein described his focus on supporting the agenda of the governor while serving as a top political appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey...

Wildstein said his job was to “advance Governor Christie’s agenda” at the agency and being a “very aggressive” person that meant taking on the role of “bad cop when it was necessary to move something forward.” Baroni “didn’t like playing bad cop; he liked to be the good cop,” Wildstein said. “It would be helpful to him … to have somebody there to be strong and tough...”

He had a "one-constituent" rule: "The only person that mattered was Governor Christie...We used that as the barometer by which a decision would be made at the Port Authority."

While bridges and tunnels continued to deteriorate and traffic continued to clog. And I guess we'll have to wait until Stepien testifies to find out who gave orders to HIM.

Quote:

Wildstein recounted how ...Washington Township asked the Port Authority if it had any surplus vehicles to donate to the town’s emergency squad. Jurors were shown emails in which Wildstein asked Kelly whether she wanted this done. Kelly responded that “the mayor has always been good. I don’t see a problem.” ...In another email, Wildstein forwarded Kelly a request from (a Democrat) assemblywoman to tour the Holland Tunnel. Kelly responded: “No rush to do this.” Wildstein said: “No rush meant, ‘Nah, don’t do it.”

In yet another email...Wildstein wrote to Kelly that he would also talk to her “about other things in the Port Authority goody bag.” Asked...what he meant by “goody bag,” Wildstein explained: “All the things that the Port Authority had available to the governor’s office that would be helpful to Governor Christie.”

The emails between Wildstein and Kelly were sent from personal accounts. Wildstein explained that early on at the Port Authority he was told by high-ranking officials that personal accounts were a “preferable way of communicating” because they were not “discoverable in FOI [freedom of information] or open public records requests.”

High-ranking officials? Only two officials ranked higher than Wildstein, and they both report directly to Christie -- the same Christie who's been giving Hillary grief about having a private e-mail server! According to him, conducting public business on private email servers is impeachable -- goody goody!

Quote:

He said there was a deliberate strategy as far back as 2010 to court as many Democrats as possible seeking endorsements for a governor who already had national aspirations... Surplus Port Authority trucks and millions in grants and other aid...(were) put into play..."The Port Authority was asked to play a role in securing those endorsements." ...Former Christie campaign manager and top aide "Bill Stepien gave that order..."

Kelly worked for Stepien, Stepien -- and Baroni -- reported directly to Christie. Didn't Richie do a song about every road leading to you?

Quote:

Wildstein, who faces up to 15 years in prison, was asked by a prosecutor what he expects will happen if he fulfills his side of the bargain to testify truthfully.

“I have no expectation, I have only a hope. My hope is that I would not be sentenced to prison,” he said.

And I think that's as completely honest a statement that we're going to get out of him. If Wildstein has any saving grace, it's that he's brave enough to read the writing on the wall: He accomplishes nothing by protecting Christie because it's becoming crystal clear that there's no way Bridge(t)-Gate could have happened without Christie's blessing. The defendant who implicates Christie directly is the one who has any hope of getting a lot less than 15 years.

Stay tuned for part two...

rocknation · #**266** 09-28-2016, 09:58 PM

Wildstein: Christie Port Authority appointee was told about Bridgegate scheme

Quote:

NJ.com:...Wildstein told jurors that weeks before the September 2013 lane closures that he sent (Port Authority Commissioner) William "Pat" Schuber an email telling him he wanted to discuss, among other things, a "local Fort Lee/GWB issue..."

(T)he two met at (a) diner, Wildstein said, where Schuber was told of the plans to retaliate against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Christie's re-election bid. "I told Commissioner Schuber that in a couple weeks there was going to be significant traffic." ...He said he told Schuber that "the instructions come from the governor's office" (and )it was aimed at Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich. "I viewed Mr. Schuber as a loyal member of Gov. Christie's team," he said. "Mr. Schuber said he understood."

Schuber...(also) a Republican assemblyman...and (a) former Bergen County executive...was told if he received any calls or complaints about the gridlock that he should tell people to contact Bill Baroni, Wildstein said...

However...Schuber...denied he was ever told. "It's very surprising because I don't recall that at all and wouldn't have agreed to it..." When asked why Wildstein would testify to the contrary, (Schuber) said, "I'm not going to speculate..."

Point of order, your honor -- "We didn't have such a conversation at all" is a denial; "I don't recall that at all" is the political strain of selective amnesia.

Quote:

Reuters: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was aware of and supported a plan to close lanes at the George Washington Bridge in 2013 in an act of political payback...testified...David Wildstein...(told) jurors...that he and Bill Baroni...discussed the lane closure with Christie before a memorial service marking the 12th anniversary of the Sept. 11...attacks at the World Trade Center.

"Mr. Baroni said, 'Governor, I have to tell you, there's a tremendous amount of traffic in Fort Lee this morning,'" Wildstein testified, adding that Baroni was using a sarcastic tone. Baroni also said the mayor, Mark Sokolich, was "very frustrated" that his increasingly desperate calls to the Port Authority were being ignored...

Wildstein (also) described...how the two defendants "froze out" another Democratic mayor who declined to endorse the governor. He says they canceled meetings in July 2013 with Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop.

"Governor Christie responded by saying, 'I would imagine that he wouldn't be getting his phone calls returned,'" Wildstein said. Prosecutors showed jurors a series of photographs depicting the three men laughing at the site that morning.

What does it prove that they were laughing? They could have been laughing about anything, especially on an occasion such as September 11. "Stop me if you've heard this one: a Cuban, a Jew, and a half Italian walk into a recording studio..."

Quote:

ABC News: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie insists that he had no knowledge about lane closures on the George Washington Bridge either before or during the political payback plot.

The Republican spoke to reporters outside of his office in the statehouse on Tuesday after a former ally testified Christie was told about the gridlock while it was unfolding and seemed happy about it.

Christie says he did not authorize the lane closures and that no evidence would be presented showing that he did.

Well, of course he didn't "authorize" the lane closures -- that would have been illegal, duh!

Quote:

David Wildstein said Tuesday that he coached...Port Authority executive Bill Baroni...in how to testify in front of a New Jersey legislative committee in November 2013. That was two months after Wildstein and two others allegedly caused traffic jams at the bridge to penalize a Democratic mayor for not endorsing Republican Gov. Chris Christie.

Baroni told the legislative committee the lane closures were part of a traffic study. Wildstein says that story was a lie.

Which is why Christie shouldn't be so quick to brag that there's no evidence directly implicating him in either the setup or the launch of Bridge(t)-Gate. While it's true that Wildstein has said nothing to the effect Christie was directly involved prior to September 11, that can certainly still happen -- and he should be a lot more worried about being directly implicated in the coverup!

rocknation · #**267** 09-29-2016, 07:11 PM

Quote:

ABC News: David Wildstein testified...that two weeks after he started work at the Port Authority in 2010...(he was) asked...(by) Bill Stepien, Christie's deputy chief of staff at the time...to produce a list of employees appointed by previous Democratic administrations...so the(y)...could be purged. The Port Authority...has been accused of being a haven...(of) patronage hires...(by) both governors...

A haven for patronage hires? I can't imagine why anyone would come to a conclusion like that. And I hope this finally puts to rest all of this nonsense about Christie's moderate bipartisanship being phony!

Quote:

Wildstein said he was told by Christie senior staffers to resign in December 2013, three months after the September lane realignment at the bridge plunged the town of Fort Lee into four days of gridlock...(Yet) he expected to stay in Republican Gov. Chris Christie's "political future..."

"I had been told by others I was still on the governor's team," he said. "I was told the governor was happy I'd stepped up and taken responsibility." Wildstein said that assessment came from Christie campaign manager Bill Stepien and political adviser Michael DuHaime...(He) said he thought he would take some time off and then play a different role for the governor after he resigned...

He took the responsibility of resigning when ordered to instead of stepping up and offering to, and STILL expected forgiveness? There can be only one reason for that -- he knew he'd have no trouble taking Christie down with him. And it brings us back to an issue I've mentioned before.

Stepien and DuHaime were SENIOR LEVEL officials if they reported directly to Christie. But only Bill Baroni, who hired Wildstein with Christie's knowledge and consent (but not with a job description or resume!) had any SENIORITY over Wildstein -- and they both resigned within a week of each other in December 2013. So why would Stepien (who Christie fired three weeks later) and DuHaime tell Wildstein that Christie had forgiven him if it weren't true? Chain of command plays a very important role in Bridge(t)-Gate -- and the shortest links run from Wildstein to Kelly to Christie...

rocknation · #**268** 10-02-2016, 06:12 PM

Quote:

NYC.org: ...On his "Ask The Governor" radio show, Christie denied...that he'd joked with Wildstein about the lane closures at a ceremony for the 12th anniversary of 9-11. But Wildstein (added) that when he brought two Port Authority employees to meet (Christie)...he jokingly referred to Wildstein as "Mr. Wolf," after the Pulp Fiction character...played by Harvey Keitel, who cleaned up the bodies after crimes had been committed.

...In June 2010, Wildstein traveled down to Trenton and met with Christie and a half dozen top aides to go over a list of Democrats at the Port Authority that Wildstein had prepared...Wildstein was asked...on cross examination..."You ever remember sitting with the governor with a list of names where he said, 'Gone, gone, stay, stay, gone, I'll get back to you?'"

"Yes, I do remember," Wildstein replied. "It was in the governor's office in the state house..."

Those two pieces of testimony put us at the first turning point of this trial. Why? Well, didn't we just finish wondering about Bridge(t)-Gate's chain of command? This is the first time we've heard Wildstein tell of taking orders directly from Christie!

Whether Wildstein's stories are corroborated by witnesses or not, they suggest that Christie KNEW that Wildstein's main job duty at the PA was to BE his "Mr. Wolf." At the January 2013 press conference, Christie said that Wildstein had been "Baroni's hire" though he gave permission. But if Wildstein really was taking orders from Baroni, why did they keep the closures a big secret from everyone on the New York side of the bridge? What authority did Wildstein have to authorize a "traffic study" anyway?

Now the prospect of Christie's pre-approval of the lane closures is that much more plausible -- not to mention his telling Bridget Kelly to tell Wildstein to get the ball rolling once they got the news of the Ft. Lee non-endorsement.

And here's something else that Christie is denying!

Quote:

CNN: Some of Donald Trump's advisers are discussing an overhaul in how he prepares for his second face-off with Hillary Clinton, and one option being floated internally is asking Chris Christie to take a leading role to get the Republican nominee ready...

The New Jersey governor, a long-time friend of Trump's, is one of "the few" in the billionaire's inner circle who has always been straight with him, and was "brutally honest" about his shortcomings after this week's debate, according to a source...

Christie told CNN... "I have not been asked to do anything new, and as far as I know, there is no new debate prep scheduled...Nothing's been asked of me to do more. If there is, I'd certainly have that conversation with Donald Trump at the time, but I'm not going to pre-suppose anything at this point."

With this much irony in the air, I may not have take any vitamin pills for the entire month!

rocknation · #**269** 10-03-2016, 04:07 PM

Quote:

NY Times:
...(Wildstein) showed emails in which (he) instructed Mr. Baroni to treat mayors who had fallen out of favor with the Christie administration with “radio silence” (and) text messages in which Mr. Wildstein complained...that Mr. Baroni had left work early one afternoon when Mr. Wildstein left for a meeting — “like when a kid has a substitute teacher.”

I've heard of good cop/bad cop, but this is ridiculous. I guess Baroni is lucky that Wildstein didn't put traffic cones in front of Baroni's office -- especially since Baroni allegedly hired HIM. Wasn't there a TV show called "Who's the Boss?"

Just for the record, here's what Donald Trump had to say about Bridge(t)-Gate about a year ago:

Quote:

NJ.com:
"Chris, who is friend of mine...totally knew about it...here's the story: The George Washington Bridge...He totally knew about it...They're closing up the largest bridge in the world — the biggest in the United States — traffic flowing during rush hour. People couldn't get across for six, seven hours. Ambulances. Fire trucks...They're with him all the time, the people that did it...He's got a very friendly group of people over there....They never said, 'Hey, boss, uh, we're closing up the George Washington Bridge.' No, they never said that. They're talking about the weather, right?"

In all fairness, I should point out that they were jockeying for the Republican nomination at the time, and apparently it had no effect on Trump bringing Christie on board...though he initially was not going to have him speak at the convention and was not consulted about bringing Bill Stepien on board! Nonetheless, Christie was out on the Sunday political talk show circuit defending Trump's honor

Quote:

NJ.com: ...The New York Times reported that Trump's losses in 1995 could have enabled him to avoid paying federal income taxes for as long as 18 years.

"This was actually a very, very good story for him," said Christie..."What it shows is what an absolute mess the federal tax code is -- that's why Donald is the person best positioned to fix it. There's no one who's shown more genius in their way to maneuver about the tax code as he rightfully used the laws to do that."

I'm more inclined to think the report shows what an absolute mess Duh Donald's financial skills are. At any rate, Jon and Richie could sure take some loyalty lessons from these guys!

rocknation · #**270** 10-10-2016, 01:58 AM

Before proceeding to the Bridge(t)-Gate post-Wildstein testimony, a quick recess:

Quote:

NJ Spotlight: Four years after Hurricane Sandy, a federal audit of money allotted to repair and rebuild in the hurricane’s aftermath has found that New Jersey “did not have adequate controls in place to administer its contract and monitor contract performance and was not fully aware of federal procurement and cost principle requirements.”

...the Department of Housing and Urban Development notes (they) “...did not have assurance that the $43.1 million disbursed under the contract was for costs that were eligible, supported, reasonable and necessary.” The audit calls on New Jersey to justify certain questionable expenses or to pay the money back.

The governor’s office declined comment...blam(img) “...sloppy invoicing” for inaccurate records.

Whose sloppy invoicing and inaccurate records -- his or theirs? And I seem to remember Christie closing down a program that would have provided an extra layer of oversight, claiming it was an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy!

Quote:

NJ.com: A former Hunterdon County assistant prosecutor who claims he was fired for alleging that Gov. Chris Christie's administration dismissed an indictment because it involved supporters of the governor has received a $1.5 million settlement from the state in his whistleblower lawsuit...

The case stems from a 43-count indictment brought by the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office in 2010...charg(ing) official misconduct and falsification of documents. But then-state Attorney General Paula Dow stepped in and quashed the indictment, calling it legally and factually deficient.

Barlyn said he was fired later that year after he complained to a superior that he felt the case was dropped for political reasons. He eventually won the battle for access to...grand jury testimony related to the indictments...but the (documents) remain sealed to the public...

(A) spokesman for the attorney general said: "We stand by our dismissal of the criminal indictment that was at issue in this case...The decision to settle...was an economic one...We believe we would have prevailed in court."

Well, if Barlyn was that insubordinate and incompetent, and his indictment was that legally and factually deficient, you'd think it would be a breeze for them to prevail in court -- and inexpensively, too!

Bruce Springsteen Mocks New Jersey Governor

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