NJ Senators Say Sandy Aid Accusations Part Of 'Disturbing' Pattern Of Christie 'Abuse'

[ProSense]

NJ Senators Say Sandy Aid Accusations Part Of 'Disturbing' Pattern Of Christie 'Abuse'

Democratic members of New Jersey's state Senate issued statements Saturday afternoon responding to allegations made by the mayor of Hoboken, N.J. that the administration of Gov. Chris Christie (R) withheld Hurricane Sandy relief funds from her city until she approved a real estate project. State Senate President Steve Sweeney (D) and Senator Loretta Weinberg (D) said, coupled with the questions about last September's lane closures on the George Washington Bridge, the new accusations indicate a "pattern" of abusive behavior by the Christie administration,

Weinberg is the chair of the state Senate's committee dedicated to investigating the lane closures, which she and other Democrats have alleged were ordered by Christie's allies to retaliate against a mayor who declined to endorse his re-election bid. She vowed the Senate committee would "pursue the latest assertion to determine if it is true and if it is related to what happened in Fort Lee."

"This is a serious allegation that, if true, reveals another abuse of power by the administration. Withholding emergency funds intended to help storm victims to advance a development project would be especially deplorable," Weinberg said. "These disclosures are revealing a disturbing pattern of abuse of government responsibility, a possible misuse of public resources and the betrayal of trust."

Sweeney called the allegations, which were first revealed on MSNBC's "Up With Steve Kornacki" Saturday morning, "extremely disturbing" and potentially "illegal."

- more -

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/senators-hoboken-sandy-christie-allegations

Chris Christie blasts MSNBC as "partisan" and "openly hostile"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024354189

[Major Nikon]

1. All lanes are open for those who have a beef with CC

Poetic.

[Cha]

2. Ya think! I'm watching Steve Kornacki now..

take breaks to absorb all the historical information leading up to the present day.

Boy did Mayor Dawn Zimmer get her Crispy bubble popped.

thanks PS

[Tx4obama]

3. I'm watching Kornacki too, he did a great job! A link below of videos for folks that need 'em

All TEN video segments here: All TEN segments, here: http://www.msnbc.com/up-with-steve-kornacki

[Cha]

4. Thanks Tx!

[sheshe2]

5. From your link~

"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," Sweeney said. "If true, they could be illegal. There is no place in public service for actions like this or for the people who are responsible."

It's time to say good bye Chris!

Thanks again, PS.

[sheshe2]

6. Indeed!

The Time Chris Christie Shut Down a Public Television Station That Did a Tough Story on Him

snip/

In August 2009, Zack Fink, currently the statehouse reporter for NY1 but then a reporter for New Jersey Network, the PBS channel in New Jersey, developed a source who told him about a $46,000 loan that Christie had given Michele Brown, a subordinate that he’d promoted in the U.S. Attorney’s office, to pay her mortgage. This raised questions immediately about Christie’s ties to the U.S. Attorney’s office while he was running for governor, and was followed by a string of terrible press for Christie, including a story in the New York Times that said he didn’t report the income from the loan on his personal financial disclosure forms. (Brown was eventually forced to resigned, though Christie rehired her when he became governor — something that is perceived as a middle finger to those who revealed their relationship.)

“When Zack Fink broke the story about the undisclosed loan that Christie had made to Michele Brown, it was without a doubt the most important story of the 2009 race,” says Lis Smith, who was a press secretary for Corzine during the campaign. “Corzine was down double digits in the polls then. None of our campaign’s attacks were gaining any traction. Once Zack wrote that story it opened the floodgate to a whole new range of stories that hadn’t been out there before — how Christie ran the U.S. Attorney’s office, how Michele was using the attorney’s office to benefit Christie’s campaign, even a traffic incident with Christie and Brown where Christie acted in an abusive and vindictive manner.”

In 2011, Christie announced in his budget address that he was going to shut down NJN. He wasn’t the first person to suggest ending a publicly funded entity like state TV: Corzine had suggested making it a nonprofit, much as Giuliani did with WNYC, which now has a good endowment and is a model across the nation. But “the conventional wisdom when Christie pulled the plug was he’d done it because they had done the toughest reporting on him during the 2009 campaign,” says Smith. “Had NJN not blown the story open with the story about undisclosed loans, many other stories could very well have never come out — stories that illustrated what we known now, which is Christie is someone who has always used the power of his office to vindictive ends and has played fast and loose for years.”

snip/

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/01/christie-an-angry-dictator-toward-the-press.html

You probably already posted this ProSense.

However~