TPM: Former Wally Edge reporter Brian Murphy on how much Christie loved Wildstein's website

[highplainsdem]

Must-read opinion piece from Brian Murphy, now an assistant professor of history at Baruch College, who worked for Wildstein's PoliticsNJ.com website as a reporter and managing editor. Murphy wrote this piece as a response to Christie's email yesterday attacking Wildstein ("It is hard for me to believe that the governor of an American state could author such a piece of risible juvenilia, except it is even harder for me to believe a paid communications professional could have been behind this.&quot , and it backs up what Steve Kornacki said this morning about Christie's interest in Wildstein's website:

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/well-that-escalated-quickly

I don’t have my email records from 2002, but if I did I am sure I could produce emails to and from the U.S. Attorney’s office. Almost everyone leaks in political reporting, but some of my biggest scoops came from leaks from Christie’s office, either to Wally or to both of us.

And Chris Christie loved the product of our work. When I covered the Newark mayoral race in 2002 I spent part of the day looking at polling sites where Cory Booker supporters were being intimidated or harassed. From the back of an SUV I would type up a story with photos, file it over a dial-up connection, and wait 15 minutes until federal election monitors were dispatched to the site by Christie’s office, where Christie was readingPoliticsNJ.com himself and reloading the page every few minutes.

When Chris Christie gave a press conference that afternoon in the U.S. Attorney’s office in the federal building in Newark, he was holding a rolled up piece of paper in his hand as he stood at the lectern and took questions. The piece of paper was one of my stories. When I went to speak with him afterwards, he unfurled it and told me how much he loved the work I was doing.

I don’t know if Chris Christie knew the true identity of Wally Edge back then. But he certainly did by the time he appointed David Wildstein to the Port Authority. And by then he had to know that the coverage David (and I, and Steve, and our fellow alums) had given to his prosecutions had played at least a small part in helping him become governor.

[ProSense]

1. It's simply not credible fo Christie to attempt to distance himself from a guy hired.

He sought him out and hired him.

CNN exclusive: Port Authority job created for Christie ally, source says
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024343670

[highplainsdem]

2. No, it isn't. Yesterday's email attacking Wildstein was a very bad self-inflicted wound.

[Bandit]

3. Not just Hired, but created a Position out of thin air.

I think Christie should be asked just what he envisioned that Position to be. What was it's purpose and what qualities did this guy have that was so unique a new Position had to be created just for him.

[highplainsdem]

4. Kick