Francis Wilkinson: Is Gov. Chris Christie walking the bridge to ruin?
http://www.mcall.com/opinion/mc-chris-christie-wildstein-plea-0502-20150501-story.html
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My favorite bit from Friday's news reports about the guilty plea by a former patronage appointee of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie comes courtesy of The Washington Post: "A guilty plea by the longtime aide could spell trouble for the New Jersey governor."
Indeed it could.
The key to understanding one of the most bizarre recent scandals in U.S. politics is to understand what political operatives do.
David Wildstein, Christie's former high school classmate, pleaded guilty Friday to conspiring to create, in September 2013, horrific traffic jams on the George Washington Bridge. Wildstein is not a career bureaucrat. He is not an expert in traffic or logistics or government agency bonds.
He is a political guy.
The reason that Christie, a Republican, appointed Wildstein to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, despite any substantive expertise in ports, roads, airports or bridges, was to be a direct extension of Christie's political arm. Nothing more, nothing less.
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Hope so!!