Christie administration may have violated public records law

[highplainsdem]

Source: NorthJersey.com

Emails disclosed Wednesday raise questions about whether the Christie administration complied with a public-records request filed by The Record last month.

The newspaper requested documents related to the Port Authority’s decision to close local lanes to the George Washington Bridge in September. Part of that request, filed on Dec. 17 under the state Open Public Records Act, sought emails sent between David Wildstein — the Christie appointee at the Port Authority who ordered the lane closures — and certain employees in the Governor’s Office, including Michael Drewniak, Christie’s spokesman.

At least one of the documents that became public Wednesday meets that description. Wildstein sent a message from his personal email account to Drewniak’s official account and to a personal account of Bridget Anne Kelly, a member of Christie’s senior staff who emerged Wednesday at the center of the controversy. The Sept. 12 email contained a statement that was later issued by the Port Authority saying that the bridge lane closures were part of a “traffic safety” review.

But Christie’s office did not release that email or any other document in response to The Record’s request. On Dec. 27, the office claimed it “reviewed its records and has not identified any records that are responsive to your request.”

-snip-

Read more: http://www.northjersey.com/news/Christie_administration_may_have_violated_public_records_law.html

---

According to the article, the paper's general counsel said the newspaper is considering its legal options.

The Christie administration didn't respond to a request for comment.

[longship]

1. The coverup is going to do him in.

And his arrogance in the way he handled the media when he was questioned about this is going to make sure that they're not going to hold back.

For those reasons alone, this does not go away. And Chris Christie is toast.

But, we all know. He knew. He ordered this.

[woodsprite]

2. Hope they go after him on this, and Rico charges as well.

Looks like he stepped in his own elephant turd.

[DeSwiss]

4. Nice visual.

- I'd be surprised if he doesn't have staff for that so that doesn't happen.....



K&R

[undiegrinder]

6. Thank you DeSwiss ...

I think whatcha got there is a candid photo of ol' "Dumbo" Christie issuing a "statement" about Bridgegate.

He made a TERRIBLE p.r. mistake in his initial public statements by trying to shrug off the scandal and belittle its effects.

All somebody's got to do is take clips of him claiming "This is no big deal !" and laughing that "Yeah, right, I was out there helping with the cones !" while showing a photo of the 91-year-old woman whose death was, in part, caused by the traffic jams, and I think Chris will be up to his trunk in elephant shit.

[NJCher]

7. yeah, he was out there helping with the cojones

Urr, cones.


Cher

[Cha]

3. I'm thinking we better see a

"Bridget Anne Kelly" Resigns" tomorrow over this.

Good Luck to The Record! thanks highplainsdem

[truthisfreedom]

5. Christie is really wishing he hadn't bothered with

That lap band surgery. Sigh. I've never felt like I was watching something so much like another bad HBO series about New Jersey corruption.

[NJCher]

8. awww, c'mon

The Sopranos was excellent TV.

Now the rest of those NJ shows...


Cher

[BumRushDaShow]

9. Boardwalk Empire

Embodies Jersey politics to a "T".

[bucolic_frolic]

10. Then-President Nixon said it best

[truthisfreedom]

11. You said it, Tricky Dick Nixon, you EARNED everything you got.

[DallasNE]

12. That May Not Be The Only Law Violated Either

When you examine those email's you will note that many are written on private accounts (gmail.com, yahoo.com) rather than government accounts (.gov). We saw some of this in the Bush Whitehouse and it was always done to hide correspondence from the public record. This kind of corruption needs to be weeded out using harsh penalties.

[Kingofalldems]

13. Kick and Rec all Christie GWB threads.

[Beacool]

14. Christie has very thin skin.

He'll attempt his usual strategy: deflect and if that fails, attack, badger and belittle anyone who dares to question the emperor. I don't think that this time around his M.O. will work.

Couldn't have happened to a better guy........

[Orsino]

15. How legal is it to use personal e-mail accounts for official business? n/t