Governor Chris Christie and Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty
Governor Chris Christie’s job approval and favorability ratings hit a new low in a FDU Public Mind Poll released this morning.
Only 21% of New Jersey’s registered voters approved on the governor’s job performance and only 29% of those voters have a favorable opinion of him, according to the poll. A majority of Republicans, 52%, disapprove of Christie’s performance. 90% of Democrats and 68% of Independents also disapprove.
“Apparently we’ve not yet found the floor for the governor’s approval among voters in the state. The recent gas tax increase that the governor supported no doubt caused some in his party to turn against him, even though he sought to reduce taxes in other areas in order to offset the increase at the pump,” said Krista Jenkins, professor of political science and director of PublicMind.
TRENTON — A judge has allowed an official misconduct complaint against Gov. Chris Christie over his role in the Bridgegate scandal to proceed, but top criminal defense attorneys and former prosecutors say it’s tough to predict what happens next because those who handle such matters have been appointed by the governor. “This is a mess, because… Read the rest of this entry »
A judge in Fort Lee, N.J., has found probable cause that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie committed official misconduct as part of the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal. Christie said through a spokesman he is appealing the ruling by Judge Roy F. McGeady immediately. For years Christie has denied any knowledge of the plot to close… Read the rest of this entry »
NEWARK– The governor’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs was supposed to be an outreach office–a one-stop shop for mayors, local officials and civic leaders seeking assistance from the state. But as Gov. Chris Christie’s 2013 re-election campaign ramped up, the agency took on another role. It became a virtual arm of the campaign, using public resources to… Read the rest of this entry »
Governor Chris Christie yesterday called on the New Jersey Press Corps and law enforcement agencies to deploy the same aggressiveness towards Senator Loretta Weinberg and Assemblyman John Wisniewski, the co-Chairs of the Legislative Committee that investigated the George Washington Bridge scandal, that they have applied to him .
Former New Jersey Department of Transportation Commissioner Jamie Fox was charged by federal officials for his role in the bribery scheme that former Port Authority Chairman David Samson pleaded guilty to today, according to a statement by U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman.
Additionally, United Airlines has agreed to a pay a $2.5 million penalty and to make compliance reforms for its role in the scheme in which it established a non-stop route between Newark-Liberty Airport and Columbia Metropolitan Airport in South Carolina for Samson to fly to his vacation home in Aiken, SC. In exchange Samson allowed the Port Authority Commission to approve a lease of three acres at the airport for United to build a maintenance hanger.
Fox, in his role as a $7,500 per month consultant to United, is accused of shaking down United employees, on Samson’s behalf, to get the route to South Carolina established.
NEWARK–David Samson–the embattled former chairman of the powerful Port Authority of New York and New Jersey–pleaded guilty Thursday afternoon to using his considerable clout to coerce one of the nation’s largest airlines to accommodate his desire for a regularly scheduled, non-stop flight to a South Carolina summer home. Samson, 76, a well-connected lawyer and one-time New… Read the rest of this entry »
Former Port Authority of NY/NJ and former New Jersey Attorney General David Samson will plead guilty to a federal felony related to the United Airlines route from Newark Airport to Columbia Metropolitan Airport in South Carolina, which is about 50 miles from Mr. Samson’s vacation home, according to a report by Ken Kurson for The Observer.
The route, which is alleged to have often been empty and money losing, was established while Samson was Chairman of the Port Authority and discontinued within days of Samson’s resignation in the wake of the Bridgegate scandal. The September 2013 George Washington Bridge closure at the center of the Bridgegate matter occurred while Samson was Chairman. As Chairman of the Port Authority, Samson oversaw United’s relationship with the authority’s airports.
Bridget Ann Kelly, texting, with Governor Chris Christie and Michelle Brown at Seaside Park fire, September 12, 2013, photo by Phil Stilton
Lawyers representing indicted Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Executive Bill Baroni and staffer Bridget Kelly are asking for the cell phone embattled Christie was using at the time of Bridgegate. Baroni and Kelly’s attorneys cited Supreme Court precedent during the Watergate scandal, where it compelled President Richard Nixon to produce his audio tapes,… Read the rest of this entry »
A federal judge in Newark has ordered the release of the names of individuals who allegedly had knowledge of the scheme to shut down lanes at the George Washington Bridge before the Bridgegate scandal broke. In a ruling sought by a consortium of news organizations, including NJ Advance Media, U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton said the… Read the rest of this entry »