Sorry loyal readers, I’ve been on New Jersey’s cleared roads most of today on business and haven’t had a chance to post. However I did receive several emails requesting the video of Governor Christie’s comments about New Jersey’s Mayors’ response to the storm. Several media outlets have reported that Christie deflected blame away from himself over the conditions of New Jersey’s roads a week ago. That’s not what he said.
Here without any filter except the bald guy who keeps getting in the way, here is what the Governor said:
Not Even Close. The Mainstream Media damages its credibility and demeans the victims of Katrina with the comparison.
By Art Gallagher
This photo was taken in New Orleans on September 5, 2005, seven days after Hurricane Katrina hit the city:
Source: popmatters.com
This photo was taken this afternoon in Monmouth County, NJ, seven days after the Blizzard of 2010 hit:
FEMA will be in New Jersey tomorrow to start to access the damage caused by the blizzard. The damage will be a great deal less than the $81 billion that Katrina caused. The loss of live and human suffering caused by the blizzard was negligible. Not so Katrina.
Last week Capitol Quickies and InTheLobby got caught up in the hysteria of the storm and Governor Christie’s absence from the state during the storm. By now they should be over it.
Today, the Star Ledger used the Katrina reference in critiquing the public relations of Christie not being here during the storm.
The Sledger even quoted the PR hack who advised former Louisiana Goveror Kathleen Blanco during Katrina. Talk about epic failure. The hack, Bob Mann did a heck of a job for Blanco in 2005. Now he teaches political communications at Lousiana State Univeristy. Yikes! That’s like Jim McGreevey teaching ethics at a New Jersey state college.
Here’s a video of Chrisite answering the Sledger reporter’s PR questions during his press conference on Friday at the Monmouth County Hall of Records:
I guess the reporter didn’t like the Governor’s answer.
“This was not a Republcian storm or a Democratic storm”
Governor Christie makes his opening remarks to the press after signing a letter to President Obama requesting FEMA disaster relief. The Governor praised his leadership team for the work they did dealing with the strom and praised Senate President Steve Sweeney for his non-partisan partnership. He described the preparation for the storm, the execution of the plan to deal with the storm, and events that occurred during the blizzard.
Governor Christie addresses the circumstances of both he and Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno being away from New Jersey for five days.
“It was not a matter of equipment. It was a matter of the amount of the snowfall and the intensity of the snowfall.” ~ Transportation Commissioner James Simpson
Governor Christie address the inaccurate reports of a decline in the amount of state equipment available to manage storms in the past year. Transportation Commission James Simpson describes the use of the equipment and the conditions he and his team were dealing with.
CLASSIC CHRISTIE
“I made the decision to be a father first.”
This segment is classic Christie. The Governor describes his decision to go on vacation with his family while preparing for the storm. He delivers a counter-punch to Senator Ray Lesniak who has been critical of the Governor and Lt. Governor this week. He addresses the antiquity of the sucession procedure of the State Constitution and he describes working with Senator Sweeney via phone during the course of the crisis.
Coming next year (probably some time over the weekend)….Chrisite slams mayors who blame the conditions in their towns on the State. He singles out Brick Mayor Steve Acropolis in particular.
Happy New Year! Thank you for being a loyal MMM reader in 2010. ~ Art
Seated left to right, Freeholder-elect Tom Arnone, Sheriff Shaun Golden, Freeholer John Curley, Freeholder Deputy Director Rob Clifton and Freeholder Director Lillian Burry listen to Goveror Christie's remarks to the press. Standing left, John Tobia, Director of Monmouth County's Department of Public Works
By Art Gallagher
During a press conference at the Monmouth County Hall of Records this afternoon Governor Chris Christie graded the results of the State’s response to this week’s blizzard a “B+” given the enormity of the storm. He said that 95% of the State roads were cleared by Tuesday afternoon.
The Governor praised the leadership of Transportation Commissioner James Simpson, Colonel Joseph Fuentes of the NJ State Police and Senate President Steve Sweeney who was Acting Governor during the storm.
Christie said that there were no indications of work actions on the part of rank and file state workers on the ground working around the clock to clean the state highways and rescue stranded motorists. “I’m proud of them,” Christie said of the State employees who worked the storm, “They saved lives.”
Christie explained his absence and that of Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno from New Jersey during the storm. “My most important job is husband and father. I think I made that clear to the voters before they elected me. I had promised my children a trip to Disney World at the end of my first year as Governor. ”
Christie explained that Guadagno came to him in August about a two week trip her father wanted to take with his children and grandchildren. “We hope it isn’t, but it is probably Kim’s father’s last holiday with his family. I wasn’t about to tell my Lt. Governor to only take one week.” The Governor acknowledge that the administration wanted to keep the circumstances of Guadagno’s absence private out of respect for the family and that he was addressing it publicly, with Guadagno’s consent, in response to the partisan rancor over both Christie and Guadagno being out of state.
MMM will publish video of the press conference later today and over the weekend.
Governor Chris Christie signs his letter to President Obama requesting FEMA disaster relief this moring at the Monmouth County Hall of Records. Assembly Members Mary Pat Angelini, Caroline Casagrande and Dave Rible, background.
Trenton, NJ –
To help New Jersey municipalities and counties recover costs from this week’s severe winter snowstorm, Governor Chris Christie today signed a letter to President Barack Obama seeking a major disaster declaration to secure federal funding and ensure New Jersey communities most affected by the storm receive all possible resources to address extraordinary and unforeseen costs from the snow emergency.
“My pledge is to do all we can to help our municipalities and counties in the aftermath of the blizzard, to clean up and to ease the storm’s financial impact,” Governor Christie said. “I want New Jersey to be in the best possible position to receive disaster aid through a prompt application to the federal government and FEMA.
”In the face of such a ferocious and unusual winter storm, our Department of Transportation, State Police and other agencies mounted an effective response, maximized resources and worked tirelessly for days. The eastern municipalities and counties most impacted also did the best they could under very difficult circumstances. There are always concerns about how things could have gone better, but the fact is this was a rare and unanticipated force of nature that hit our state, and we owe our thanks to all those who worked tirelessly to get us through it.”
Also today, Governor Christie announced the distribution of more than $11.18 million in FEMA disaster aid from successful applications following major storms earlier this year. Distribution of payments to municipalities and counties began yesterday and will continue through Monday. Payment amounts to some of the hardest hit counties from those storms include, for example, $386,344 to Camden County, $308,936 to Burlington County, $291,612 to Gloucester County, $284,561 to Atlantic County, $278,638 to Cumberland County and $278,091 to Salem County. Payments for amounts ranging from thousands of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars will go to dozens of other municipalities and counties.
In his letter to President Obama, the Governor noted that storm conditions in 13 counties exceed the standards set to qualify for federal disaster assistance. The qualifying counties are Atlantic, Bergen, Cape May, Cumberland, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset and Union. New Jersey, through data being collected by the State Police Office of Emergency Management, will provide additional supporting information following the completion of a Preliminary Damage Assessment pursuant to FEMA’s Snow Assistance Policy.
The snowfall, which began the morning after Christmas, broke many of the historic records established and maintained by the National Weather Service and National Climatic Data Center, as described in an attachment to the Governor’s letter.
“In light of these severe conditions, federal assistance is critical to properly and fairly mitigate the financial impact of this major snowstorm on State and local budgets, which are both currently under tremendous pressure due to severe economic conditions,” Governor Christie wrote in his letter to the President.
Governor Christie urged counties and municipalities to prepare damage and cost assessments as quickly as possible to move the aid application process along as expeditiously as possible.
Governor Chris Christie will be at the Monmouth County Hall of Records this morning for the purpose of signing a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency requesting disaster aid for storm releated expenses resulting from the blizzard this week.
He will be available to the press at 11:30am in the Freeholders Meeting Room.
It snowed too much too fast. That’s what went wrong in New Jersey this week. New York too.
It wasn’t a personal snowstorm, yet naturally many, if not most, people relate to the aftermath of a storm out of their personal concerns. The numb minded media, especially the Asbury Park Press editorial board, who is once again is living up to their Neptune Nudniks moniker, granted a full page in the print edition to selfish rants, 12 pages on their website, contributing to an online frenzy of wind-bagging.
The Nudniks are contributing to directly to the frenzy with yet another editorial premised on inaccurate information and assumptions. They say the storm was predicted days in advance. Hogwash. Forecasts as late as Saturday night were predicting snow falls in Central Jersey in the 12-18 inch range. It wasn’t until just a few hours before the storm hit that any forecaster was talking about accumulations of 25-30 inches with 55 mph winds. Folks in Buffalo or Syracuse might be expected to be prepared for the type of storm we got, but the truth of the matter is that New Jersey’s various governments don’t have the equipment or the personnell to handle the this type of weather quickly. That is why the clean up is continuing now, 48 hours after the snow stopped falling.
The Nudniks started their editorial rant accusing road crews of “surrendering” to the storm.
I was out Sunday night to plow my properties. The DOT crews were out. The visablity was terrible. It was dangerous to be plowing. It was snowing too hard too fast.
If they were not still out there cleaning up, I would suggest those crews dump truck loads of snow that they surrendered to at APP headquarters in Neptune. Cancelled subscriptions should suffice for cooler heads.
It snowed too much to fast. That is what happened. There have been lots of rumors and comments that there have been job actions and sick outs in some towns and maybe the state. Given how well Monmouth County’s crews performed vis-a-vis many towns and the DOT, you have to wonder. Investigations should take place and corrective action taken where appropriate. However the APP should be tracking down the validity of those rumors rather than wind-bagging that road crews “seem to have” quit on the storm.
The media driven brouhaha over Governor Christie and Lt. Governor Guadagno being out of state at the same time is as absurd and insulting as the Nudniks’ assumption that road crews quit.
As published elsewhere and confirmed by MMM, Guadagno and her brothers are spending what is most likely their last Christmas holiday with their father who is suffering from Stage 4 prostate cancer. The trip was planned and booked months ago with Christie’s approval. Shame on the pundits and politicians who have been trying to score points over Guadagno’s absence.
Once the news about why Guadagno is “on vacation” at the same time as the Governor gets around, watch he feeding frenzy on Christie step up. I’m looking forward to his first press conference back. I hope he shames the mindless numbskulls of the press.
There’s little going on in Trenton this week. That’s why it was a good week for the Governor to take his family to Disney World. Guadango’s situation made the decision to take a vacation delicate. Senate President Steve Sweeney’s good character made the vacation doable. But various pundits and political hacks won’t care. Let the Christie kids give up one more thing because their Dad is tough to lay a political glove on.
Does anyone really doubt that Christie would have returned to New Jersey given the “state of emergency” if it was possible? The airports were closed. They are just opening today.
Christie’s presence would not have made a difference in how the snow was cleaned up, or not cleaned up. His leadership from the bully pulpit would have made a difference though. He would have told the media the truth. It snowed too much too fast. We’re doing the very best that we can and we’re working about the clock, he would have said. He would have done a much better job than New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg did when he told NY that everything is OK and that they should go shopping. Christie would have told people to remain calm and safe; to look out for the elderly and disabled. And the media would have had something responsible to write about, rather than create a frenzy over the fact that it snowed too much too fast.
Paul Mulshine says he will blame Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno if his cat poops on the rug. Really, he said that.
Mulshine’s cat usually poops outdoors, but the usual spot, probably on a neighbor’s property, is snow covered and the pussy won’t go where it usually goes. Mulshine wasn’t prepared for the storm. He couldn’t navigate the snow covered roads to get kitty litter so his pussy would have a warm place to do it.
Guadagno is at fault because she’s on vacation out of state at the same time Governor Christie is out of state, leaving Senate President Steve Sweeney in charge as Acting Governor.
Mulshine speculates that Guadagno vacationing at the same time as Christie could be the end of her political career. He quotes Rick Shaftan as saying that “nothing will screw up your poll numbers more than snow.” Shaftan, who is famous for talking to Mulshine and for running Steve Lonegan’s 2009 gubernatorial primary, noted that former New York Mayor John Lindsay lost the 1969 GOP primary due to mishandling a snow storm. Lindsay was reelected on a third party line.
If Shaftan, Lonegan, Mulshine and the ideologues were in charge of the NJ GOP, like they want to be, a third party candidate could get elected in New Jersey too.
Mulshine and Shaftan speculate that Guadagno wants the GOP nomination to run against U.S. Senator Bob Menendez in 2012. Yet another example of ideologues who can’t count.
If the NJ GOP mounts a top tier talent challenge to Menendez in 2012 we’re in deep trouble as a nation. Barack Obama will be on the top of the Democratic ticket in 2012. The only way a Republican is going to win a state wide race in 2012 is if Obama is unelectable in New Jersey. If that is the political environment in 2012 the economy will be in worse shape than it is now. Obama’s poll numbers are over 50% in NJ now, as bad as things are.
Mulshine and Shaftan have a strange bedfellow in windbag Senator Ray Lesniak who called in from Florida to criticise Guadagno and Christie for leaving Sweeney in charge of cleaning up the snow.
Sweeney assured Christie he wouldn’t create mischief while keeping the Governor’s seat warm. If Christie didn’t trust Sweeney to keep his word, other arrangements would have been made. If Sweeney breaks his word, other arrangements will be made in the future.
The constitutional purpose of the Lt. Governor’s office is to prevent one person from controlling two-thirds of the state government, as was the case when Dick Codey was Governor and Senate President after Jim McGreevey’s resignation and when Don DiFrancesco held both offices after Christine Whitman’s resignation. The current banter is nonsense.
This afternoon at 4:30 Governor Chris Christie signed a commutation order of Brian Aitken’s prison sentence of seven years for illegal possesion of firearms to time served effective today. The Governor order that Aitken be released from prison as soon as administratively possible.
According to numerous news reports, Aitken had purchased his firearms legally while a resident of Colorado and was transporting them pursuant to instructions he had received from the New Jersey State Police while moving back to his native New Jersey when he was arrested in January of 2009. The judge presiding over Aitken’s trial did not allow the jury to consider the exemption to New Jersey’s firearm carry law for transporting weapons between residences.
It’s official—Governor Christie has commuted Brian’s sentence and he will be home before Christmas!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU everybody. If it wasn’t for your letters, phone calls and support this never would have happened. What a joyous Christmas this will be. Thank again from the bottom of our hearts. Brian Aitken has been freed!
Governor Chris Christie was featured prominently in the 60 MINUTES segment, State Budgets: Day of Reckoning last night. See InTheLobbyfor a synopsis and links to the broadcast and extra footage.
There were two key phrases Christie used that caught my attention when talking about the state’s pension and retiree health care obligations. 1) Christie said that most of the general public is incredulous that there are still people still getting pensions. Most of us have 401K’s that have been hammered and we don’t know how we are going to fund our retirements. 2) Christie said, as I have heard him say before, that while public employees are up in arms now, if he doesn’t take the necessary actions to reform the pension and benefits system, it won’t exist in 10 years.
I hope the second comment is not an indication that Christie is going to try to save the pension and benefits system. It is beyond saving and it is not appropriate to try.
As Christie’s two least favorite conservatives (besides Sarah Palin), Paul Mulshine and Rick Merkt wrote in September, if the state pension system was a private pension system the federal government would have shut it down already.
If the federal government is not going to do the right thing regarding the insolvent state pension systems throughout the county, New Jersey and Chris Christie should lead the way. Scrap the pension system. Distribute the money in the system equitably to its beneficiaries’ retirement accounts and let’s move on. Set up 401K type retirement programs for government workers and retirees.
The private sector has already handled this crisis and have given the states a model for how to do it. It’s not fair and it won’t be pretty, but it has to be done. All we need is a leader with the courage to do it.
I believe Chris Christie is that leader. I hope I am right.
