Former Port Authority chairman Samson tries to head off ethics probe

TRENTON — David Samson, the former chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, filed a federal lawsuit Monday seeking to head off a state ethics probe of his work at the bi-state agency. Samson and his law firm sued the New Jersey State Ethics Commission in U.S. District Court, claiming it does… Read the rest of this entry »

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Timeline Shows Christie and Aide Texting About ‘Bridgegate’ Testimony

file photo by Art Gallagher

Telephone records show that Gov. Chris Christie and his current chief of staff, Regina Egea, exchanged a dozen text messages while a legislative committee was holding a Dec. 3, 2013, hearing on the George Washington Bridge lane closures and traffic jams that soon came to be referred to as “Bridgegate.” A timeline constructed by WNYC/NJPR based…

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Christie bridge scandal probe: U.S. Attorney won’t say if indictments are coming

NEWARK — New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman today deflected questions about whether his investigation into last year’s traffic jams at the George Washington Bridge would lead to federal indictments next month. During a press conference at his office to announce guilty pleas in a long-running medical device probe, Fishman was asked about an NBC 4… Read the rest of this entry »

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Thompson: Bridgegate Indictments Will Be Cover Up Related

Brian Thompson, the WNBC 4-NY reporter who broke the story of potential indictments in the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandals coming next month, told MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki this morning that the likely federal charges will be related to a coordinated effort to cover up.

“This is what ties it all together as a single unified prosecution, ” Thompson said, “that is they are all involved in this, they all have a finger print or more, somewhere in this, which is, what our sources are saying, all wraps up into a conspiracy to cover up.”

Thompson said that the alleged cover up started “that week of the shut downs” not a month or two months later.  Thompson reiterated that the cover up began on the same week that the lane closures occurred.

Thompson said that at least two of the principals have made a deal, are singing, or are trying to make a deal, with the U.S. Attorney.

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Moody’s: New Jersey’s Pension Funds Could Run Dry in Just 10 Years

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NBC: Bridgegate Indictments Could Be Coming in January

One day after the State Legislative Committee’s report stating that there was no evidence that Governor Chris Christie had prior knowledge of the September 2013 George Washington Bridge lane closures, WNBC-4 New York’s Brian Thompson is reporting that multiple sources say that U. S. Attorney Paul Fishman’s investigation into the scandal could be wrapped up by the end of next month resulting in “at least a half dozen potential indictments.”

Thompson’s report said that those facing potential indictment are former Christie staffers and current and former Port Authority officials.

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New Jersey Governor Chris Christie kicks off Canadian visit with support for Keystone XL, praise for Harper

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Dems’ Christie Probe Comes Up Empty

The Joint Legislative Committee led by Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) and Senator Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) have produced an ‘interim” report that has found no evidence that Governor Chris Christie had any prior knowledge of the George Washington Bridge lane closures in September of 2013.

The report, which was made available to members of the committee yesterday and is scheduled to be made public on Monday, was reviewed by NJ.com who first reported on its contents.

“At present, there is no conclusive evidence as to whether Governor Chris Christie was or was not aware of the lane closures either in advance of their implementation or contemporaneously as they were occurring,” the report states. “Nor is there conclusive evidence as to whether Governor Christie did or did not have involvement in implementing or directing the lane closures.”

As has been widely reported since the “Bridgegate” story broke last January, the report indicates that Christie’s Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Ann Kelly and Port Authority staffer David Wildstein ordered the lane closures.  The Wisniewski/Weinberg investigation has not discovered why Kelly emailed Wildstein in August of 2013 “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”  It has been widely speculated that the lane closures were political retribution aimed at Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for failing to endorse Christie’s reelection.  The report repeats the speculation.

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Christie Nominates Prominent National Democrats To Rutgers Board Of Governors

Susan McCue. photo via Message-Global.com

Governor Chris Christie this morning nominated two distinguished Rutgers Almuni to serve on the University’s Board of Governors.

Susan McCue,  of Alexandria, VA, is the President of Message Global, a public affairs firm she founded in 2008 after serving as Chief of Staff to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid from 1999-2007.

“One of the nations’s top political strategists,” according to her website, McCue co-founded and co-chairs Reid’s Senate Majority PAC.  She is on the board of American Bridge 21st Century SuperPAC, with whom she shares her Washington, DC office space, according to the NY Times .

American Bridge has a page on it’s website that features videos of Christie.

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Christie Vetoes Pig Gestation Legislation

Calling the legislation a “solution in search of a problem,” Governor Chris Christie vetoed  S998 today, legislation that would have outlawed pigs being inhumanely crated while gestating.

“It is a political movement masquerading and substantive policy,” Christie said in his veto message.

Christie stated that the practice is not occurring in New Jersey and compared the bill that another he vetoed…a bill banning hydraulic fracking in New Jersey when there is no frackable shale in the State.

“I urge the Legislature to stop using their law making authority to play politics with issues that do not exist in our State,” Christie wrote,  “We have significant issues to deal with; I urge them to get to work on those issues and stop following misguided partisans and special interests who want to use the the law making process as a political cudgel on issues outside our borders.”

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