The races for Congress in Monmouth County are snooze fests. Our incumbent congressmen, Chris Smith and Frank Pallone are heavily favored to be reelected by wide margins.
But just south of us in Ocean and Burlington Counties, the CD-3 race between freshman Democrat Congressman Andy Kim and Republican businessman David Richter is one of the most competitive and closely watch races in the nation. The partisan balance of power in the House of Representative could depend on the outcome of that election.
David Wildstein, the former Port Authority official who has pleaded guilty in the Bridgegate scandal, accused Governor Chris Christie of revealing secret Grand Jury testimony during a 2010 meeting about Port Authority Police leadership, a violation of federal law, according to a report in The New York Times.
In answering Interrogatories in a civil case unrelated to the George Washington Bridge closure, Wildstein swore that in June of 2010 Christie directed Port Authority to fire Arthur Cifelli, the agency’s Police Deputy Superintendent and to hire Jerry Speziale, then the Passaic County Sheriff to fill the post.
Wildstein alleged that Christie told those in the meeting that Cifelli had perjured himself in Grand Jury proceedings related to former Senate President John Lynch while Christie was U. S. Attorney.
Alan Zegas, David Wildstein’s attorney, told the press today that Governor Chris Christie knew of the September 2013 George Washington Bridge Lane closures that have become known as Bridgegate while they were occurring.
“Mr. Christie know of the lane closures while they were occurring. Evidence exists to establish that,” Zegas said.
Christie has steadfastly denied any knowledge of or involvement in the lane closures which Wildstein confessed today were designed as political retribution against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich , a Democrat, for refusing to endorse Republican Christie’s reelection.
NEWARK — Former Port Authority executive David Wildstein has pleaded guilty for his role in the closure of local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge. He admitted conspiring with Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly to “punish” Fort Lee mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Gov. Chris Christie in his re-election bid. Wildstein will be… Read the rest of this entry »
It turns out that the Bloomberg Business story that David Wildstein, Governor Chris Christie’s former #2 man at Port Authority of NY/NJ,would plead guilty to an unspecified federal charge associated with the Bridgegate scandal today, is not so.
U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman’s Public Affairs Office sends an email to the media every morning with a heads up of proceeding that are planned for the day. There was no proceedings including Wildstein in this morning’s email. I emailed Matthew Reilly, the Public Information Officer. “Nothing on Wildstein? Was the Bloomberg leak another false alarm?” “Nothing on Wildstein,” Reilly responded.
There were going to be Bridgegate indictments announced in December, January and March, according to mainstream press reports. They never happened.
Leaks out of the Justice Department have not been reliable since Chris Christie was U.S. Attorney.
David Wildstein, the founder of PolitickerNJ under the pseudonym Wally Edge, former Mayor of Livingston, former high school chum of Governor Chris Christie and Christie’s number 2 man at the Port Authority of NY/NJ until he resigned under pressure over the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal know as Bridgegate, is set to plead guilty to so far unspecified charges in federal court tomorrow, according to a report at Bloomberg Business.
