Has Trenton turned Christie upside down?

Jim McGreevey is Governor Christie’s Ethical Compass?

Govenor Chris Christie at his Belmar Town Hall on July 31. Photo by Art Gallagher

In the summer of 2004, U.S. Attorney Chris Christie had Governor Jim McGreevey on the ropes.  McGreevey was “State Official #1,” an unindicted co-conspirator in a pay for play scheme that nabbed Democratic fund-raiser David D’Amiano.  A few weeks later McGreevey was resigning, purportedly because he was a “Gay American” who gave his boyfriend an important homeland security job that he wasn’t qualified to perform.

Yesterday, a decade later, Governor Christie is hanging his hat, and his orange sweater, on a McGreevey Executive Order that exempts the Governor from New Jersey’s ethics laws against accepting gifts.

Chris Christie marched into Trenton promising to turn the place upside down. Five years later McGreevey is Christie’s ethical compass.   Not the man McGreevey has become over the last 10 years.  Christie’s ethical compass is the man he investigated and probably could have indicted and convicted.  To paraphrase Christie on the stump for Mitt Romney two years ago, something got turned upside down in Trenton, but it wasn’t the culture of government that Christie promised he would impact and overturn.

About the best thing we can say about Christie accepting gifts of travel on private jets and seats in owner’s boxes at NFL games is at least it was family friendly entertainment with the cameras running, unlike the alleged entertainment U.S. Senator Bob Menendez flew off to on a friend’s private jet.

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Christie Pushed Port Authority To Award Deal To Jerry Jones’ Firm

Less than two years before Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones paid for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s tickets and travel to NFL games, government documents show Christie personally pushed the Port Authority to approve a lucrative contract for a firm part-owned by Jones. Christie nonetheless accepted the gifts from Jones, despite New Jersey ethics rules barring… Read the rest of this entry »

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Speaker Prieto slams Christie-Cuomo vetoes of Port Authority reform bills

In a press statement, New Jersey Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto of Secaucus blasts New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for vetoing legislation aimed at reforming the Port Authority. “These vetoes are terribly disappointing news for the people of New Jersey and New York, especially the commuters who get stung by toll… Read the rest of this entry »

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Ex-Port Authority head ends suit over ethics probe

TRENTON — The former chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has dropped his lawsuit against New Jersey’s state ethics commission. Court documents show David Samson filed paperwork dropping the suit in U.S. District Court on Wednesday. His decision was first reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer. Phone calls to Samson’s lawyers were… Read the rest of this entry »

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Christie and Cuomo Enact Port Authority Reforms, Encourage Legislative Concurrance

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo released and endorsed a report issued by the Bi-State Panel on the Future of the Port Authority which calls for reforms to the agency that the governors called “comprehensive and wholesale changes” in a joint statement this evening.

In accepting the report by the panel comprised of three current commissioners of the Port Authority and the chief counsels of each governor, Christie and Cuomo said they are reorganizing the overall operations, leadership and management of the multi-billion dollar organization.  They said that the reorganization will “return the Port Authority fully to its original mission – developing and maintaining the world’s largest transportation system and infrastructure.”

Additionally, the governors each vetoed identical legislation approved by the New York and New Jersey Legislatures which calls for increased transparency of the Port Authority. The governors said they “accept and endorse the transparency legislation” “but with some sensible changes to eliminate confusion that would be caused by the bill as currently drafted.” The changes are included in Christie’s Conditional Veto message to the New Jersey Legislature.   New York’s governor does not have conditional veto powers.

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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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Manhattan DA probes secret settlement between Port Authority, seaport company

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Bridgegate’s 30 Pivotal Hours: How Kevin O’Dowd Missed The Signs

Bridgegate’s 30 Pivotal Hours: How Kevin O’Dowd Missed The Signs (via NJSpotlight)

Kevin O’Dowd, Christie’s chief of staff, entered Drumthwacket, the governor’s mansion in Princeton, as usual by the side entrance, filing through the kitchen and the dining room, where he was surprised to see Gov. Chris Christie sitting huddled…

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Christie to name former attorney general as Port Authority chairman

Christie to name former attorney general as Port Authority chairman (via NJ.com)

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie today plans to name one former attorney general of New Jersey to replace another as chairman of the embattled Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which has come under intense scrutiny in recent months, The Star…

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Breaking Up PA Would Solve Christie’s Transportation Trust Fund Problem

Breaking Up PA Would Solve Christie’s Transportation Trust Fund Problem (via NJSpotlight)

Gov. Chris Christie’s proposal to dismantle the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in order to give each state control more than $1.3 billion in annual tolls would solve his biggest fiscal headache: where to find $1.6 billion a year in state…

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