Use of Christie in Sandy ads cleared by feds

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Stronger than the storm?

New Jersey’s economy should be booming with reconstruction. It isn’t.

There should be hundreds of construction workers in Highlands, Union Beach, Sea Bright and other Sandy impacted communities every day.  They are not working and don’t look to be anytime soon.

Short changed by insurance companies/the National Flood Insurance Plan. Arduous applications for aid followed by red tape, bureaucratic incompetence and rules that halt rebuilding.  Expensive and time consuming zoning approvals to rebuild what was there before.  Pleas for help are answered with finger pointing between bureaucrats at different levels of government who are getting paid for their bullshit and going home every night.

“GO, GO, GO, REBUILD, you’ll get reimbursed,” we were told after the storm. We trusted our government. They lied.

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Reckless Media Reports Federal Investigation Into Christie On Pallone’s Say So

Governor Chris Christie and HUD Sec Shaun Donovan announce Sandy Relief Grants in Highlands, April 29, 2013

More on this story here and here.

UPDATE:  Ian O’Connor of the HUD’s Inspector General’s Office responded to our inquiry regarding the audit into the #Stronger Than The Storm ad campaign.

We asked:

“Is this audit anything other than what would occur in the normal course of events regarding any HUD grant?

Congressman Frank Pallone thought it would be clever to inform the media that the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s audit into funds granted for Sandy Relief was an investigation into Governor Chris Christie and his appearance in last summer’s #Stronger Than The Storm ad campaign.

CNN and the left stream media either fell for it or went along this morning. 

MMM asked Ray Zaccaro, Pallone’s press contact in Washington for documentation that the audit is anything other than the normal course of business. Zaccaro said there was no documentation, just a phone call from someone at HUD responding to Pallone’s August letter on the matter saying, “yeah, we’ll look into it.”  Zaccaro said that HUD wouldn’t discuss investigations, “except with us, Members of Congress.”

MMM reached out to Brian  Sullivan in HUD’s press office for confirmation of a separate investigation.  Sullivan referred us to Marta Metelko in the HUD Inspector General’s office.  We received an auto reply from Ms. Metelko referring us to Mr. Ian O’Connor. We’ve yet to hear back from O’Connor.

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Where’s the fleece? #STTS

Photo: Ocean City Patch

Thanksgiving like weather did not keep thousands of people from flocking to the Jersey Shore for the Memorial Day Weekend summer kickoff.

A rapidly slimming Governor Chris Christie braved the cold and dressed for the calendar and cameras.  From the looks of the OceanCityPatch photos, there was no lack of warmth for Christie coming from the swarming crowd.

It took 45 minutes for Christie to move from the boardwalk ramp at Eighth Street three doors down to Manco & Manco Pizza through a mosh pit of well-wishers hoping to shake hands or rub elbows with the rising Republican star. Even outside the swarm of onlookers around Eighth Street, the boardwalk was jammed with visitors on the sunny but brisk first day of the holiday weekend.

Christie crept along to the popular pizza store to greet co-owner Chuck Bangle and a host of Ocean City officials and community leaders in a staged photo-op.

Christie’s visit included no speech to the public and no comment on issues related to the storm — just an opportunity for the governor to meet and greet shore residents and visitors.

As a crowd waited for the governor’s arrival, his staff announced that Christie would walk from Eighth Street past Gillian’s Wonderland Pier to Sixth Street. But after about an hour and a half, Christie had not made it to Seventh Street.

Photo:OceanCity Patch

No one complained about beach badges.

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