"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."
From NorthJersy.com:
In one exchange of text messages on the second day of the lane closures, Wildstein alludes to messages the Fort Lee mayor had left complaining that school buses were having trouble getting through the traffic.
“Is it wrong that I’m smiling,” the recipient of the text message responded to Wildstein. The person’s identity is not clear because the documents are partially redacted for unknown reasons.
“No,” Wildstein wrote in response.
“I feel badly about the kids,” the person replied to Wildstein. “I guess.”
“They are the children of Buono voters,” Wildstein wrote, making a reference to Barbara Buono, the Democratic candidate for governor, who lost to Christie in a landslide in November.
The whole thing is pretty appalling, but for me, the above exchange is the true money shot. So school buses full of kids are stuck in the traffic mess?
Hey, no biggie. Their parents didn’t vote the way we like.
For those who aren’t familiar with the ongoing saga of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and his reputation for irresponsible vindictiveness, what happened is this:
The Mayor of Fort Lee, NJ, Mark Sokolich, declined to endorse Chris Christie for re-election.
Apparently the Christie administration decided to retaliate a few months ago. On August 13th, Bridget Kelly, Governor Christie’s deputy chief of staff for legislative and intergovernmental affairs sent a bright little personal email to Port Authority Christie appointee, David Wildstein, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”
On September 9th, the day school opened, two lanes from Fort Lee to the Washington Bridge were closed without warning. Mayor Sokolich phoned Christie appointee Bill Baroni (deputy executive director of the Port Authority.) Baroni’s assistant then emailed Baroni saying that Sokolich had called describing “an urgent matter of public safety in Fort Lee.” In subsequent phone-calls, Sokolich practically pleaded “Help please. It’s maddening.”
The response, as one of the merry pranksters at the Port Authority put it?
“Radio silence.”
From September 9th until September 12th, Fort Lee’s access to the Washington Bridge was reduced from three lanes to one. Emergency vehicles were blocked. Some of those kids Wildstein was chortling about apparently sat in their school buses for hours. I very much hope that, during those three days, people in need of emergency assistance didn’t end up dying because of the time lost getting them help.
What this reveals is the bizarre notion of “civil servant” apparently embraced by, if not the Christie administration, than his appointees. A civil servant is supposed to ensure things go well for citizens, whether those citizens voted for the current administration or not - not mete out punishment in the form of dangerous traffic blockage. It's especially striking to note what comes across as a sort of gleeful impunity. I'm reminded of the famous Enron recordings in which traders laughed about the California customers left in the dark through outages they'd engineered.
This may put paid to Christie's hopes for a presidential run. Let's hope so.
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In one exchange of text messages on the second day of the lane closures, Wildstein alludes to messages the Fort Lee mayor had left complaining that school buses were having trouble getting through the traffic.
“Is it wrong that I’m smiling,” the recipient of the text message responded to Wildstein. The person’s identity is not clear because the documents are partially redacted for unknown reasons.
“No,” Wildstein wrote in response.
“I feel badly about the kids,” the person replied to Wildstein. “I guess.”
“They are the children of Buono voters,” Wildstein wrote, making a reference to Barbara Buono, the Democratic candidate for governor, who lost to Christie in a landslide in November.
The whole thing is pretty appalling, but for me, the above exchange is the true money shot. So school buses full of kids are stuck in the traffic mess?
Hey, no biggie. Their parents didn’t vote the way we like.
For those who aren’t familiar with the ongoing saga of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and his reputation for irresponsible vindictiveness, what happened is this:
The Mayor of Fort Lee, NJ, Mark Sokolich, declined to endorse Chris Christie for re-election.
Apparently the Christie administration decided to retaliate a few months ago. On August 13th, Bridget Kelly, Governor Christie’s deputy chief of staff for legislative and intergovernmental affairs sent a bright little personal email to Port Authority Christie appointee, David Wildstein, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”
On September 9th, the day school opened, two lanes from Fort Lee to the Washington Bridge were closed without warning. Mayor Sokolich phoned Christie appointee Bill Baroni (deputy executive director of the Port Authority.) Baroni’s assistant then emailed Baroni saying that Sokolich had called describing “an urgent matter of public safety in Fort Lee.” In subsequent phone-calls, Sokolich practically pleaded “Help please. It’s maddening.”
The response, as one of the merry pranksters at the Port Authority put it?
“Radio silence.”
From September 9th until September 12th, Fort Lee’s access to the Washington Bridge was reduced from three lanes to one. Emergency vehicles were blocked. Some of those kids Wildstein was chortling about apparently sat in their school buses for hours. I very much hope that, during those three days, people in need of emergency assistance didn’t end up dying because of the time lost getting them help.
What this reveals is the bizarre notion of “civil servant” apparently embraced by, if not the Christie administration, than his appointees. A civil servant is supposed to ensure things go well for citizens, whether those citizens voted for the current administration or not - not mete out punishment in the form of dangerous traffic blockage. It's especially striking to note what comes across as a sort of gleeful impunity. I'm reminded of the famous Enron recordings in which traders laughed about the California customers left in the dark through outages they'd engineered.
This may put paid to Christie's hopes for a presidential run. Let's hope so.
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