more christy charges

This "bad" press has to stop. It's fueling support by the Right Wing Empire
Builders for Christy's presidency.
Just their kind of guy.

Carl Jarvis



Subject: more christy charges

New Jersey mayor: Christie's staff held Sandy relief funds hostage By
William M. Welch USA TODAY The mayor of Hoboken, N.J., says she was told by
top officials

in Gov. Chris Christie's administration that she would have to go along with
a private development project the governor wanted in order for her city to

receive Hurricane Sandy relief money. Mayor Dawn Zimmer, a Democrat who had
previously supported Christie, a Republican, made the allegation Saturday on

MSNBC. She named Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and Richard Constable, Christie's
community affairs commissioner, as the two officials who delivered messages
on

behalf of the governor, who has seen his 2016 GOP presidential prospects
threatened by a growing scandal over allegations aides engineered a traffic
tie-up

on the George Washington Bridge to settle a score with the Democratic mayor
of Fort Lee. "The bottom line is, it's not fair for the governor to hold
Sandy

funds hostage for the City of Hoboken because he wants me to give back to
one private developer," she said on the program "UP w/ Steve Kornacki." "...

I know it's very complicated for the public to really understand all of
this, but I have a legal obligation to follow the law, to bring balanced
development

to Hoboken. Spokespersons for Constable and Christie denied the claim, the
cable network reported. Zimmer said Guadagno pulled her aside during an
event

in Hoboken in May and made the connection explicit, NJ.com reported.
Zimmer's own recollection recorded in her diary was quoted on the program:
"She pulls

me aside and says that I need to move forward with the Rockefeller project.
It's very important to the governor. The word is that you are against it and

you need to move forward or we are not going to be able to help you. I know
it's not right. These things should not be connected. But they are, she
says.

'If you tell anyone I said it, I will deny it.' The development project
involves a 19-block area that is one of the city's last undeveloped
properties.

Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak disputed Zimmer's claim: "Mayor Zimmer
has been effusive in her public praise of the Governor's Office and the
assistance

we've provided in terms of economic development and Sandy aid," Drewniak
said in a statement to MSNBC. "What or who is driving her only now to say
such

outlandishly false things is anyone's guess. Zimmer stood by her charge,
offering to take a lie-detector test. "I'd be more than willing to testify
under

oath and - and answer any questions and provide any documents, take a lie
detector test," Zimmer said. "And, you know, my question back to them is,
'Would

all of you? Would all of you be willing do that same thing, to testify under
oath, to take a lie detector test?' At the time, the Christie administration

was distributing Hurricane Sandy recovery funds. Zimmer had requested $100
million for Hoboken, which was devasted by the storm. The city received
$342,000.

New Jersey Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone said on the same program that
Zimmer's accusations suggest an "abuse of power" by the Christie
administration.

"This is something that the U.S. attorney should be looking at, and has to
be further investigated," he said. Zimmer said making the accusations was
"one

of the hardest things I've ever done," but said it was "not fair for the
governor to hold Sandy funds hostage for the city of Hoboken. "I cannot give
a

windfall to one property owner because the governor wants me to in exchange
for Sandy funds,' Zimmer said.





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