Teenagers partying in the New Jersey Governor’s office
by digby
Lot’s of people love Chris Christie’s sophomoric bullying. They find it refreshing that he tells average citizens to “sit down and shut up” and otherwise acts like a nasty teenage boy. Here’s how that immature behavior plays out when it’s coupled with political power:
The hinge of the plot Mr. Wildstein has outlined for the authorities was a uniquely New Jersey form of punishment: making suburban drivers sit in traffic.
The first mention of it came in March 2011, as Mr. Christie’s star among national Republicans was first rising.
Mr. Wildstein, then the chief of staff to Mr. Baroni, Mr. Christie’s top staff appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, mentioned to Mr. Baroni that they could use the local access lanes to the bridge from Fort Lee as leverage against the town’s mayor, Mark Sokolich.
Mr. Christie’s strategists were hoping to use his 2013 re-election campaign to build a case for him to run for president. Their goal was to secure endorsements from a broad spectrum of officials, including Democrats such as Mayor Sokolich.
This cultivating fell mostly to young staff members in the wing of Mr. Christie’s front office known as Intergovernmental Affairs. In August 2013, Ms. Kelly, the deputy chief of staff in that office, expressed disappointment to Mr. Wildstein that Mr. Sokolich, who had been the subject of intense wooing by her office and the authority, was not going to endorse Mr. Christie.
Ms. Kelly, like Mr. Baroni and Mr. Wildstein, was a loyal lieutenant, who joined the governor and members of his inner circle at events outside of work.
Mr. Wildstein mentioned the lanes as a source of leverage. Ms. Kelly called a young employee and instructed him to confirm that Mr. Sokolich had refrained from an endorsement, then emailed Mr. Wildstein: “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”
That was mid-August. In the coming days, she confirmed again that Mr. Sokolich would not endorse.
And she instructed her employees not to “interact” with him.
A week later Mr. Wildstein and Ms. Kelly joked in their text messages about punishing a rabbi who had also fallen into disfavor. “We cannot cause traffic problems in front of his house, can we?” Ms. Kelly wrote.
“Flights to Tel Aviv all mysteriously delayed,” Mr. Wildstein countered.
“Perfect,” she replied.
The three then made up a cover story: They would say that they were doing a traffic study so that unwitting Port Authority staff members would go along with the plan, making it appear to be legitimate. That would require some planning and the involvement of unwitting participants.
Mr. Wildstein had a traffic engineer prepare several configurations; Mr. Baroni and Ms. Kelly agreed that the one that funneled three access lanes into a single one would inflict the worst punishment on the mayor, by creating the most severe traffic backup on the streets of Fort Lee. They would steer that lane to a tollbooth that accepted cash as well as E-ZPass; there would be no access to the E-ZPass-only lane that offered a faster commute.
They were ready in August, but Mr. Baroni recommended waiting. After all, traffic tended to be lighter in summer; “the punitive impact would be lessened,” the indictment says. They bided their time. They agreed: They would do it the first day of school, Monday, Sept. 9, 2013, in order to “intensify Mayor Sokolich’s punishment.”
They agreed not to tell him, or any officials in Fort Lee, so that there would be no time to prepare. It would also, the indictment says, “keep Fort Lee residents and G.W.B. commuters from altering their routes.”
And though the three had agreed on the date, they also agreed not to share it with any Port Authority workers involved in the closings until the Friday before, to avoid any leaks.
They understood that closing down lanes to the world’s busiest bridge would not be uncomplicated, or inexpensive.
Mr. Wildstein brought in a backup toll collector who had to be paid overtime, in case the one on duty had to go the bathroom.
He had traffic engineers rush that Friday to collect data for a fake traffic study. The police would have to work through an extended rush hour.
It is this use, or misuse, of government resources that is at the heart of the case against the three.
You can’t blame them entirely. Clearly Christie had created a culture of immature bullying behavior and his staff took to it eagerly. But the buck stops with him. And the reason it’s destroying his political future regardless of whether or not he’s personally implicated in this particular scheme is because it’s all to believable that he could have ordered them to do it. In fact, it would be just like him.
I don’t think anyone really wants another president who is this petty and vengeful. We already had one of those and he had to resign from office in disgrace.
Update: Recall this creepy quote:
New Jersey Gov. Chris Chriostie (R) reportedly assured a room of GOP activists recently that Russian President Vladimir Putin wouldn’t dare treat him the way Putin treats President Obama.
The New York Times reported on the remarks on Monday, although it was unclear exactly when the meeting took place. The newspaper described it as “a few days after Russian forces invaded Crimea” and said Christie had been asked how he would deal with Russian aggression in Ukraine.
He had trouble selling his audience on a tough stance, the Times reported:
According to an audio recording of the event, he said Mr. Putin had taken the measure of Mr. Obama. “I don’t believe, given who I am, that he would make the same judgment,” Mr. Christie said. “Let’s leave it at that.
One attendee described Mr. Christie’s answer as disturbingly heavy on swagger and light on substance. Another called it “uncomfortable to watch.”
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