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Ray Nagin: Former NO Mayor Indicted for Bribery (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Rayderr
- Start date
NCCommish
Footballguy
I didn't see anything about meth and sex with gay hookers so probably not.
IvanKaramazov
Footballguy
It's a parlor game. When you see a newspaper article about some politician or another being indicted/arrested/etc and the article doesn't mention his party affiliation, 9 times out of 10 he's a democrat.
Mr. Pickles
Footballguy
"New Orleans is a chocolate city."
BigSteelThrill
Footballguy
He deserves to get buried.
NCCommish
Footballguy
Seems like that is a case of selective memory to me. I have seen articles I knew were about GOPers but it never mentioned their party.
Interesting...Here is the CBS News report on it:
"(AP) NEW ORLEANS - Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was indicted Friday on charges that he used his office for personal gain, accepting payoffs, free trips and gratuities from contractors while the city was struggling to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
The charges against Nagin are the outgrowth of a City Hall corruption investigation that already has resulted in guilty pleas by two former city officials and two businessmen and a prison sentence for a former city vendor.
The federal indictment accuses Nagin of accepting more than $160,000 in bribes and truckloads of free granite for his family business in exchange for promoting the interests of a local businessman who secured millions of dollars in city contract work after the 2005 hurricane. The businessman, Frank Fradella, pleaded guilty in June to bribery conspiracy and securities-fraud charges and has been cooperating with federal authorities."
Way down in the article it mentions that he was a Democrat who supported a Republican Governor, apparently to indicate that he wasn't really a Democrat.
Now here is CBS News reporting in 2009:
"Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator and a figure in Alaska politics since before statehood, was indicted Tuesday on seven counts of failing to disclose thousands of dollars in services he received from a company that helped renovate his home.
Stevens, the first sitting U.S. senator to face federal indictment since 1993, has been dogged by a federal investigation into his home renovation project and whether he pushed for fishing legislation that also benefited his son, an Alaska lobbyist."
See the difference?
Furious Styles
Footballguy
Shocking
McGarnicle
Footballguy
Wow, I thought he was just incompetent.
IvanKaramazov
Footballguy
Yeah, it's weird to see this kind of corruption pop up in Louisiana of all places.
pittstownkiller
Footballguy
Hey Todd, nice to see you using your pen name.
pittstownkiller
Footballguy
This is surprising to you?
NCCommish
Footballguy
I see we see what we want. Here is the actual paragraph on Nagins politics from CBS:
So first we do have Nagin's party affiliation explained so that is vast liberal media conspiracy myth one down. Then we see that they explain he ran as independent minded Dem who crossed party lines. In your hermetically sealed echo chamber that is to prove he wasn't a real Democrat. In my world it's called background reporting.
NCCommish
Footballguy
No idea who Todd is but I am sure this is just hilarious.
Rayderr
Footballguy
I believe he's referring to Todd Andrews. It's not a compliment.
Of course it is.
Joe T
Footballguy
Tom Servo
Nittany Beavers
It wasn't a matter of if, but when.
G
Guest
Guest
It's normally held up as such a bastion of good governance.
glock
"Don't grumble, give a whistle!"
Who'da thunk??
G
Guest
Guest
I'm surprised you haven't pulled you Both Sides Do Ittm shtick on your own thread.
Furious Styles
Footballguy
These thieves all seem to do a very poor job of covering their tracks. If it was me, I would be setting up offshore accounts and shell companies with very tangled webs well before ever taking office.
Rayderr
Footballguy
Both side suck. I'm always willing to admit that. Are you?
G
Guest
Guest
Nah, that's your thing.
Henry Ford
Footballguy
Update: Federal prosecutors win on 20 of 21 counts.
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2014/02/post_370.html#incart_big-photo
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2014/02/post_370.html#incart_big-photo
Da Guru
Fair & Balanced
IvanKaramazov
Footballguy
Here's the CNN story. Note the complete lack of party identification:
Henry Ford
Footballguy
Only before he ran.
Lots of new outlets have repeatedly kept the party affiliation issue out of Nagin stories for years, because while he ran as a Democrat, he was registered as a Republican until shortly before his run.
Leroy Hoard
Footballguy
Henry Ford
Footballguy
E Street Brat
Footballguy
Nagin, Please
Henry Ford
Footballguy
Current Mayor reacts:
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2014/02/mayor_mitch_landrieu_reacts_to.html#incart_river_default
Strangely, does not react by saying "Bet you feel pretty stupid about reelecting him over me in 2006, right?"
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2014/02/mayor_mitch_landrieu_reacts_to.html#incart_river_default
Strangely, does not react by saying "Bet you feel pretty stupid about reelecting him over me in 2006, right?"
TwinTurbo
Footballguy
This is what happens when greed is exceeded by stupidity. See also Kwame Kilpatrick.
Fennis
Footballguy
[SIZE=10.5pt]Here's a lengthy article on CNN on Chris Christie's bridge scandal. Note the complete lack of party identification.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]On the bridge: 'Those days ... worse than a disaster'[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Fort Lee, New Jersey (CNN)[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt] -- For several days in September, there was one experience that united motorists in New Jersey: Together they felt the total despair, rage and frustration that came with trying to drive near or on the George Washington Bridge.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]It meant a commute from hell for thousands. Parents couldn't get their kids to school.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"It was utter chaos those days. People were pouring into the store, complaining," Debbie Minuto recalled Thursday in her shop, Binghamton Bagel Cafe, in the town of Fort Lee. "The bridge is a lifeline here. You take away the bridge, you take away our livelihood."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]She had just finished watching Gov. Chris Christie apologize on national television, saying he was "embarrassed and humiliated" by the conduct of "some people" on his "team" but that he knew nothing about it. He said he fired a senior aide at the center of the uproar involving the alleged abuse of authority behind the lane closures that snarled traffic.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Christie's apology wasn't enough, Minuto said. "He hurt a lot of people. You can't play with our bridge."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]J.J. Jata wasn't far away, smoking cigars with friends and playing dominoes at the Cigar Room. They too had just watched the governor's mea culpa.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"I was on the bridge those days," he said. "It was like a disaster. It was worse than a disaster. I had to get up four hours earlier just to get into the city."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Normally, his commute takes one hour.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"He hurt the people of this community," Jata said. "It was all about politics without regard for the people."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Christie capped Thursday by visiting Fort Lee to personally apologize to the mayor, Mark Sokolich. Christie arrived at the municipal building shortly after 4 p.m., stepping out of a black SUV to a smattering of boos and applause from locals gathered outside, along with one man who barked like a dog.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Miriam Hernandez, a school crossing guard, was among those waiting. She said she voted for Christie in the last election. She's not so sure she'll vote for him again and cast doubt on his explanation that he was in the dark.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"I don't buy it," she said. "It's a pretty big coincidence."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]On those September days, Hernandez said, her husband's 45-minute commute took three hours. "He kept calling me. He was so upset," she said.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]But Sokolich, who met with Christie for about 45 minutes, said he accepted the governor's apology and called the session "very productive" and "cordial." He said borough officials wanted to make sure "this never, ever happens again in the future."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"We were unconditionally, unequivocally provided with that assurance," Sokolich said. Christie's visit was "a big step in regaining the trust of our community."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"I take him for his word, which is he had nothing to do with it," Sokolich said.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]For his part, Christie said he had "a very good, productive meeting" with the mayor, "and I look forward to working with him in the future."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Back at the Cigar Room, however, owner Jose Perez called the governor's explanation "bull."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"This is the usual state of politics in New Jersey. In the end, who pays? The people. We're the ones who pay for the political gains."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]And Claude Lewin, who was among those stuck trying to get onto the bridge in September, said he didn't believe Christie "was telling us us 100% of the truth today."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"Like any political scandal, it's only afterward that these politicians show remorse or contrition and acknowledge that something possibly happened," Lewin said. "This was an incident that lasted four days, and after the first day, the governor should have gotten on the phone and called his staff and people at the Port Authority to figure out what was going on."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Phil Belgiovine, 82, has been walking for exercise along Fort Lee's Main Street for decades. Motorists have always tried to leave the New Jersey Turnpike and cut through the street. "Now, our traffic problem has become a political scandal," the retired electric company worker said. "We're amused by all this."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Lorraine Vorchheimer, a Realtor, sits at a desk facing the bumper-to-bumper bridge-bound traffic on Main Street. A resident of Fort Lee nearly 40 years, Vorchheimer said, she never saw anything like the traffic in September.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"It was horrific," she said. "We couldn't get to work."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"A parking lot," a co-worker interjected.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Vorchheimer believes Christie. "I don't think he would be that small-minded," she said. "If he knew, he should not be governor for all the harm that was caused."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Tweets in traffic[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Tweets tell the story of those days of stagnation on the bridge.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Mick Duch tweeted "Helloooooo (@ George Washington Bridge w/ 5 others)" on September 9 at 8:38 a.m.; Shawn Bonneau tweeted "I'm at George Washington Bridge (New York, NY) w/ 2 others" at 7:29 a.m.; and at 11:48 a.m., a person named Ali tweeted, "This traffic on the George Washington bridge is cray crazy."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Paramedics faced much more serious dilemmas, of course, and according to a letterhttp://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2014/images/01/09/EMSResponseNewTrafficPat_20130910141945.pdf written at the time by an emergency official, responders were delayed in getting to at least four scenes. In one instance, they had trouble reaching a 91-year-old woman who was unconscious and later died.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]At the three-story Fort Lee Memorial Municipal Building, business went on as usual even though reporters were everywhere. The City Council chambers also serve as the local courthouse, where on Thursday, a municipal judge handled dozens of misdemeanors and traffic violations -- many stemming from traffic around the bridge.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]The emergency official who wrote a letter detailing paramedics' problems in traffic, Paul Favia, was at the city building and tried to avoid the press.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"Welcome to my world," he told a co-worker as he dodged reporters.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Hours in traffic[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Claude Lewin was doing his usual rush-hour commute on September 13 when his typically slow-going ride ground to a halt. His commute went from 30 minutes to two hours and 15 minutes, according to the Bergen Record.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the bridge connecting the two states, reduced the number of tollbooths from three to one and narrowed traffic patterns toward two Fort Lee streets, and that reduced three lanes to one, the newspaper said.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"Other than after the 9/11 attacks, I've never seen such a fiasco of delays at the inbound, upper-level part of the bridge," Mildred Van Zwaren of Ridgefield told the paper.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"Ludicrous!" Chuck Ciocco said. "Chronic delays like these destroy one of the two main reasons that most of us moved to this area -- great schools and a short commute."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Keith Bendul, the Fort Lee police chief, told the paper that the department first heard about the traffic change on a Monday morning, the first day of school. "Our parents now have to get up an hour and a half early to get their kids to class. We couldn't clear all the residual traffic until 11:30," he said.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]On September 10, Favia, the head of the Office of Emergency Medical Services of Fort Lee, wrote a letter to Sokolich detailing instances in which paramedics had trouble reaching people who needed them. The 91-year-old woman went into cardiac arrest, he wrote, but the paramedics were in such a bind that they had to meet the ambulance on its way to the hospital instead of going to the scene, he wrote.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]The Bergen Record, which cited borough records, reported that the woman later died.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]In another instance, emergency responders were dispatched to a motorcycle crash with injuries, according to the letter. It took nine minutes for the responders to get to the scene when it should have taken four, Favia wrote.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]New Jersey politician wants investigation into bridge controversyhttp://www.cnn.com/2014/01/09/politics/christie-bridge/[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Favia actually joined EMS on that call on September 9 despite being stuck in traffic, which he managed to get out of by jumping a curb and cutting up another street, he wrote. Later that evening, because all ambulances were dispatched elsewhere, he responded to a call about someone having chest pains. It took Favia eight minutes to get to the scene because of standstill traffic, he wrote. He was eventually joined by another ambulance that was also delayed due to traffic tie-ups.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]'Time for some traffic problems'[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Christie denied for months that anyone in his administration or campaign played any role in the closures.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]On Wednesday, e-mails and texts emerged, suggesting that appointees of Christie's orchestrated the closures to punish Sokolich, a Democrat who wouldn't support Christie at the polls. Christie and his staff originally blamed the closures and the traffic delays on a mishandled traffic study.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie's deputy chief of staff for legislative and intergovernmental affairs, said in an e-mail to David Wildstein, then the highest-level appointee representing the state at the Port Authority.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"Got it," Wildstein replied.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]In another message about school buses with students on board caught in the traffic jams, Wildstein wrote, "they are the children of Buono voters," apparently referring to Barbara Buono, Christie's Democratic opponent in November's gubernatorial election.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Those cited in the messages did not respond to requests for comment or to verify the communications. Wildstein invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when called before a state legislative committee on Thursday, with lawmakers citing him for contempt for refusing to answer questions.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]As for Sokolich, Christie said Thursday that the mayor "was never on my radar screen" before the controversy. Sokolich said he raised the comment with the governor during their meeting in the afternoon, asking, "Governor, am I now on your radar?"[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"His response was something along the lines that Fort Lee now has its own screen," Sokolich told CNN's The Situation Room.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt][/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Fort Lee, New Jersey (CNN)[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt] -- For several days in September, there was one experience that united motorists in New Jersey: Together they felt the total despair, rage and frustration that came with trying to drive near or on the George Washington Bridge.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]It meant a commute from hell for thousands. Parents couldn't get their kids to school.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"It was utter chaos those days. People were pouring into the store, complaining," Debbie Minuto recalled Thursday in her shop, Binghamton Bagel Cafe, in the town of Fort Lee. "The bridge is a lifeline here. You take away the bridge, you take away our livelihood."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]She had just finished watching Gov. Chris Christie apologize on national television, saying he was "embarrassed and humiliated" by the conduct of "some people" on his "team" but that he knew nothing about it. He said he fired a senior aide at the center of the uproar involving the alleged abuse of authority behind the lane closures that snarled traffic.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Christie's apology wasn't enough, Minuto said. "He hurt a lot of people. You can't play with our bridge."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]J.J. Jata wasn't far away, smoking cigars with friends and playing dominoes at the Cigar Room. They too had just watched the governor's mea culpa.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"I was on the bridge those days," he said. "It was like a disaster. It was worse than a disaster. I had to get up four hours earlier just to get into the city."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Normally, his commute takes one hour.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"He hurt the people of this community," Jata said. "It was all about politics without regard for the people."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Christie capped Thursday by visiting Fort Lee to personally apologize to the mayor, Mark Sokolich. Christie arrived at the municipal building shortly after 4 p.m., stepping out of a black SUV to a smattering of boos and applause from locals gathered outside, along with one man who barked like a dog.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Miriam Hernandez, a school crossing guard, was among those waiting. She said she voted for Christie in the last election. She's not so sure she'll vote for him again and cast doubt on his explanation that he was in the dark.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"I don't buy it," she said. "It's a pretty big coincidence."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]On those September days, Hernandez said, her husband's 45-minute commute took three hours. "He kept calling me. He was so upset," she said.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]But Sokolich, who met with Christie for about 45 minutes, said he accepted the governor's apology and called the session "very productive" and "cordial." He said borough officials wanted to make sure "this never, ever happens again in the future."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"We were unconditionally, unequivocally provided with that assurance," Sokolich said. Christie's visit was "a big step in regaining the trust of our community."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"I take him for his word, which is he had nothing to do with it," Sokolich said.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]For his part, Christie said he had "a very good, productive meeting" with the mayor, "and I look forward to working with him in the future."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Back at the Cigar Room, however, owner Jose Perez called the governor's explanation "bull."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"This is the usual state of politics in New Jersey. In the end, who pays? The people. We're the ones who pay for the political gains."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]And Claude Lewin, who was among those stuck trying to get onto the bridge in September, said he didn't believe Christie "was telling us us 100% of the truth today."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"Like any political scandal, it's only afterward that these politicians show remorse or contrition and acknowledge that something possibly happened," Lewin said. "This was an incident that lasted four days, and after the first day, the governor should have gotten on the phone and called his staff and people at the Port Authority to figure out what was going on."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Phil Belgiovine, 82, has been walking for exercise along Fort Lee's Main Street for decades. Motorists have always tried to leave the New Jersey Turnpike and cut through the street. "Now, our traffic problem has become a political scandal," the retired electric company worker said. "We're amused by all this."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Lorraine Vorchheimer, a Realtor, sits at a desk facing the bumper-to-bumper bridge-bound traffic on Main Street. A resident of Fort Lee nearly 40 years, Vorchheimer said, she never saw anything like the traffic in September.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"It was horrific," she said. "We couldn't get to work."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"A parking lot," a co-worker interjected.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Vorchheimer believes Christie. "I don't think he would be that small-minded," she said. "If he knew, he should not be governor for all the harm that was caused."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Tweets in traffic[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Tweets tell the story of those days of stagnation on the bridge.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Mick Duch tweeted "Helloooooo (@ George Washington Bridge w/ 5 others)" on September 9 at 8:38 a.m.; Shawn Bonneau tweeted "I'm at George Washington Bridge (New York, NY) w/ 2 others" at 7:29 a.m.; and at 11:48 a.m., a person named Ali tweeted, "This traffic on the George Washington bridge is cray crazy."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Paramedics faced much more serious dilemmas, of course, and according to a letterhttp://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2014/images/01/09/EMSResponseNewTrafficPat_20130910141945.pdf written at the time by an emergency official, responders were delayed in getting to at least four scenes. In one instance, they had trouble reaching a 91-year-old woman who was unconscious and later died.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]At the three-story Fort Lee Memorial Municipal Building, business went on as usual even though reporters were everywhere. The City Council chambers also serve as the local courthouse, where on Thursday, a municipal judge handled dozens of misdemeanors and traffic violations -- many stemming from traffic around the bridge.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]The emergency official who wrote a letter detailing paramedics' problems in traffic, Paul Favia, was at the city building and tried to avoid the press.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"Welcome to my world," he told a co-worker as he dodged reporters.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Hours in traffic[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Claude Lewin was doing his usual rush-hour commute on September 13 when his typically slow-going ride ground to a halt. His commute went from 30 minutes to two hours and 15 minutes, according to the Bergen Record.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the bridge connecting the two states, reduced the number of tollbooths from three to one and narrowed traffic patterns toward two Fort Lee streets, and that reduced three lanes to one, the newspaper said.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"Other than after the 9/11 attacks, I've never seen such a fiasco of delays at the inbound, upper-level part of the bridge," Mildred Van Zwaren of Ridgefield told the paper.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"Ludicrous!" Chuck Ciocco said. "Chronic delays like these destroy one of the two main reasons that most of us moved to this area -- great schools and a short commute."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Keith Bendul, the Fort Lee police chief, told the paper that the department first heard about the traffic change on a Monday morning, the first day of school. "Our parents now have to get up an hour and a half early to get their kids to class. We couldn't clear all the residual traffic until 11:30," he said.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]On September 10, Favia, the head of the Office of Emergency Medical Services of Fort Lee, wrote a letter to Sokolich detailing instances in which paramedics had trouble reaching people who needed them. The 91-year-old woman went into cardiac arrest, he wrote, but the paramedics were in such a bind that they had to meet the ambulance on its way to the hospital instead of going to the scene, he wrote.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]The Bergen Record, which cited borough records, reported that the woman later died.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]In another instance, emergency responders were dispatched to a motorcycle crash with injuries, according to the letter. It took nine minutes for the responders to get to the scene when it should have taken four, Favia wrote.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]New Jersey politician wants investigation into bridge controversyhttp://www.cnn.com/2014/01/09/politics/christie-bridge/[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Favia actually joined EMS on that call on September 9 despite being stuck in traffic, which he managed to get out of by jumping a curb and cutting up another street, he wrote. Later that evening, because all ambulances were dispatched elsewhere, he responded to a call about someone having chest pains. It took Favia eight minutes to get to the scene because of standstill traffic, he wrote. He was eventually joined by another ambulance that was also delayed due to traffic tie-ups.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]'Time for some traffic problems'[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Christie denied for months that anyone in his administration or campaign played any role in the closures.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]On Wednesday, e-mails and texts emerged, suggesting that appointees of Christie's orchestrated the closures to punish Sokolich, a Democrat who wouldn't support Christie at the polls. Christie and his staff originally blamed the closures and the traffic delays on a mishandled traffic study.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie's deputy chief of staff for legislative and intergovernmental affairs, said in an e-mail to David Wildstein, then the highest-level appointee representing the state at the Port Authority.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"Got it," Wildstein replied.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]In another message about school buses with students on board caught in the traffic jams, Wildstein wrote, "they are the children of Buono voters," apparently referring to Barbara Buono, Christie's Democratic opponent in November's gubernatorial election.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Those cited in the messages did not respond to requests for comment or to verify the communications. Wildstein invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when called before a state legislative committee on Thursday, with lawmakers citing him for contempt for refusing to answer questions.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]As for Sokolich, Christie said Thursday that the mayor "was never on my radar screen" before the controversy. Sokolich said he raised the comment with the governor during their meeting in the afternoon, asking, "Governor, am I now on your radar?"[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"His response was something along the lines that Fort Lee now has its own screen," Sokolich told CNN's The Situation Room.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt][/SIZE]
Last edited by a moderator:
IvanKaramazov
Footballguy
I never claimed that the "no party affiliation --> Democrat" heuristic works 100% of the time. I jokingly estimated last year that it's only something like 90% accurate. I do sincerely think that it has some predictive power, although admittedly this is based on anecdotal observation. Clearly we need a dedicated thread to tracking these stories so we can build a decent sample size.
lod01
Footballguy
Rayderr
Footballguy
Here's yesterday's story where they mentioned it in the second sentence.
2 days ago, again, second sentence.
3 days ago, first sentence.
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