Threat to hold back Hoboken Sandy aid was 'direct message' from Chris Christie, mayor says
Sunday, January 19, 2014
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Mcquarro
HOBOKEN — Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno said she was delivering a “direct message” from Gov. Chris Christie when she told Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer to approve a real estate project if she wanted more Hurricane Sandy aid for her city, the mayor said today.
In an appearance on CNN, Zimmer expanded on her allegations that members of the Christie administration told her in May to push through a Hoboken redevelopment project if the flood-prone city wanted help getting federal disaster aid.
“She said . . . essentially you’ve got to move forward with the Rockefeller project, this project is really important to the governor,” Zimmer told CNN. “And she said that she had been with him on Friday night and this was a direct message from the governor.”
Christie’s office dismissed Zimmer’s allegations about her conversation with Guadagno.
“Mayor Zimmer's categorization about her conversation in Hoboken is categorically false,” said Colin Reed, a Christie spokesman.
Yesterday, Reed said Zimmer's allegations were politically motivated.
“It’s very clear partisan politics are at play here as Democratic mayors with a political ax to grind come out of the woodwork and try to get their faces on television,” Reed said in a statement Saturday.
In the 16-minute interview on CNN’s “State of the Union with Candy Crowley,” Zimmer said she initially thought she would hurt Hoboken’s chances for additional Sandy funding if she went public with her conversation with Guadagno or a similar conversation she had with Richard Constable, Christie’s current commissioner of community affairs.
“I was really concerned that if I came forward, and no one believed me, that we would really be cut out of the Sandy funding. But as I watched the coverage with Bridgegate, you do see parallels and I just felt I had an obligation to come forward,” Zimmer said.
Zimmer’s allegations have been another blow to the Christie administration, which is continuing to deal with the widening controversy over September lane closures at the George Washington Bridge that caused massive traffic problems in Fort Lee.
In that case, Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie’s deputy chief of staff, was quoted in an email calling for “traffic problems” in the borough. Christie apologized for the lane closures earlier this month, but has repeatedly denied he knew anything about them beforehand or requested them as political payback against the Fort Lee mayor for failing to endorse the governor for re-election.
Christie is facing several investigations into the bridge incident, including an investigation by the state Legislature that has already issued 20 subpoenas to members of the governor’s administration and others.
The new accusations from Zimmer involve an undeveloped, 19-block area in the north end of Hoboken. The mayor said she was pressured to push for the development of three blocks owned by the Rockefeller Group, a developer represented by Wolff & Samson, the law firm of Port Authority Chairman David Samson, a close Christie ally.
The Rockefeller Group said in a statement Saturday it had no knowledge of Zimmer’s claims. Wolff & Samson also released a statement categorically denying Zimmer’s allegations.
Christie, who is on a fundraising trip to Florida, has remained publicly silent on Zimmer’s allegations. The governor began the day with a fundraiser at an undisclosed location in Palm Beach for the Republican Governors Association, a national group he chairs.
Tonight, he is scheduled to meet with top Republican donors at a private event in North Palm Beach hosted by Home Depot co-founder Kenneth Langone.
As Christie headed to the closed-door events, his latest scandal was one of the topics of the Sunday morning talk shows.
On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani praised Christie’s handling of the George Washington Bridge lane closure controversy.
“He has given a text book case in how to handle it,” Giuliani said. “Stand up, answer the questions, hold people accountable and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Giuliani also called on Assemblyman John Wisniewski, the Democrat leading the state Assembly’s investigation into the bridge scandal, to step down as head of the committee.
“When you announce before you even investigate it you don’t believe the subject of the investigation or the person who is the ultimate focus of the investigation it would seem to me the assemblyman has an ethical obligation to step down, to recuse himself,” Giuliani said. “He is no longer an impartial arbiter of the facts. He has announced he doesn’t believe Gov. Christie.”
Assembly Democratic spokesman Tom Hester Jr. said Giuliani “quite simply has no idea what he’s talking about.”
Assembly Republicans and Democrats voted unanimously to establish the committee headed by Wisniewski to investigate the bridge lane closures.
“Uninformed critics would do well to share the healthy dose of skepticism about the GWB lane closures that has already led to two resignations from the Port Authority and the removal of two top members of Gov. Christie’s organization,” Hester said. “Chairman Wisniewski and the committee will of course continue this bipartisan work to find the truth, a process that is serving the public very well.”-sources
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| Gov Chris Christie and Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer visits Red Cross workers at a relief center set up at the Elks Club during a tour Hoboken in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. |
In an appearance on CNN, Zimmer expanded on her allegations that members of the Christie administration told her in May to push through a Hoboken redevelopment project if the flood-prone city wanted help getting federal disaster aid.
“She said . . . essentially you’ve got to move forward with the Rockefeller project, this project is really important to the governor,” Zimmer told CNN. “And she said that she had been with him on Friday night and this was a direct message from the governor.”
Christie’s office dismissed Zimmer’s allegations about her conversation with Guadagno.
“Mayor Zimmer's categorization about her conversation in Hoboken is categorically false,” said Colin Reed, a Christie spokesman.
Yesterday, Reed said Zimmer's allegations were politically motivated.
“It’s very clear partisan politics are at play here as Democratic mayors with a political ax to grind come out of the woodwork and try to get their faces on television,” Reed said in a statement Saturday.
In the 16-minute interview on CNN’s “State of the Union with Candy Crowley,” Zimmer said she initially thought she would hurt Hoboken’s chances for additional Sandy funding if she went public with her conversation with Guadagno or a similar conversation she had with Richard Constable, Christie’s current commissioner of community affairs.
“I was really concerned that if I came forward, and no one believed me, that we would really be cut out of the Sandy funding. But as I watched the coverage with Bridgegate, you do see parallels and I just felt I had an obligation to come forward,” Zimmer said.
Zimmer’s allegations have been another blow to the Christie administration, which is continuing to deal with the widening controversy over September lane closures at the George Washington Bridge that caused massive traffic problems in Fort Lee.
In that case, Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie’s deputy chief of staff, was quoted in an email calling for “traffic problems” in the borough. Christie apologized for the lane closures earlier this month, but has repeatedly denied he knew anything about them beforehand or requested them as political payback against the Fort Lee mayor for failing to endorse the governor for re-election.
Christie is facing several investigations into the bridge incident, including an investigation by the state Legislature that has already issued 20 subpoenas to members of the governor’s administration and others.
The new accusations from Zimmer involve an undeveloped, 19-block area in the north end of Hoboken. The mayor said she was pressured to push for the development of three blocks owned by the Rockefeller Group, a developer represented by Wolff & Samson, the law firm of Port Authority Chairman David Samson, a close Christie ally.
The Rockefeller Group said in a statement Saturday it had no knowledge of Zimmer’s claims. Wolff & Samson also released a statement categorically denying Zimmer’s allegations.
Christie, who is on a fundraising trip to Florida, has remained publicly silent on Zimmer’s allegations. The governor began the day with a fundraiser at an undisclosed location in Palm Beach for the Republican Governors Association, a national group he chairs.
Tonight, he is scheduled to meet with top Republican donors at a private event in North Palm Beach hosted by Home Depot co-founder Kenneth Langone.
As Christie headed to the closed-door events, his latest scandal was one of the topics of the Sunday morning talk shows.
On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani praised Christie’s handling of the George Washington Bridge lane closure controversy.
“He has given a text book case in how to handle it,” Giuliani said. “Stand up, answer the questions, hold people accountable and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Giuliani also called on Assemblyman John Wisniewski, the Democrat leading the state Assembly’s investigation into the bridge scandal, to step down as head of the committee.
“When you announce before you even investigate it you don’t believe the subject of the investigation or the person who is the ultimate focus of the investigation it would seem to me the assemblyman has an ethical obligation to step down, to recuse himself,” Giuliani said. “He is no longer an impartial arbiter of the facts. He has announced he doesn’t believe Gov. Christie.”
Assembly Democratic spokesman Tom Hester Jr. said Giuliani “quite simply has no idea what he’s talking about.”
Assembly Republicans and Democrats voted unanimously to establish the committee headed by Wisniewski to investigate the bridge lane closures.
“Uninformed critics would do well to share the healthy dose of skepticism about the GWB lane closures that has already led to two resignations from the Port Authority and the removal of two top members of Gov. Christie’s organization,” Hester said. “Chairman Wisniewski and the committee will of course continue this bipartisan work to find the truth, a process that is serving the public very well.”-sources