‘BridgeGate’…it’s NOT what you think
“I had no knowledge or involvement in this issue, in its planning or execution.” – New Jersey Governor Christie
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie had the first of his many sure to come photo-op moments last Thursday when he spoke on national television for almost two hours…more airtime than the media has given to Hillary and her role in Benghazi…about what has now become known as ‘BridgeGate.’
Apologizing…groveling actually…in an effort to save his 2016 presidential aspirations…Christie admitted that some on his staff and some of his appointees to the Port Authority were involved…that in fact, they orchestrated the September lane closures on the George Washington Bridge that caused massive traffic delays for those going to work in New York, for school buses, and for police and emergency vehicles within the Fort Lee area. And the text messages made public led us to believe the closures were done as political payback against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for NOT supporting Christie, the very man who touted bi-partnership when running for re-election and who had a good working and relationship with many Democratic state legislators including State Senate President Stephen Sweeney.
But was political payback against the mayor the true motive…I don’t think so for a traffic jam has NO real bearing on the mayor of the city the jam was in.
Gridlocking Fort Lee for four days…encasing it in exhaust fumes…this now come back to haunt Christie nightmare started on August 13th when Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie’s Deputy Chief of Staff e-mailed David Wildstein, the Director of Interstate Capital Projects for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey the following words, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” and Wildstein e-mailed back, “Got it.”
Less than one month later on Wildstein’s orders, two of the three access lanes connecting Fort Lee to the bridge were closed forcing all traffic to merge into one lane, thus creating hours-long traffic jams on the first day of the new school year. And after NOT answering Mayor Sokolich’s texts, including one stating that “Presently we have four very busy traffic lanes merging into only one toll booth…The bigger problem is getting kids to school. Help please. It’s maddening,” and NOT returning phone calls even after a message was left saying, “urgent matter of public safety in Fort Lee” Wildstein did NOTHING to address the situation except to text a still unidentified person, “Is it wrong that I am smiling? I feel badly about the kids I guess..they are the children of Buono voters.” Barbara Buono was Christie’s challenger for governor.
Nice huh…now fast forward to mid-September when the four day lane closures ended on orders of Patrick Foye, Executive Director of the Port Authority. Wildstein then texted Kelly, “The New York side gave Fort Lee back all three lanes this morning. We are appropriately going nuts. Samson helping us to retaliate.” The last line refers to David Samson, the chairman of the Port Authority Board. Kelly texted back, “What??” Wildstein responded, “Yes, unreal. Fixed now.”
On September 16th, The Port Authority issued a statement saying that the lanes were closed for a traffic study…has anybody seen said study yet I wonder…and after Christie easily won re-election Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni testified before the Assembly Transportation Committee that the lane closures were indeed part of a traffic study that Wildstein himself had ordered.
Stinks doesn’t it but NOT in ways you might think.
Now here I must interject something on a personal level…when I was in college I interned at Prentice-Hall in Englewood Cliffs, the town next up from Fort Lee, and every day I drove across the GW Bridge in rush hour…at the same time of day this ‘supposed’ traffic study was being done. And one thing I can tell you…legitimate traffic studies that involve lane closures are NEVER done at the height of rush hour nor are lanes closed except in an emergency or for repair. So lanes being closed at the busiest time of the day for a traffic study is pure nonsense.
And while Christie had to know about the closures as they went on for four days while his office was being flooded with calls from angry commuters and from parents whose children were stuck on school buses with NO food or bathrooms for all those hours..saying this was done for political payback because he did NOT get the endorsement of one Democratic mayor makes NO sense for how does tying up a bridge hurt the mayor…it simply does NOT…it hurts those having to wait for hours to cross the bridge that took them minutes to do so the day before.
So after thinking this all through I believe this entire event involves money and none other than good old Hilary ‘What does it matter’ Clinton herself.
Remember, politics is a fickle game where loyalties come and go and can easily be bought and sold. And while I am NOT a fan of RINO extraordinaire Chris Christie and would have to hold my nose to pull the lever for him, the facts are he has been a successful governor and is well-liked by both bodies political in New Jersey, and he is being forced down our throats by the media as the only man that can beat Hilary in 2016. But just imagine that maybe this time the media has it right and that Hillary knows it and is hopping mad, after all she lost the nomination to Obama in 2008 and ambitious b*tch that she is she sure as hell does NOT want to lose the presidency to Christie. And so for a price Bridget Anne Kelly and David Wildstein were bought. See where I’m going with this.
And with all the e-mails and texts showing that these people had indeed planned the traffic nightmare…the only errors on everybody’s part has been to the why. Well, for a price I believe these two individuals sold their souls to the she-devil to ruin the Republican frontrunner’s reputation and derail his run for the presidency. Makes sense when one puts two and two together…closing the bridge would NOT hurt the mayor as the bridge is NOT under his auspices but is run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and to pay back a mayor for NOT endorsing him really makes NO sense as Christie was a shoe-in to win re-election right from the beginning.
But still Christie is in trouble for a sitting governor is responsible for the actions of his staff NO matter the circumstances involved…unless we find Kelly and Wildstein suddenly living the high life for Christie remains adamant that he is NOT involved and may very well be telling the truth.
“I am outraged and deeply saddened to learn that not only was I misled by a member of my staff, but this completely inappropriate and unsanctioned conduct was made without my knowledge,” Christie said in a prepared statement. “This behavior is not representative of me or my administration in any way, and people will be held responsible for their actions.”
So even though when this story first broke Christie called the entire matter “not that big a deal,” and even though he in bad taste joked to the press about moving the traffic cones himself, it is NOT out of the whelm of possibilities that this man has been set-up to fall by the very woman who would do any and everything to sit in the Oval Office and finish the destruction of America that Barack HUSSEIN Obama started.
Just something to think about but it makes more sense than an act of political payback that would be anything but.
http://thepatriotfactor.blogspot.com/2014/01/op-ed-bridgegate.html