N.J. Lawmaker: New Docs Mention Christie Meeting With Port Authority Chair (updated)

[ProSense]

N.J. Lawmaker: New Docs Mention Christie Meeting With Port Authority Chair

The New Jersey lawmaker who's been leading the state assembly's investigation into the scandal surrounding lane closures on the George Washington Bridge said Friday that newly released documents raise further questions about the extent to which New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's (R) administration covered up the mess.

Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D) in a statement drew particular attention to a document showing an apparent meeting between Christie and one of his top appointees at the Port of New York and New Jersey, which oversees the bridge, just days before his deputy chief of staff wrote an email to a Port Authority executive saying it was "time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

Read Wisniewski's full statement below:

“As with so much else we’ve discovered during this investigation, these documents raise many more questions. It’s obvious that senior members of the governor’s staff were involved in spin control once this story broke.

“Given everything we’ve seen and heard, there are two glaring questions that exist right now.

“How much of the full picture was the governor’s senior staff given regarding the development of this lane closure project? With the tight control this administration maintains, it doesn’t stretch the imagination that they were given more information than they let on. When they were preparing spin control, how could they not have been given the whole story?

“Secondly, the documents submitted by David Wildstein and his attorney are documents they deemed specifically related to the lane closures at the George Washington Bridge as per our subpoena request. Included in these documents is a reference to what appears to be a meeting between Port Authority Chairman David Samson and the governor one week before Bridget Kelly issued the order to cause ‘traffic problems’ in Fort Lee. By submitting these documents, Mr. Wildstein is telling us they are related to the lane closures in some way. The question that demands answering is how?

“These are just two of the many answers we will be seeking in the days and weeks ahead.”

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/wisniewski_documents_new_questions

Updated to add this piece flagged at Daily Kos. This is from March 2012:

Ex-blogger is Governor Christie's eyes, ears inside the Port Authority

For a decade, he was a faceless force in New Jersey politics, an Internet blogger who delivered scoops while keeping his identity a closely guarded secret...David Wildstein, formerly known by the pen name Wally Edge, is playing a key behind-the-scenes role in Governor Christie’s effort to get more control over the Port Authority...in Wildstein, an experienced political strategist who went to high school with the governor, the Christie administration may have found the perfect instrument to help shake things up, some say.

Longtime employees, however, privately describe a man intent on carrying out a political agenda rather than one built on reform or improving the region’s transportation system. They believe the appointment of Wildstein and dozens of others recommended by the governor — for jobs ranging from toll collector to deputy executive director — are evidence that political loyalty trumps merit.

To Christie, though, they are needed to bring about change. And Wildstein figures prominently in that effort.

“He is there in that job because he is well suited to the task of playing a role in reforming the Port Authority in accordance with the governor’s goals,” said Christie’s spokes­man, Michael Drewniak.

- more -

http://www.northjersey.com/news/ny_metro/030312_Ex-blogger_is_Governor_Christies_man_inside_the_Port_Authority.html

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/10/1268743/-More-Christie-lane-closure-docs-released

[longship]

1. DUNNN-Dun-Dun-Dunn!

Send in Joe Friday.

[herding cats]

2. Is David Wildstein going to cover up for others, or is he more concerned with his own fate?

That is the question.

Something tells me David Samson is eating tums like they're M&M's right now.

Port Authority chairman 'extremely upset' over GWB lane closure revelations

The chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said tonight that he and fellow commissioners had no advance knowledge of the controversial closing of local lanes at the George Washington Bridge in September.

"I am extremely upset and distressed over today's disclosures," Chairman David Samson, a Christie appointee, said in a statement. "To be clear, neither I nor anyone on the Board had any knowledge of these lane closures until the receipt of Executive Director (Patrick) Foye's email. We expect to get a complete picture as a result of the Port Authority's Inspector General's investigation which commenced a few weeks ago and thereafter will take appropriate action."
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/01/port_chairman_extremely_upset_gwb.html

[ProSense]

3. Interesting quote, and

how is it that no one knew anything:

Emails obtained by The Star-Ledger today show Wildstein and the aide, Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly, were corresponding about the planned lane closures in the preceding weeks.

In the wake of Foye's email, Wildstein wrote to Kelly, saying he would elicit Samson's help to retaliate against the reopening of the lanes.

Kelly did it all by herself.

[malaise]

4. Samson is up shite creek

How did he not know anything if he was going to retaliate for them?