NYTimes: Another Mayor Faced Reprisal Over Christie, Files Suggest
Last edited Mon Jan 13, 2014, 02:01 PM - Edit history (1)
In another indication of the kind of hardball Gov. Chris Christie played to win support from Democratic officials, documents released Monday show that the governor’s administration aggressively courted the mayor of Jersey City, then abruptly cut ties after he informed them that he would not endorse the governor for his re-election.
According to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information request, the courtship began with a call from the governor the evening of May 14, after the mayor, Steven Fulop, won election. The next morning, Mr. Christie’s campaign manager for his re-election, Bill Stepien, texted Mr. Fulop to say that the Christie administration would do as much as Mr. Fulop wanted to get help from the administration.
Working with Bridget Anne Kelly – an aide to Mr. Christie who was fired last week after documents showing she gave the signal to shut down lanes on the George Washington Bridge as an act of political retribution – Mr. Fulop then set up a day’s worth of meetings on July 23.
Ms. Kelly and a Fulop aide referred to it as a “mayor’s day,” with scheduled appointments with commissioners or heads of six different administration agencies, including transportation, economic development, the state treasurer and the commissioner of community affairs — the government official who handles state aid to municipalities, among other matters. Meetings were also set up with the director of Hurricane Sandy recovery and Bill Baroni, the governor’s top appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Emails indicate that the Christie administration planned to send staff from the governor’s office as well.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/14/nyregion/christie-cut-ties-with-mayor-after-being-denied-endorsement-documents-show.html?hp
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