AP Christie camp held Sandy relief money hostage, mayor alleges: MSNBC article

[lindysalsagal]

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/mayor-christie-camp-held-sandy-money-hostage
?itok=h6g0WXce
AP

Christie camp held Sandy relief money hostage, mayor alleges

01/18/14 08:30 AM—Updated 01/18/14 09:07 AM


By Steve Kornacki

Two senior members of Gov. Chris Christie’s administration warned a New Jersey mayor earlier this year that her town would be starved of hurricane relief money unless she approved a lucrative redevelopment plan favored by the governor, according to the mayor and emails and personal notes she shared with msnbc.

The mayor, Dawn Zimmer, hasn’t approved the project, but she did request $127 million in hurricane relief for her city of Hoboken – 80% of which was underwater after Sandy hit in October 2012. What she got was $142,000 to defray the cost of a single back-up generator plus an additional $200,000 in recovery grants.

In an exclusive interview, Zimmer broke her silence and named Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and Richard Constable, Christie’s community affairs commissioner, as the two officials who delivered messages on behalf of a governor she had long supported.

“It’s not fair for the governor to hold Sandy funds hostage for the city of Hoboken” because he wants support for one private developer, she said Saturday on UP w/ Steve Kornacki.

Constable and Christie – through spokespersons – deny Zimmer’s claims.

More at link-
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If you need a nutshell explanation of what this means: (By me) : This exposes Christie to a different instance of how he's used public money and the power of his office to send money into the pockets of his friends: The Reckefeller Group. It also shows how the head of the Port Authority, a Christie appointee, has funnelled money into his own private legal company, with Christie's help.

This is a proven example of abuse of power where the regular people of Hoboken are being refused help wth Sandy cleanup, while the rich 1% have used the Sandy tragedy and the federal relief money to just get richer.

To get the video explanation, try googling Up W/Steve Kornacki on MSNBC. Maybe ths will get posted online. I don't know.

[lindysalsagal]

1. Paul Butler, Georgetown Law prof, former US prosecutor on Up w/Steve: Investigators now looking for

financial kickbacks.

One possible probelm with the prosecution: If one person gets immunity from one investigation, it could effect the other 2 investigations.

Let's hope all these legal people don't bungle it with legal tricks.