Here Are Your Assignments.....
There are just so many things going on in NJ these days, its hard to keep up. It's time to bring some order to this. All of the pieces of this puzzle fit together. We just have to go out and make sure we collect them all and place them in the appropriate places so the picture of just how Chris Christie has governed NJ over the past 4 1/2 years with a main goals of enriching his friends and supporters while serving his own larger political ambitions. Its all of the parts that are spilled out on the floor like Lego pieces that need to be put together in the right manner to make something. You just know all of the pieces you need are there, you just have to think this through logically.
If I were Mr. White:
No, not that Mr. White, this Mr. White:
and I were sending out Lois Lane, Jimmy Olson and my other intrepid reporters to chase this story down I'd give them each a particular assignment so we could put together the story that will win the Daily Planet a Pulitzer. So intrepid DU reporters, are you ready to take on this story? Besides, why should Reed Schar and the committee have all of the fun? Here are the assignments:
1. Obviously, the first order of business is to continue to follow the GWB caper. In and of itself this is fascinating and likely to yield at a minimum, a picture of the relationships between the players. More likely, obstruction of justice, abuse of power and official misconduct.
2. Sandy Money. Start with the Sandy Transparency Page. Then check out the GORR. That's the Governor's Office of Recovery and Rebuilding. All spending is funneled through this office. Tightly controlled by the Governor's inner circle. Where the money has been spent, where it hasn't. Then report back.
3. Political Pressure. Follow Dawn Zimmer, Long Branch Mayor Adam Schneider, Sea Bright Mayor Dina Long, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, and the mayors of a group of forgotten but devastated towns along the Raritan Bay shoreline. Who got money-who didn't and why. You will also find that this has been a pattern of behavior since day one of the administration. Don't support Christie 100%? No state aid for your town. No contact with state officials.
4. David Samson. This includes his firm Wolff & Samson, the attorneys who got plum political appointments, their clients, the projects their clients are involved in. If redevelopment is going on in NJ Wolff & Samson is close by. If Wolff & Samson is close by-Christie isn't far away either. Major developers Silverstein Properties and The Rockefeller Group are among their clients.
5. The Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office massacre. Bennett Barlyn was just a guy doing his job who refused to knuckle under to pressure from the Governor's office to abandon the prosecution of Christie allies. Another example of just how Christie and his people operate.
6. The Independent Agencies. Primarily the Pinelands and the Highlands. Two environmentally sensitive areas of the state that are governed by independent commissions. Christie has put puppets in control of these agencies at both the commissioner and executive director positions. Why? Its the development stupid! Tight land use controls get Christie's handlers "sauced". Commissioners have been alternately promised jobs and threatened. Undoing land use restrictions to allow building and other projects to go through is a key goal of the Governor.
7. The Dr. Frankenstein's who created this monster. The NJ Builder's Association, NAIOP, The NJ Business & Industry Association. the Chamber of Commerce and, late to the party, the Koch Brothers. Their influence is all over this administration. Samson and his clients have connections with each of these groups. They created Christie to do their bidding.
8. For historical perspective-the Pre-Governor Christie. his time as Morris County Freeholder. Running for Assembly. His days as a U.S. Attorney. The fund raiser for W. The lobbyist for the securities industry and energy interests. He's always been a creep and, as they say, a leopard doesn't change his spots.
That's a lot to take on but it brings some order to this chaos. Everything makes sense in the end. Let's get after this. Can DU win a Pulitzer?
= new reply since forum marked as read
that any of you are captured or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your assignment. 
I forgot to add that!
Search, upload files, etc?
Otherwise having random people on the "intertubes" do "research" and "collect" data is pretty meaningless FYI 
and apparently someone with the "time and resources" did run with it and did quite a nice job of elucidating the facts of this particular element of the whole affair.
