NJ Democrat demands info on Hudson tunnel decision

[ProSense]

Source: Reuters

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – A top New Jersey Democrat said on Friday he filed an official request for documents relating to Governor Chris Christie's decision to halt construction of a commuter rail tunnel under the Hudson River to New York City.

Assemblyman John Wisniewski said he wants to know how Christie reached the decision to withdraw funding from the project, which the governor said could have cost the state between $7 billion and $11 billion.

Wisniewski, who is also chairman of the New Jersey Democratic Party, filed the request under the Open Public Records Act, which requires requested information be supplied within seven days. He said the transportation committee he chairs will hold a hearing on the tunnel decision on October 14.

"Governor Christie's decision will go down as one of the worst a governor has ever made, yet the only information we have describing how he came to it is a three-page memo by his hand-picked committee," Wisniewski said in a statement.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101008/us_nm/us_newjersey_tunnel_8

[monmouth]

1. The jobs for both NJ and NY and many from CT and PA would

be enormous. When married to the iron worker he would travel, and gladly, to big work sites like this. How very sad. Of course Christie has lost big, a very bad decision that will fortunately make him a one-termer....

[aquart]

2. Oh, good. I thought this was just going to pass unchallenged.

Is Christie insane?

[monmouth]

3. The Unions, amongst many others, will go after him like Tony Soprano

looking for his vig...

[DainBramaged]

4. Yet again, the Puke in charge kills jobs with a big fat NO

If we only had an impeachment avenue....

[no_hypocrisy]

5. Christie seems to turn down federal aid wholesale.

The state lost the hundreds of millions of dollars for Race to the Top because he didn't want to look weak to a radio talk show host.

Now the state is risking losing prosperity and possible financial ruin in the future due to Christie's hubris more than fiduciary duty to the taxpayers.

[Mikeystyle]

6. GOP stimulus love fest exposed

Despite their public condemnations of the economic stimulus plan approved last year, hundreds of Republican officials have been discovered holding secret crushes on this legislation, also known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The plan was approved with near-unanimous opposition from Republican lawmakers, yet interviews with Republican staffers, leaked documents and even public statements indicate that members of the GOP have been gushing over the stimulus since its inception.

Hints of a Republican love affair with the stimulus surfaced last week when a notebook owned by House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) was found in the hallway outside his Congressional office.

(continued….)
http://www.thechicagodope.com/2010/10/04/gop-stimulus-love-fest-exposed/

[madrchsod]

8. the dope is a pretty good site..

[old mark]

7. This would have meant 6000 jobs - in construction alone - for the next 8 years at least.

Good paying union jobs, plus all the stimulus those paychecks would create in the economy of 3 states who really need it. The tunnel was projected to raise real estate values over the 2 mile area surrounding the tunnel on either side.

Christie is the model for every republican who will become governor it we let them win.
How about 6 more like him, or a dozen? Our country would crash to the lowest levels in modern history.

mark

[ProSense]

9. They're really slamming Christie in the comments at the NY Times

Christie Halts Train Tunnel, Citing Its Cost

Comment 22 has more than 700 recs:

I live 45 miles from downtown Manhattan. It takes me an hour to get into the city by car, and almost 2 hours by train. It also costs about two times as much to ride the rails as it does for me to take my car and park it in a midtown garage, and let's not even mention the pollution, traffic and waste I contribute every time I turn on the ignition rather than sit back and leave the driving to the conductor.

How sad for all of us here in NJ that our sitting governor thinks it useful to spend our tax dollars flying all over the country raising money for his fellow Republicans while testing the waters for his own presidential run while here in NJ we continue to suffer from a mass transit system that is more than a century old. How ironic that the Garden State's environmental community thought it wise to endorse a man who has no more interest in protecting the environment than he does our state's public school students. How pathetic that in this most densely populated state -- bordered by equally dense populations in CT and NY - the only viable way to get anywhere in a reasonable amount of time is by car.

Christie is in one year turning into one of the biggest disasters this state has ever faced -- and the tragedy of his wrongheaded decisions will be wrought upon we who love to live here for decades to come.