Federal government demands N.J. re-pay $271M for commuter tunnel Gov. Christie canceled

[nonperson]

Source: By Salvador Rizzo/Statehouse Bureau The Star-Ledger

TRENTON — The federal government is ordering New Jersey to pay back $271 million after Gov. Chris Christie backpedaled on a plan to build a new commuter tunnel under the Hudson River.

"The law is clear on this matter," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wrote in a letter to U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg today explaining the decision. The state received federal funds on the expectation that it would see the ARC tunnel through to its completion, he wrote.

"In this case, after the initial contract was entered into and later expanded at Governor Christie's request, the state of New Jersey broke the terms of the contract," LaHood wrote. "The Governor's unfortunate decision will affect the commuters in New Jersey and the entire Northeast region for generations."

It is unclear whether the state will seek to appeal the decision. The Department of Transportation said it has "many tools" available to extract the money, including withholding a wide range of federal funds from the state. But LaHood said he would rather work out a payment schedule with the Christie administration due to New Jersey's tough financial situation.

Read more: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/04/federal_government_orders_nj_t.html

---

This after Chris Christie wasted another $800,000 of New Jersey taxpayer money on a high priced Washington law firm when he knew the terms of the contract all along.

[nonperson]

1. There's more

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/04/nj_legal_tab_to_fight_271m_fed.html\

N.J. legal tab to fight $271M federal bill for scrapped ARC tunnel reaches $800K
Published: Wednesday, April 20, 2011, 7:56 AM Updated: Wednesday, April 20, 2011, 7:57 AM

TRENTON — New Jersey has spent more than $800,000 in legal fees fighting the federal government's $271 million bill for the scrapped Hudson River rail tunnel project.

Invoices show the Washington, D.C.-based Patton Boggs law firm billed the state $469,715 for work performed in January alone.

The Record newspaper reports that covers more than 700 hours of work performed by 11 attorneys.

The newspaper says those costs are in addition to the $333,281 NJ Transit has already paid the law firm for work in December."


Read the rest at the link.

[nonperson]

4. And still more

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-03/christie-killing-new-york-tunnel-erases-wages-risks-montclair-property.html

Christie Scrapping Tunnel Brings $5 Billion Wage Loss, Threatens Montclair
By Dunstan McNichol and Terrence Dopp - Nov 3, 2010 6:07 PM ET

"Governor Chris Christie cut off New Jersey from $5 billion in New York-based salaries and diminished its future role in the world’s second-largest regional economy, according to government data and former state Commerce Commissioner Gil Medina, by ending construction of a Hudson River rail tunnel he said taxpayers couldn’t afford.

The first-term Republican canceled the $9.8 billion tunnel, the country’s largest federally supported infrastructure project, on Oct. 27. New Jersey, which already faces a $10.5 billion budget deficit next year, couldn’t accept a “blank check” on cost overruns that might exceed $5 billion, said Christie, 48.

Christie’s move means the state will have to repay the U.S. government $350 million already spent on the project, forgo $3 billion in additional federal aid and lose the 3,000 construction-worker openings the tunnel was projected to generate for the next decade. Canceling the tunnel will also cost New York and New Jersey 44,000 jobs and $4 billion in additional income that would have come through economic growth, according to a 2008 study by New Jersey Transit.

“This tunnel project is vital to the long-term health of the region and to New Jersey,” Medina, executive managing director for real-estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, said in a Nov. 1 telephone interview from his Secaucus office. “We have to allow for an efficient flow of people, goods and materials through the region.”"

Read the rest at the link.

[nonperson]

6. And even more

THIS IS THE DEAL SENATOR LAUTENBERG NEGOTIATED TO SAVE NEW JERSEY TAXPAYERS HALF OF THE MONEY WE'LL HAVE TO PAY BACK ON THE ARC TUNNEL.

A DEAL THAT CHRIS CHRISTIE THREW AWAY!

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/12/nj_to_be_credited_almost_half.html

N.J. can get back almost half of $271M owed to federal government for scrapped ARC tunnel
Published: Wednesday, December 15, 2010, 4:46 PM Updated: Wednesday, December 15, 2010, 7:48 PM
Ginger Gibson/Statehouse Bureau The Star-Ledger

"TRENTON — Responding to a request from U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, the federal Department of Transportation has agreed to return about half of the $271 million it is asking the state to repay after Gov. Chris Christie canceled the Hudson River tunnel.

If the state pays the $271 million, Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood wrote to Lautenberg that $128 million of that would be placed in the state's Congestion Mitigation Air Quality account to be used on future projects. The federally-administered CMAQ program provides funding for states for projects, like mass transit and emission reductions, that aim to improve air quality.

The $271 million remains due Dec. 24.

“The Governor’s disastrous decision to kill the ARC tunnel put New Jersey taxpayers on the hook to pay back $271 million to the federal government for money the state already spent on the project,” Lautenberg said in a statement. “I have been working since the day Governor Christie unwisely killed the project to clean up this mess and reduce the cost to taxpayers in our state. I am pleased that the Federal government has agreed to cut the ultimate cost to our state nearly in half - by $128 - million and I will continue to look for other ways to ease the fallout from the Governor's ill-advised decision.”"

Read the rest at the link.

[nonperson]

7. AND CHRISTIE KNEW NJ WOULD HAVE TO REPAY WHEN HE CANCELED THE TUNNEL!

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/12/gov_christie_knew_nj_would_hav.html

Gov. Christie knew N.J. would have to repay funds for canceled ARC tunnel, feds say
Published: Friday, December 10, 2010, 12:10 PM Updated: Sunday, January 02, 2011, 4:58 PM
By The Associated Press
The Star-Ledger

"TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie knew New Jersey would have to repay the $271 million in federal funds spent on a canceled tunnel to link the state with New York, federal officials said, while Christie charged that the Obama administration has cherry-picked his state to pay back the money because he is Republican.

To speed up the Hudson River Tunnel project, Christie successfully urged federal officials in April to use a type of funding agreement that federal law requires to be repaid if the state backed out.

According to the Early System Work Agreement, "If an applicant does not carry out the project for reasons within the control of the applicant, the applicant shall repay all government payments made under the work agreement plus reasonable interest and penalty charges the Secretary establishes in the agreement."

Read the rest at the link.

[freshwest]

2. Sounds fair to me, except she'll rob the poor for it.

[karynnj]

14. Chris Christie is male

[freshwest]

16. I stand corrected. *HE* will rob the poor to pay for it. Okay now?

[Ramulux]

3. Christie is a fucking thief

in a literal sense of the word. That tunnel belonged to the tax payers of New Jersey and he fucking stole it from them.

[xchrom]

5. Christie is A thieving asshat. Nt

[movonne]

8. How do the people of NJ feel about him now...all repugs looks like big

fat crooks...

[nonperson]

9. Christie's approval rating is dropping like a rock

New Jersey is beginning to wake up to the fact that they elected a corrupt, incompetent, hateful bully as governor.

Property taxes have skyrocketed under Chris Christie while he cuts every program imaginable WHILE GIVING A TAX BREAK TO MILLIONAIRES!

SOUND FAMILIAR?

[movonne]

10. Thank you...

[nonperson]

12. I found these poll numbers at The Hill

Christie's numbers are down but these numbers are still WAY too high based on the horrible job this idiot is doing.

Just goes to show a state dumb enough to elect someone like Chris Christie will take some time to wake up to reality.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/156961-gov-christies-approval-rating-slips-

Gov. Christie's approval rating slips
By Jordan Fabian - 04/20/11 08:46 AM ET

"New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's (R) approval rating took a five-point tumble in a new poll released Wednesday.

Christie, a rising Republican star who enjoyed widespread approval during his first year in office, suffered a previous dip in his approval rating in December. But his numbers rebounded in February, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.

Forty-seven percent of New Jersey voters approve of his job performance compared to 46 percent who disapprove in a new Quinnipiac survey, down from his 52-40 percent job approval on Feb. 9.

The new poll could tamp down talk of Christie making a dark-horse run for the White House in 2012."

[NeoConsSuck]

18. Sounds like NY's evil brother, Andrew Cuomo (no text)

[AC_Mem]

11. You know, I'm trying to think of one Repug

Who isn't a nasty piece of work, but I can't come up with ONE.

Can anyone help me? Is there one reasonable republican elected who is not out to assault the poor, sick, and old?

How in the world can republicans still support this group of goons? I just don't get it.

Annette

[nonperson]

13. You can't think of one because there isn't a single one

They're all cut from the same cloth. They hate America. They all get the same talking points every morning. And it looks like America is just dumb enough to fall for their crap.

[freshwest]

17. Dumb or scared. Makes no difference.

[cstanleytech]

15. I wonder if the feds could have a case for embezzlement

if the governor refuses to return the money.

[nonperson]

19. The feds have had cases with Christie on previous occassions

Nothing ever happens. What a surprise. Reminds me of Bush and probably for good reason.

Hatch Act violation with Karl Rove. Nothing.

Improperly using his office in a blatant attempt to influence an election (Senator Menendez D-NJ recovered and won). Nothing.

Rigging his per diems on lodging with his good pal, and at the time his subordinate in his U.S. attorney office, Michele Brown, who would each sign the others' travel voucher so they could often pay double the limit for lodging at some very swanky hotels. Hardly a peep.

Loaning $46,000.00 to that same good pal and subordiate, Michele Brown, but not reporting the loan when he made it or the interest he earned on it on the loan for tax purposes. Secretly loaning money to a subordinate in your own office of the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey then failing to report your profit on the loan. Zilch.

Handing out very lucrative no-bid contracts (one estimated to be as high as $52 million another estimated as worth as much or more), one to his former boss, John Ashcroft, and another to the former U.S. Attorney for New York, David Kelley (the same David Kelley who let Christie's brother Todd off with a slap on the wrist for stock fraud at the former Spears, Leeds, and Kellog (since purchased by Goldman Sachs netting Todd a reported $60 million ((must be nice to be able to get away with criminal activity then be so handsomely rewarded for it))

Involvement with Solomon Dwek, who committed a $50 million bank fraud and was used as a mole to entrap politicians (who were in fact corrupt and stupid enough to fall for it) for accepting what were in some cases arguably called bribes that were in the $10,000 range. In total a minuscule amount in comparison to Dwek's initial bank fraud.

It's all common knowledge and there is MORE but nothing is ever done. Reminds me of Bush. Like I said, what a surprise. Chris Christie belongs in prison, not the governor's office.

It's all pretty much here in this excellent article at Blue Jersey:
http://www.bluejersey.com/diary/17194/christie-has-lost-the-benefit-of-the-doubt

And all that is on top of the mistakes this corrupt incompetent has made since becoming governor of New Jersey. Mistakes that have cost New Jersey taxpayers BILLIONS of dollars and counting along with drastically reduced services while property taxes have increased at record levels AND ALL WHILE MILLIONAIRES GET A TAX BREAK!

IT'S MIND NUMBING HOW NEW JERSEY COULD EVER ELECT THIS BUFFOON.
(I am allowed to say "buffoon, right? The previous thread on this subject was locked because someone complained about my mentioning Christie's weight in an unflattering way. But there is nothing flattering about Chris Christie. Maybe it was someone from the governor's office. That wouldn't surprise me either. Very Bush-like.)