Chris Christie Lays Blame on Aide for Retributive Bridge Lane Closures

Earlier today, Ed Krayewski noted a growing scandal engulfing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, about lane closings of the extremely busy George Washington Bridge that appeared to be a form of political retaliation against a mayor who declined to endorse him.

This afternoon, Christie, who had previously denied his office played any role, put out a statement acknowledging that it seems that it had, and he's laying the blame on an aide. The Associated Press reports:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says that a top aide misled him about her role in apparent political retribution against a town mayor and that he knew nothing about the situation.

Emails and text messages released Wednesday link Christie aides and political appointees to traffic jams in a town in September that appear to have been engineered as political payback.

His full statement reads:

"What I've seen today for the first time is unacceptable. I am outraged and deeply saddened to learn that not only was I misled by a member of my staff, but this completely inappropriate and unsanctioned conduct was made without my knowledge. One thing is clear: This type of behavior is unacceptable and I will not tolerate it because the people of New Jersey deserve better. This behavior is not representative of me or my Administration in any way, and people will be held responsible for their actions."

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Comments

[Andrew S.]

I'm truly stunned. Truly!

[CE]

Isn't interfering with public infrastructure punishable as terrorism?

[Fist of Etiquette]

So much for the image of Christie speaking the brutal truth no matter the consequences. But hey, I'm good with anything that both slows this fuck's march to 1600 PA Ave. and inconveniences New Jerkseyans.

[Episiarch]

You know, FoE, you're a pretty hateful guy. I like that. In another blog's comment section, I could have called you friend. Or at least "acquaintance".

[Fist of Etiquette]

Shackford's a sorcerer, that one. He reads the thoughts in my mind grapes.

[Episiarch]

We are creatures of duty, FoE...I have lived my life by it. Just one more duty to perform.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It is time. All Reason 24/7 posts into the disposal tubes. And the body of an intern, too.

[cw]

I blame Bush.

[Monkey's Uncle]

as does Shrike

[MP]

This is one of those things, just like the IRS scandal, where haters desperately wanted it to trace all the way to the top. But in the end, as in any large organization, the bureaucracy acts of its own free will. The top dog may be ultimately accountable, but it's foolish to always believe they are omniscient.

[cw]

Even if Christie genuinely didn't know, the fact it was a "top aid" suggests he at least associates with some real scum, and the aide's petty bullshit was likely foreseeable.

[pan fried wylie]

Even if Christie genuinely didn't know

What I've seen today for the first time...

I call bullshit.

[Fist of Etiquette]

More often than not, they set the tone, at the very least. But I have little doubt he approved of these things if not directed them. High profile political payback went beyond his notice? Bah. And it's part of why I'm a hater.

[MP]

Sets the tone? Seriously? How often do you really think people set a be nice to your fellows with rainbows and lollipops tone?

I'm not really going to whine about a politician being a bellicose asshole. There's still a huge gulf being being a dick and using it to club someone.

[Sevo]

MP|1.8.14 @ 6:08PM|#
"Sets the tone? Seriously? How often do you really think people set a be nice to your fellows with rainbows and lollipops tone?"

Are you familiar with the concept of 'false dichotomy'?

[MP]

I'm not sure how it applies. The haters/skeptics are already assuming He Knows just because he's in charge and he's an asshole.

I'm not ready to make the leap from asshole to power abuser. Just like I don't pile on Obummer the stupid for the IRS shenanigans. Sometimes your underlings do bad things, even if in private you'd still buy them a beer for doing it.

[Sevo]

MP|1.8.14 @ 6:31PM|#
"I'm not sure how it applies"

You don't have to be 'rainbows and lollypops' to be ethical.
Sorry, if a 'trusted aid' did that, that aid hits the bricks or the boss is a power abuser.
And, no, I'm not giving Obo a pass on his handling of the IRS; he owns that, as much as Nixon ever did.

[Pro Libertate]

This kind of shit isn't defensible. I love how we keep having to lower our bars when the assholes get caught abusing their power.

[Episiarch]

"The buck passes here."

[wareagle]

knows, doesn't know, doesn't matter. As with Obama and that litany of scandals, there is a culture in place that believes this sort of behavior is okay. Folks have to get that notion from some place.

Your "underlings do bad things" because they believe no consequences will follow and, if anything, they are more likely to be praised than anything else. Will anything happen to this staffer? Hell no.

[Agile Cyborg]

Leaders should earn their keep. This might be a bit old-fashioned to the MP's of the world but the way I see it a boss isn't hired to sit around not knowing what the fuck goes on around him or her. Period. I don't give a shit how big or small- public or private. A competent leader makes it his or her business to be responsible for the success or failure of a venture. Anything else is just throwing money at a dumb face.

[Killaz]

Fuck passing the blame until it plops out while they go on living comfy in mansions built on their shit tainted lies. Time for a goddamned flush for a change.

[montana mike]

wink, wink

[Monkey's Uncle]

So, it is not foolish to only sometimes believe they are omniscient?

[Episiarch]

Yeah, baloney. Everywhere I've ever worked (admittedly not in government), nothing like this, nothing this potentially disastrous, went on without the boss man knowing. It may have been a "wink, wink" situation, but...they always know. Christie is full of shit.

[Pro Libertate]

Of course he knows. That's why we have to take these guys down when we catch this sort of thing happening. Because most times, we don't even find out this much.

[JWatts]

+1

[PapayaSF]

It's entirely obvious that the IRS scandal goes to the top. The Tea Party was (and is) a huge threat to Obama and other Democrats. He wasn't having all those meetings with IRS bigwigs to make sure the Obamacare rollout went smoothly.

[JWatts]

Questioning the motive of the President is racist! 😉

[BigT]

On both this and the IRS the other shoe hasn't dropped yet. Too many IRS 'witnesses' had memory lapses, and the GOP is chickenshit. We'll see about Chris the chubby.

[Agile Cyborg]

It's also foolish to justify incompetent top dogs.

[Lyle]

He's responsible for hiring the aide. So what the aide does is ultimately on Christie.

[XM]

I hate to see Christie go down this way, but he was starting to get in the way of Rand Paul securing the GOP nomination in 2016. Now only Ron Paul can get in his way. Stay low until it's time to herd your college troops to your son's way in the primaries, old man.

Is Christie shocked or dismayed that the other side he played nice with is now coming after him? After defending Obama after countless scandals? His pal Barrack's not coming to his rescue? "

What difference does it make!" It does, if you're GOP. Lessons learned.

[PapayaSF]

Now only Ron Paul can get in his way.

I still predict: Scott Walker/Rand Paul 2016.

[BigT]

I like the way you think. Can I subscribe to your newsletter?

[PapayaSF]

No newsletter yet....

[Killaz]

I love seeing Christie go down this way, and I don't really care what effect it has on the GOP race in 2016.

[montana mike]

This ^^^though seeing Walker take on federal unions would be comic gold.

[Krokko]

What I've seen today for the first time is unacceptable.

Administrative scandal, first time he's heard about it is in the papers. Presidential material!

[Almanian!]

Whoops - I was only 11 minutes late to the party...

[Almanian!]

TEN...only TEN munites late.

[Krokko]

I finally registered JUST so I could make that comment...

(I used to contribute some snark in the pre-registration days, but have only lurked since.)

[Mr Whipple]

Meh. This kind of shit happens all the time in NJ. I remember when the Mayor of my town was up for reelection, a city councilperson that ran with him refused to support him. Mysteriously, a city inspector showed up at her house and cited her for zoning violations on the fence she had put up.

[Ayn Random Variation]

During Hurricane Sandy, the only part of Jersey City that didn't lose power was where the mayor's family lives.

[Mr Whipple]

Damn. He let's his family live in Jersey City? He could, at least, move them into Hoboken.

[Ayn Random Variation]

Damn, I had a soft spot for him due to his bashing of the Teachers' Union, but he's just like all the rest of them. What a weasel. Obama or Hillary could have said this.

[Mr Whipple]

All bark and no bite against the NJEA. And on top of that, he bailed out the Revel casino.

[KPres]

Low level employees?

Worked for Obama.

Let's see if the media rushes to his defense in this "fake scandal".

[Almanian!]

Cool! El Douche Grande is already blaming the underlings!

If he can now just perfect the "I didn't know till I read it in the papers" schtick, he'll be a SHOO IN fer 1400 Penn!

[Kaptious Kristen]

Yeah, it would be fitting if he became a bellhop at The Willard.

[Almanian!]

He does need to work on the passive voice a bit. That statement is WAY too direct.

"Mistakes were made, events unfolded, things happened. If anyone was offended, I am truly sorry....but now it's time for New Jersey to move on dot org....LOOK! GAIZ TALKIN' BOUT MARRIAGING!"

[All-Seeing Monocle]

Nice job leaving a mile-long email and text trail, you dumb fucks. You guys go to the same superspy school as Kwame Kilpatrick?

Even IF he didn't know about it beforehand (very implausible), there is no fucking way he didn't know about it after the fact when people started asking hard questions. At that point the only way you "don't know" is if you're very purposefully negligent in your internal diligence.

[Irish]

Since PM links seems to have cooled down, Ta Nahesi Coates goes fucking crazy.

Here is the machinery of racism?the privilege of being oblivious to questions, of never having to grapple with the everywhere; the right of false naming; the right to claim that the lakes, trees, and mountains of our world do not exist; the right to insult our intelligence with your ignorance. The machinery of racism requires no bigotry from Dylan Byers. It merely requires that Dylan Byers sit still.

Not agreeing that Melissa Harris Perry is America's foremost public intellectual = the machinery of racism.

Given that my list of favorite intellectuals would include Thomas Sowell, Booker T. Washington and Zora Neale Hurston, do I have enough black people on the list to not be called a racist by morons?

[Heroic Mulatto]

do I have enough black people on the list to not be called a racist by morons?

No. You see, there are Black people and there are "cornball brothas"....

[JWatts]

If the blacks on your list are conservative then no they don't count.

[Calidissident]

Frederick Douglass deserves to be on that list too. Guy was awesome and ahead of his time.

Seriously though, Coates has lost his shit. I don't know who Dylan Byers is, but I seriously doubt he would have been fine with Coates saying that, say, Rachel Maddow was America's foremost public intellectual.

[PapayaSF]

A leftist decrying "the right of false naming"? Talk about projection. As a cisgendered heteronormative, I sense microaggression!

[Irish]

Whatever. You're just pissed because you refuse to acknowledge that mountains exist.

[Calidissident]

Seriously, that was a bad metaphor.

[Episiarch]

That wasn't a metaphor, it was an abortion. How's that for a metaphor?

[Jordan]

Like his bro Obama, Christie was totally pissed when he heard about this on the news.

[Swamp Think]

Sil: Burt let me know the other night, he's been playin' both sides of the fence with New York.
Tony: Burt?
Sil: Measures were taken.

[Lady Bertrum]

How to the Bergen paper get private e-mails and text messages?

[All-Seeing Monocle]

Subpoena'd by state lawmakers. Not sure how they got from there to the paper - public record at that point?

http://www.northjersey.com/new.....mails.html

[Lady Bertrum]

*did*

[andarm16]

Here I was thinking that Christie was the media chosen one for 2016. Well, this scandal getting traction beyond the MSNBC crowd shows that just isn't the case.

[Agile Cyborg]

What would the powerful do without aides to blame their miserable tendencies on?

[GILMORE]

"This afternoon, Christie, who had previously denied his office played any role, put out a statement acknowledging that it seems that it had"

'Upon further review of the play, the call on the field has been overturned'

but really, he's already showing some real *presidential* qualifications = THROW NEAREST PERSON UNDER THE BUS

[Mr Whipple]

Well, that's better than Obama who gives them promotions.

[RishJoMo]

Sounds like one heck of a plan to me dude.

http://www.Planet-Anon.tk

[prolefeed]

This behavior is not representative of me or my Administration in any way, and people will be held responsible for their actions."

Unless by "held responsible" he means "fired", then fuck him. Using state funds to harass political opponents is bad enough -- doing so by deliberately inconveniencing thousands of people every day is way over the line.

[All-Seeing Monocle]

Fuck him even if he does mean "fired".

Now, if he means "fired, followed by my public resignation in disgrace", then I'm starting to listen. Obviously, that's not to say that charges should be off the table, but I'm listening.

[Death Rock and Skull]

This is a good time to point out that if the George Washington Bridge were private, it would not suffer the humiliation of political horseshit.

[VinnyG]

(His Majesty Corpus) Christie is nothing but an obese Richard Nixon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh163n1lJ4M

[Episiarch]

"Uh uh, I know you are but what am I!"

Your projection is always a hoot, Mary, just like your mongoloidism.

[904cc]

"Anyone at all?"

She's not Chris Christie or his aid, so why do you think you get to shit all over the thread?

Fuck off and die cunt.

[GILMORE]

"Jordan|1.8.14 @ 7:30PM|#
If a new griefer dumbass shows up out of the blue, it's Mary. Always a safe bet"

THIS +

and one of Mary's quirks/tells is the occasional psychotic reveal about how 'see, libertarians aren't really libertarians because real libertarians who believe in liberty must believe in free movement and that means they dontbelieve in borders and if you don't believe in borders then well you don't believe in property and not believing in propery ....ERGO LIBERTARIANS SHOULD ALL BE COLLECTIVIST SHITWADS

I note, recent griefer troll said = 'libertarian foreign policy can only exist *if you believe in *foreigners*...

...see above. So, Mary/White Indian/Douchedrinker