Christie should be impeached. Over $1million taxpayer dollars for a phony blatantly self-serving report? Republicans moved to impeach Clinton for less! Analysis: Some evidence seems to contradict Mastro reports findings on Christie March 28, 2014, 7:28 PM Last updated: Friday, March 28, 2014, 11:48 PM BY JOHN REITMEYER STATE HOUSE BUREAU The Record kevin R. wexler / staff photographer Randy Mastro of the New York law firm Gibson and Dunn discussing the report at a press conference Thursday. In more than 300 pages, the attorneys hired by Governor Christie make their case for why they cleared him of any involvement in the lane closures at the George Washington Bridge, a scandal that threatens to derail his presidential potential. But in the thousands of pages of footnotes and exhibits released Thursday, many documents appear to lend at least some credence to allegations against Christie that the report plainly said can’t be true. And they include some of the harshest language yet disclosed in the bridge scandal: “I could claw his eyes out, pour gasoline in the sockets and light him up,” Christie’s press secretary wrote about a friend and key figure in the scandal. There’s also a curt dismissal of the Hoboken mayor who later alleged politics played a role in getting aid for Superstorm Sandy. After supposedly “kissing her ass” for an endorsement, Christie’s campaign team worked to make sure she didn’t show up at one of his political events — a meet-and-greet across the street from Hoboken City Hall. These raw documents — made public in more than 600 exhibits attached to the report — belie the smooth picture of Christie and his inner circle in the report written by his legal team. For example, the report said Christie did not create a “culture of political retaliation,” something many lawmakers suggested after allegations were leveled by Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer and by Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop — who both said the Christie administration essentially punished them for not endorsing his 2013 bid for reelection. Zimmer alleged Superstorm Sandy recovery funds were held back. Fulop said a host of meetings set up between his incoming administration and high-ranking Christie officials were canceled abruptly after he declined to endorse the governor. But “allegations accusing Governor Christie of creating a ‘culture of political retaliation’ are unsubstantiated and, indeed, contradicted by substantial other evidence,” the report said. Yet one of the exhibits released along with the report includes an email exchange between Christie’s campaign manager and his top strategist in a conversation about Zimmer and Fulop. “We’re approaching a point in time where we have the ‘so what’s it going to be?’ conversation with Zimmer and Fulop,” the campaign manager, Bill Stepien, wrote to Mike DuHaime. “Are you with us, or against us?” Stepien wrote to DuHaime, in reference to Zimmer and the endorsements. Other exhibits released along with the report by the New York City law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher on Thursday reveal details that could lend credence to the claims of Christie’s critics or serve to further embarrass his administration. One email exchange shows an intentional effort to brush off Zimmer by Christie and two top campaign officials after they learned from a news report that she would not be endorsing his reelection. Another shows that Christie took a hands-on role at least once as the administration responded to the scandal, personally editing a statement the administration issued in the wake of the resignation of David Wildstein, a top Christie appointee at the Port Authority named in the report as the architect of the lane closures. And there are examples where Christie’s press secretary, Michael Drewniak, used harsh and violent language in email exchanges. Disclosures in January of crude exchanges by Drewniak led to criticism of Christie. The credibility of the report has been roundly questioned, with many critics saying it is too favorable to Christie and that the evidence it uncovered is portrayed in a forgiving manner largely to put his presidential ambitions on course. The team of attorneys who compiled the report included one with close ties to the governor and another with close ties to his political mentor and frequent defender, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Christie shot back at that criticism when asked about the report during a news conference Friday. “The facts are the facts. Read the report,” he said. “They can’t make up facts.” A central allegation in the legislative inquiry into the lane closures is whether the whole affair was about punishing Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Christie. The report makes clear “the evidence we have seen does not establish that this was an act of political retaliation motivated by Mayor Sokolich’s decision not to endorse the governor’s reelection.” But exhibits released with the report — and just now apparently provided to the legislative committee — include a list of mayors the Christie team wanted to endorse the governor. The list was titled “Approved Targets.” The exhibits also show once it became clear Zimmer wasn’t going to endorse the governor last August, Stepien and DuHaime agreed they should rebuff her offer to greet Christie at a political event in Hoboken. The governor also apparently agreed with giving her the cold shoulder. The discussion started with Zimmer offering in an email to DuHaime to “come and say a quick hello and welcome Governor Christie when he comes to Hoboken.” DuHaime forwarded the email to Stepien with the question: “What do you think of her showing up … a distraction or an added benefit?” Stepien responded: “After courting her for years (aka kissing her ass) — including having the Gov meet with her personally a few months back — we learned about her endorsement stance by reading about it in the paper. No courtesy of a heads-up. I say no. On the heels of her comments, it will be a distraction.” “I told her not to come, that she’d be a distraction. I let the gov know in case she actually wanders across the street from City Hall and he strongly agreed with the decision,” DuHaime writes back to Stepien. The report also makes it clear the plot to close the lanes was hatched by Wildstein and Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff. And Wildstein is the one who carried out the lane closures, according to the report. Christie, in the wake of the scandal, has distanced himself from Wildstein. He said that although they grew up in the same town and went to the same high school, they were never close. Yet one of the exhibits attached to the report showed Christie tweaked the statement his administration released when Wildstein’s resignation was announced in early December. That came up in an email exchange between Christie and Drewniak, the press secretary. Drewniak sent Christie a proposed statement that read, “Mr. Wildstein has been a tireless advocate for New Jersey’s interests at the Port Authority. We are grateful for his commitment and dedication to the important work of the Port Authority.” Christie responded with his own version of the administration’s statement. His email to Drewniak, beginning with “Try this,” added to the original version with new words thanking Wildstein “for his service to the people of New Jersey and the region.” Drewniak’s name, meanwhile, had previously come up in emails turned over in response to subpoenas served by the legislative committee, including a reference to a dinner he had with Wildstein in early December as it became clear Wildstein would be resigning as a result of the scandal. The documents released by the legislative committee also showed Drewniak making derogatory and off-color references to reporters and newspapers covering the lane-closure story. The exhibits released Thursday included additional colorful interactions involving Drewniak. One came as he talked about Wildstein’s pending resignation with an unknown recipient. “The only trouble is David is/was a true friend of mine,” Drewniak wrote in December. “Now, I could claw his eyes out, pour gasoline in the sockets and light him up.” And in mid-October, he sent this message to another unknown recipient: “A new high level of [expletive] is hitting the fan tonight on the Ft Lee/GWB issue.”
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 10:53:53 +0000
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