Chris Christy and the George Washington Bridge: Turns Out Conspiracies Do Happen

     While the conventional wisdom mocks all belief in 'conspiracy theories'-apparently CW doesn't believe in conspiracy theories, New Jersey Governor Christ Christy is making belief in conspiracies respectable again. I mean I've been accused of being hyper partisan, histrionic, and perhaps even an 'irrationalist.'

     "There’ a fine line between cynicism and paranoia. Often I think you’ve gone off the deep end, because many of the things that you say, such as this, are histrionic and completely irrational."

     http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/10/mark-sadowski-may-be-great-wonk-but-he.html

      I mean if I were to tell you that I got terribly delayed on one of the busiest days of the year because the Republican Governor of New Jersey deliberately wanted to punish me you'd probably conclude I'm having another irrrationalist moment-kind of like the Romantics. 

     Yet, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. 

     "Emergency response teams were reportedly delayed in traffic caused by lane closures on the George Washington Bridge in September, including one vehicle responding to a 91-year-old woman in cardiac arrest who later died."

     "The lane closures and its resulting gridlock, which created major problems for New Jersey commuters, have become a political headache for Gov. Chris Christie (R), who has maintained that he had nothing to do with the decision to close the lanes."

     http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/08/new-jersey-lane-closures_n_4564480.html

     "New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's (R) deputy chief of staff was directly involved in a mean-spirited effort to create "traffic problems" for a mayor who declined to endorse the governor's reelection bid, according to newly released emails."

    "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly wrote in an email on Aug. 13."

    "Got it," replied David Wildstein, who was then one of Christie's top aides at the Port Authority, which is run jointly by New York and New Jersey.

    "A month later Wildstein did indeed create the traffic problems that Christie's office requested. He closed down two of Fort Lee's access lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge, the busiest bridge in the country. The closures came on Sept. 9, the first day of school in Fort Lee, leading to massive traffic jams as bridge traffic backed up into local streets. As a result, police and emergency vehicles were delayed in responding to reports of a missing child and a cardiac arrest."

     http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/08/chris-christie-traffic_n_4561448.html?ref=topbar

    "Private messages released on Wednesday strongly suggest that a top adviser to Republican Gov. Chris Christie orchestrated a massive traffic jam in Fort Lee, New Jersey, as political retaliation against the city's Democratic mayor."

   "Calling the messages "astonishing" and "unconscionable," members of the Fort Lee borough council described the mid-September traffic disaster, caused when the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey unexpectedlyclosed two of the town's access lanes to the George Washington Bridge, as having dire consequences."

    "There was a missing child that day. The police had trouble conducting that search because they were tied up directing traffic," says Jan Goldberg, a Fort Lee councilman who works with local emergency personnel. Police found the missing child, a four-year-old. "But with the streets in the condition they were, I would venture to say that the search took longer," Goldberg says.

     http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/01/chris-christie-bridge-lane-closure-slowed-search-missing-child

      Just a few weeks he was mocking the very idea that this is true. Now he's stuck admitting it happened and effecting to being as shocked as everyone else. 

      "New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) dismissed a growing controversy over lane closures on the George Washington Bridge on Thursday, telling reporters that the problems are "not that big a deal."

     "Speaking during a news conference at the New Jersey statehouse, Christie said the flap over the lane closures and resulting traffic problems is being magnified because of the national press' interest in him as a political figure."

    "I know you guys are obsessed with this. I'm not," Christie said, according to ABC News. "I'm really not. It's not that big of deal…just because the press runs around and writes about it both here and nationally, I know why that is and so do you, let's not pretend that it's because of the gravity of the issue. It's because I am a national figure and anything like this will be written a lot about now."

     http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/20/chris-christie-bridge_n_4477578.html

     I'll tell you what-this one may have wings. I don't know that Christy can outlast this one. I know-usually you hang out a couple of scapegoats to take the fall-Christy's already done this with Kelly and Wildstein. He knew nothing about this terrible thing done for his sake to punish his political enemies and enact retribution. So if all this went on under his nose while he was in a fog of obliviousness is he somehow fit for the highest office in the land?

    On the other hand if he did know then he's 'unfit for office.'

    http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2014/01/gov_chris_christies_officials.html

     Even if he didn't know anything-the most charitable assumption-it still doesn't necessarily free him of any responsibility. After all, Nixon's defense was that his aides did Watergate without his knowledge or consent. Rather unfortunate company for the man who hopes to be the next President of the United States. 

     The Daily News perhaps puts it best in calling this Christy's Waterloo. 

     "In the best possible light, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie built a top staff of lying thugs who threatened lives and safety to serve his political ends. If not, Christie is a lying thug himself."

    Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/christie-waterloo-article-1.1570246#ixzz2psZeX765

     As those involved in Watergate later admitted they never spoke to Nixon about it but knew on some level what their boss wanted. In that sense Christie needed not say anything. The question begs if you want to believe in the 'best possible light' story why a Governor who is not a thug built a staff of lying thugs. 

     It may be that Christy will not only fail to win in 2016 but could leave office prematurely. I'm not saying he will but I don't think the word impeachment is inappropriate here. An old lady whose life might have been saved if not for the darn good time Christy's thugs were having contrary to his knowledge. A child who they have trouble finding because Christy was exacting payback. We'll see but this one might have legs and this may indeed be his Waterloo.