He's been defiantly declaring he was born in New Jersey and intends to spend the rest of his life here. Notably that's kind of far from Washington DC. For this we can only be grateful. I don't think anyone wants to see Chris Christy in Washington DC other than that small niche that thinks it just isn't dysfunctional enough out there without enough petty, bullying Republicans.
It seems to me that the subtext of his pious pledge is that even he gets that 2016 is now nothing but a pipe dream and he is hoping he can stay in New Jersey-and stay out of jail. At this point a happy ending is where he can serve at the rest of his term as Governor without be g impeached or even going to jail.
That this is a real possibility can be seen just in considering who is now involved in the probe of Bridgegate: the lawyer who sent former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to jail.
"Reid Schar was the lead prosecutor in both trials of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, ending with Blagojevich’s conviction on sweeping corruption charges and 14-year prison sentence. In perhaps the defining moment in his career as a prosecutor, Schar opened his cross examination of Blagojevich in the second trial in 2011 with a simple but tone-setting question: “Mr. Blagojevich, you are a convicted liar, correct?” Blagojevich had been convicted of a lone count of perjury in the first trial in 2010, but jurors deadlocked on other counts."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-blagojevich-prosecutor-christie-bridge-scandal-20140115,0,7706760.story
The Governor seems to think that the worst thing that happened here is that he was personally lied to by just a few of his staff members. To hear him tell it, he's a bigger victim than anyone.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2014/01/christys-107-minute-conference-had.html
Blagojevich went to jail and I would argue that what he did was far less egregious than what Governor Christy has done. What he did was just a very old tradition in American politics called the spoils system that goes back to Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Grover Cleveland and yes Richard Daley. He didn't try to hurt anyone just wanted to cash in on all his hard work. For this he went to jail for 14 years. Did he deserve it? I can imagine a good argument that he did though I could also imagine the opposite. However, he was sentenced to jail so let's assume he did. How much does Christy's deliberate, malicious intent to harm deserve?
While he just wants this to be about the imaginary injuries to him events have clearly overtaken this self-serving little narrative. We have 20 subpoenas issued with major members of his Administration all the way up to his Chief of Staff-who is the closet anyone is with him in the Administration-receiving one.
"Assembly Democrats named 13 individuals who were served with subpoenas seeking information related to the September traffic snarl, created by the abrupt closing of access lanes to the busy George Washington Bridge, which spans the Hudson River connecting New York and New Jersey.
"Among those receiving subpoenas were Christie spokesmen Michael Drewniak and Colin Reed, communications director Maria Comella, the governor's incoming chief of staff Regina Egea, and Christie's former campaign manager Bill Stepien."
"The list also includes David Samson, chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, as well as Bill Baroni and David Wildstein, two former Port Authority officials who have resigned."
It seems to me that the subtext of his pious pledge is that even he gets that 2016 is now nothing but a pipe dream and he is hoping he can stay in New Jersey-and stay out of jail. At this point a happy ending is where he can serve at the rest of his term as Governor without be g impeached or even going to jail.
That this is a real possibility can be seen just in considering who is now involved in the probe of Bridgegate: the lawyer who sent former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to jail.
"Reid Schar was the lead prosecutor in both trials of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, ending with Blagojevich’s conviction on sweeping corruption charges and 14-year prison sentence. In perhaps the defining moment in his career as a prosecutor, Schar opened his cross examination of Blagojevich in the second trial in 2011 with a simple but tone-setting question: “Mr. Blagojevich, you are a convicted liar, correct?” Blagojevich had been convicted of a lone count of perjury in the first trial in 2010, but jurors deadlocked on other counts."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-blagojevich-prosecutor-christie-bridge-scandal-20140115,0,7706760.story
The Governor seems to think that the worst thing that happened here is that he was personally lied to by just a few of his staff members. To hear him tell it, he's a bigger victim than anyone.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2014/01/christys-107-minute-conference-had.html
Blagojevich went to jail and I would argue that what he did was far less egregious than what Governor Christy has done. What he did was just a very old tradition in American politics called the spoils system that goes back to Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Grover Cleveland and yes Richard Daley. He didn't try to hurt anyone just wanted to cash in on all his hard work. For this he went to jail for 14 years. Did he deserve it? I can imagine a good argument that he did though I could also imagine the opposite. However, he was sentenced to jail so let's assume he did. How much does Christy's deliberate, malicious intent to harm deserve?
While he just wants this to be about the imaginary injuries to him events have clearly overtaken this self-serving little narrative. We have 20 subpoenas issued with major members of his Administration all the way up to his Chief of Staff-who is the closet anyone is with him in the Administration-receiving one.
"Assembly Democrats named 13 individuals who were served with subpoenas seeking information related to the September traffic snarl, created by the abrupt closing of access lanes to the busy George Washington Bridge, which spans the Hudson River connecting New York and New Jersey.
"Among those receiving subpoenas were Christie spokesmen Michael Drewniak and Colin Reed, communications director Maria Comella, the governor's incoming chief of staff Regina Egea, and Christie's former campaign manager Bill Stepien."
"The list also includes David Samson, chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, as well as Bill Baroni and David Wildstein, two former Port Authority officials who have resigned."
Now that plot has thickened ever more with Wildstein offering a deal in exchange for immunity for himself.
"Alan Zegas, an attorney for Wildstein, said his client is eager to share fresh information. But before he speaks out, Wildstein is asking state and federal prosecutors to grant him immunity."
“If he is conferred immunity, my client will fully cooperate and share his story,” Zegas said. In the meantime, he added, Wildstein “intends to fully comply with his legal obligations and will voluntarily supply documents that do not have redactions.”
"Evidently he doesn't want to go to jail and realizes that Christy would in a New Jersey minute-yes usually it's a New York minute but this is in New Jersey-leave him the fall guy for everything. We'll see if the deal is accepted but it's potentially huge as Wildstein knows where all the dead bodies are. "
I think we've finally discovered something that Sumner's level targeting can't solve. Adopting LT won't save Chris Christy. It sure won't save his Presidential ambitions-probably, hopefully, nothing can save that. We'll see if anything can save his time as Governor or at least stop him from going to jail. We know if anything can save that it isn't monetary policy.
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