Day: January 9, 2014
Fort Lee Mayor Shows He’s a Crass Act
David Wildstein deserves an ass-kicking. Sorry. There, I said it.
— Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich (D), quoted by the Newark Star Ledger, on the Port Authority official responsible creating traffic by closing lanes on the George Washington Bridge.
Stewart: Christie Gives N.J. Corruption a Bad Name
As a guy who grew up in New Jersey, I’m disappointed, ashamed of the state I grew up in. Political payback through traffic congestion? To see New Jersey sink to such a piss-poor, third-rate quality of corruption …. This is New Jersey! A state renowned for its piss-rich, first-rate corruption.
— Jon Stewart, not surprisingly, leading off the Daily Show last night with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R).
Stand Down, Christie
Which of these governors’ reactions to scandal is not like the others: Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer of New York, former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevy and current New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie?
It could have been worse. Had there been a man-made or natural disaster, the aides’ actions in deliberately gridlocking traffic in Fort Lee could have endangered the lives of thousands of New Jersey residents.
Both Govs. Spitzer and McGreevey resigned, of course. In both cases, they were embroiled in sex scandals — and both were Democrats. Spitzer resigned in 2008 after an investigation uncovered the fact that he had numerous encounters with high-priced prostitutes. McGreevey resigned in 2004 after it was revealed he was engaged in an improper relationship with an appointee and after he revealed that, as he put it, he was a “gay American.”
Gov. Christie is involved in a much more serious scandal, of course. At least one life may have been lost and tens of thousands of others were put in jeopardy because of a petty and capricious act ordered by members of his senior aides, if not by Christie himself. So far, he has avoided taking responsibility for these shameless acts by shifting blame to people he hired to fill the most senior positions on his staff.
