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Hoboken Mayor: Christie Stiffed Us On Sandy Aid Because I Didn't Endorse His Project
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jan 18, 2014
Modified Jan 18, 2014
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jan 18, 2014
Modified Jan 18, 2014
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Chris "What? Traffic study? Huh? Erm?" Christie is going to have a hard time deflecting this bullying accusation: the mayor of Hoboken claims the embattled governor withheld Hurricane Sandy recovery funds she requested for her hard-hit city, all because she didn't sign off on a redevelopment plan he backed. Sound familiar?
According to Mayor Dawn Zimmer, two of Christie's top aides threatened to hold the $127 million in hurricane relief she requested hostage unless she approved the plan redevelop a stretch of Hoboken, which had been in the works since 2008 and run by a group with ties to Christie's administration. Zimmer told MSNBC she was threatened with this twice in person, once by NJ Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno and a second time by Christie community affairs commissioner Richard Constable.
Zimmer, who has been a supporter of Christie's in the past, reportedly recorded her interactions with the aides in her personal diary: “It is very important to the governor,” she described Guadagno saying of the project. “The word is that you are against it, and you need to move forward or we are not going to be able to help you. I know it’s not right — these things should not be connected — but they are, she says, and if you tell anyone, I will deny it.”
Zimmer still hasn't approved the project, and thus far Hoboken—which suffered immensely after the hurricane in 2012—has received only a tiny portion of the funds she requested. "Please governor,” Zimmer wrote in a letter asking Christie to reconsider the lack of funds, “we need your help. I have tried to assure Hoboken residents that we would be treated fairly because you have always treated Hoboken fairly in the past.” Soon after, Guadagno allegedly made her threat, and though spokespersons for both Guadagno and Constable—as well as a spokesperson for Christie—denied Zimmer's claim, MSNBC reportedly obtained documents showing Hoboken officials were being pressured to approve the redevelopment proposal around the same time the Sandy aid was being debated.
All this Christie-slamming isn't rattling some Republicans; POLITICO reported this week that some Romney supporters, reportedly put off by Christie's best friendship with Obama around the 2012 election, are pretty amused by the recent scandals. "It suggests that he made some really bad choices as to some people that he appointed into positions of responsibility, at the very least," one ex-staffer said of the Bridgegate scandal, in which it was revealed Christie aides had shut down lanes on the GWB in retaliation for the Fort Lee, NJ mayor's lack of endorsement. "I think it’s really bad news.”
Tagged
bridgegate
Chris Christie
dawn zimmer
hoboken
new jersey
Rebecca Fishbein
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