Gov. Christie of New Jersey is under suspicion of ordering a “political payback” to the mayor of a N.J. city for not supporting him in his bid for governor. Christie’s deputy chief of staff, Bridget Kelly, along with Christie’s man at the Port Authority, David Wildstein, set in motion a diabolical plot to close down The George Washington Bridge by closing several access roads, thereby causing a monumental, and dangerous, shutdown of the bridge for several days. The big question is, How could that have happened without Christie’s prior knowledge and consent? Is it believable that his deputy chief of staff on her own authority would, or could, perpetrate such a horrific offence, knowing full well that the truth might well come out later? Would she—could she—have acted on her own authority?—If so, many very troubling questions naturally come to mind.
First, what does it say about Christie’s managerial style that a horrific, and extremely dangerous act of sabotage by his own staff, putting hundreds of thousands of commuters in a complete tie-up, with all the risks of “road rage,” children not being picked up, doctors’ appointments missed, emergency responders brought to a standstill, etc., could happen without his knowledge? Is it even credible that with such certain consequences attendant to a complete traffic standstill, Christie’s deputy chief of staff would have conceived and executed this “payback” all by herself? But even if we find out that, yes, she did indeed plot the whole thing, then Christie should still step down for hiring such diabolical people to help him run his governorship. His lack of good judgment here, if this is the case, is both stunning, reprehensible, and extremely dangerous. It is tantamount to having a mad man as governor—like “Mad Ludwig” of Bavaria, who was drowned while bathing in order to save the state from more of his irrational schemes. Just think: What would Christie—or his staff—do with all the power of the presidency? Order break-ins like Nixon, tamper with evidence, harm political opponents, etc? If the rule of law can be so cavalierly dispensed with on the state level, just think what he or his staff could do on the federal level. One crazy “Rob Ford” on the continent is more than enough, I should think.
Second, adding to the suspicion that Christie, despite his denials, himself authored this ‘traffic bomb’ is the accusation of the Hoboken mayor that funds for Sandy’s victims would be withheld unless she allowed the Rockefeller Group to develop property in Hoboken. One act of intimidation/retaliation raises suspicions—but two?
A person is known by the friends/associates whom he chooses as his intimate companions. They reveal well a person’s character. Christie has unequivocally revealed who he likes to employ and to hang out with (for these were his friends too). As Aristotle well said, “Birds of a feather flock together.” In this instance, we should revise it to “vultures of equal rapacity and immorality flock and fly together.”
Len Sive Jr.