Posted on 01/25/2014 2:32:11 PM PST by Kaslin
One week ago today, we covered in detail serious allegations from the Democratic Mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey against Chris Christie's administration. Dawn Zimmer claimed that two high-ranking Christie officials -- including the Lieutenant Governor -- told her that aid for her city's recovery from the storm was contingent on her approval of a building development deal favored by the governor. I discussed several curious elements of this accusation at the time, noting the Mayor's unqualified praise of Christie several months after this alleged shakedown attempt took place, and citing a local reporter to whom Zimmer had floated a different version of her story the previous week. I also reported that MSNBC's coverage of the story they broke was deeply misleading in regards to funding. The original report led readers to believe that Hoboken had been starved of virtually any assistance, receiving a $350,000 pittance compared to the more than $100 million in requested funds. In truth, Hoboken has been approved for about $70 million in federal and state relief and recovery help, with more on the way, pending the approval of the Obama administration. Over the course of the week, additional facts and accounts came to light that cast further doubt on Zimmer's claims, the only "evidence" of which are unverifiable scrawlings from a diary she said she wrote last May. CNN reported that Zimmer had explicitly denied any withheld Sandy funds were the result of any political machinations just one week prior to changing her story for MSNBC. In addition, a Democratic mayor of a different New Jersey town -- who, according to Zimmer's account, was present for one of the extortionary encounters -- stated for the record that his recollection does not coincide with hers. He went on to praise Team Christie for their professionalism and responsiveness in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Zimmer has since announced that she won't comment publicly on her allegations any further, in accordance with a supposed request from investigators. With her story unraveling, the Associated Press is out with a new analysis that strikes another blow against her credibility:
The city whose Democratic mayor said GOP Gov. Chris Christie's administration tied Superstorm Sandy aid to her support for a real estate project has, so far, received a level of aid from state-run programs that is similar to what other towns got, a review of grant data shows. Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer is no longer discussing her allegations that New Jersey's second-largest city has been shortchanged on Sandy funds, that its aid is being held "hostage" as political leverage or that she feared further retribution in the next round of funding.
The empirical data:
Hoboken has so far received two state grants from pools of state-controlled money, according to a review by The Associated Press. The state awarded $25 million for energy projects to help deal with outages; Hoboken received $142,080 — the same amount as 39 other recipients. The state also provided money to communities hit by the storm to hire experts and come up with long-term recovery plans; Hoboken's $200,000 grant was the fourth-highest allocation among the 35 local governments in the program.
In other words, the alleged "harm" is a figment of Zimmer's imagination and is not supported by the cold, hard facts. Her city has received state relief aid that closely resembles the level of funds granted to similar municipalities. In response to this revelation, a Zimmer spokesman appears to be shifting the nature of the mayor's complaint yet again:
Her spokesman, Juan Melli, said the fact that Hoboken is about on par with other towns in getting a modest amount of aid from state-run programs doesn't mean the city has received what it deserves, given the damage it suffered when Sandy flooded virtually the entire city. The problem, he said in an interview last week, is that New Jersey hasn't created Sandy aid programs designed to help places like Hoboken, a city of 50,000 across the Hudson River from New York City. Most of the communities devastated by Sandy were towns on the Jersey shore. "We're a densely populated urban environment," Melli said. "(The programs) make sense in other places, but they don't make much sense here."
A gripe that the current system of allocating funds needs to be updated may be well-founded, but it's a far cry from "Governor Christie withheld our funds in furtherance of a corrupt scheme." The Christie administration forcefully and categorically denied Zimmer's contentions from the moment they were uttered on MSNBC. The vast preponderance of the evidence that has emerged since last Saturday is exculpatory towards Christie. In an email to reporters, Christie spokesman Colin Reed says the AP story quoted above further "discredits" Zimmer's statements, proving that they're "false." In certainly looks like Mayor Zimmer has some explaining to do -- but, conveniently, she now says won't be doing any more talking. More than ever, her complaint reeks of a Democratic politician seeking national recognition by fabricating an allegation to further harm an embattled, high-profile Republican governor on the heels of a separate controversy.
Democrats lie? Who knew?
But, but...this does NOT fit the narrative to destroy Governor Christie!
World Collide! *SMIRK*
It is all part of the puppet show that is not worth any attention.
You know RATs are lying any time their mouths are moving!
Same goes for most Republicans.
So that’s why she shut up suddenly.
Not a Christie fan, but, this thing seemed like a steaming pile of democrat BS right from the start.
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“Same goes for most Republicans.”
Yeah, sad but true with a very few exceptions. Try these:
Apolitical Aphorisms
If God wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates.
~Jay Leno~
The problem with political jokes is they get elected.
~Henry Cate, VII~
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office
~Aesop~
If we got one-tenth of what was promised to us in these State of the Union speeches, there wouldn’t be any inducement to go to heaven.
~Will Rogers~
Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.
~Nikita Khrushchev~
When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I’m beginning to believe it.
~Clarence Darrow~
Why pay money to have your family tree traced; go into politics and your opponents will do it for you.
~Author unknown~
Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel.
~John Quinton~
Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other.
~Oscar Ameringer~
I offer my opponents a bargain: if they will stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them.
~Adlai Stevenson, campaign speech, 1952~
A politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country.
~ Tex Guinan~
I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.
~Charles de Gaulle~
Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks.
~Doug Larson~
There ought to be one day — just one — when there is open season on Congressmen.
~Will Rogers~
Perhaps the Left is as ambiguous on Christie as the Right is - can't figure out if he's a slightly off the plantation leftists or a philosophically-diluted RINO. One must wonder if being tepid to both parties is a winning combo.
Let's hope we get a few real conservatives in the ring and they don't all self-destruct or get bombed by our own side for the next few elections.
In other words, the alleged "harm" is a figment of Zimmer's imagination and is not supported by the cold, hard facts. Her city has received state relief aid that closely resembles the level of funds granted to similar municipalities. In response to this revelation, a Zimmer spokesman appears to be shifting the nature of the mayor's complaint yet again...Thanks Kaslin.
Good for them. Thanks AP...
I am looking forward to the show in 2014 and 2016; praying for a MIRACLE, but not counting on one. Prepping in the meanwhile. Even if (and that’s a BIG ‘IF’) the GOP & the RNC pull their collective heads out of their butt, I still think a lot of conservative voters are going to sit on their hands again.
All Hail Queen Hillary! *SPIT*
(And as long as God is on His throne, we’ll be OK.) :)
Totally agree with all you said.
I'm hoping the conservatives come out even if we don't have the perfect candidates. If we don't start whittling away at the far left dingbats any way we can, there won't be a reason to vote in a few years.
Romney wasn’t the WORST candidate *Cough*McCain*Cough* we’ve ever had, so I was pretty surprised at how many Conservatives did not even VOTE!
However, I strongly believe that ‘Rat voter fraud was HUGE in 2008 and 2012.
And in Wisconsin, Voter ID is hung up in the courts for 3 more lawsuits! It was voter turnout that gave us Scott Walker. I am thoroughly convinced of that.
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