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Christie threatens ‘Disaster Control Act’ order to guarantee nonunion utility workers...
The Daily Caller ^ | 11/3/12 | David Martosko

Posted on 11/03/2012 2:52:37 AM PDT by markomalley

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie bristled at reports Friday that an electricians’ union stood in the way of some utility workers who wanted to help restore power to victims of Hurricane Sandy. He would use his emergency-management powers, he said, to guarantee that nonunion crews could help restore his state’s electricity grid without interference.

“I’ve been on the phone with PSE&G [Public Service Electric and Gas Company], JCP&L [Jersey Central Power & Light] and the union, and they’ve all absolutely promised me they would never turn away a single worker whether they were union or nonunion, and I wouldn’t allow it,” Christie told reporters shortly after 3:30 p.m. Friday afternoon.

“I would invoke my powers under the Disaster Control Act to prevent that from happening, but they’ve assured me we don’t have to.” (RELATED: NJ utility denies turning away nonunion electric crew volunteers from Ala.).

But a spokesman for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg didn’t reply to emails asking whether his boss would take a similar hard line. A spokeswoman for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo similarly didn’t return phone calls asking the same question.

Christie said Friday that “there was one incident of this in Seaside Heights” since Superstorm Sandy hit.

“First of all, the workers never came to New Jersey, okay? They weren’t turned away when they got here. They heard that New Jersey was a union state, coming from Alabama. When they stopped in Virginia, they called to see what they would do and they were given bad information.”

Watch:

Christie said his state’s major utilities and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) “have all said they do not have that requirement.”

The Daily Caller had published a report more than an hour earlier about electric utility crews from central Florida that idled for two days instead of working on Long Island, while their managers dealt with the union’s demands.

“It turns out there was a 300-page contract that the union controlling LIPA [the Long Island Power Authority] wanted everybody to sign first,” the  crewman told TheDC. “We don’t have time for that. We’ve got guys ready to go. You need lawyers for this.” (RELATED: Ala. utility, Fla. crewman blame electricians’ union for interfering with Hurricane Sandy relief)

An IBEW spokesman told TheDC on Friday that ”the IBEW did not send the documents” the Florida crew’s managers described, “nor did any of our locals.”

But he didn’t reply when asked if he had communicated with all 273 locals in the union districts where Sandy’s impact was felt. Those include 20 IBEW locals in New Jersey, 48 in New York, 10 in Connecticut and 52 in Pennsylvania.

A few hours after Christie spoke, TheDC reported on another case — this one involving an electric co-operative in Georgia  whose workers were turned away from New York because they weren’t union members.

Glenn Cunningham, a business continuity coordinator with Diverse Power in LaGrange, Georgia, said during a phone interview that his company’s crews had already helped restore power lines in Maryland when they decided to drive further north to New York. (RELATED: Ga. power crew turned away from Sandy-stricken NY for refusing to join union)
“When they got up there,” he said, “it was, ‘out come the union papers.’ And our guys were like, ‘Hey, we’re not joining nothing. We came up to help, but if you don’t want it, that’s fine.’ So they turned around and drove all the way back here to Georgia.”

Neither of those cases involved New Jersey, but Christie threatened to invoke the authority he holds under New Jersey law if it became necessary. The state’s Civilian Defense and Disaster Control Act gives the governor broad power to control “utility repair squads” and other volunteer agencies in times of crisis.

Christie spokesman Kevin Roberts told TheDC that both ”union and nonunion crews” are “at work right now in New Jersey, restoring power.”

He said he believed those nonunion crews included some from outside New Jersey, but conceded he “would need to confirm that.”

Roberts reiterated Christie’s vow to bring utility companies to heel if nonunion workers weren’t welcomed into the Garden State. But he stopped short of saying the governor would apply the same level of aggressiveness to the IBEW.

“It would be absolutely premature for me to talk about what the governor would or wouldn’t do” in the absence of more proof, Roberts told TheDC.

“We’re always open to evaluating new information.”


TOPICS: Government; US: New Jersey
KEYWORDS: chrischristie; electricians; hurricanesandy; ibew; newjersey; poweroutage; sandy; unions; unionthugs
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To: kearnyirish2

His name was repeatedly floated for veep. I doubt he resisted the notion.


41 posted on 11/03/2012 4:55:18 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: markomalley
Call Tony Soprano in and cut a deal fatass... you dumb sumbich. Liberals always think that laws solve problems... they never do... laws just lead to more useless laws strengthening the previous useless laws. Rodney Dangerfield's character in BAck to School knew how to get the garbage picked up at his chain of stores and how to get his deliveries before his competition did... crispy creme is one fat and dumb stump.

LLS

42 posted on 11/03/2012 4:55:40 AM PDT by LibLieSlayer (OUR GOVERNMENT AND PRESS ARE NO LONGER TRUSTWORTHY OR DESERVING OF RESPECT!)
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To: annelizly

True, they are all waiting for the ‘experts’ to show up.


43 posted on 11/03/2012 4:56:34 AM PDT by fortheDeclaration (Pr 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation:but sin is a reproach to any people)
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To: markomalley

Never let a crisis go to waste. Work goes to the collectives of the red-tape-brigade.

Lou Christie’s son?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w05w1XbZTG8


44 posted on 11/03/2012 4:58:27 AM PDT by PGalt
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To: markomalley

A bit late since some non-union assistance is already back in their home States. Also wouldn’t put it past the union thugs to sabotage/attack non-union workers who actually put out some heroic efforts to get things done. Katrina was so many times worse than Sandy and we had power back in my area (less than 2 miles from the Gulf, hous with 3’ of water in it during the storm, and on the outskirts of any municipality, in 4 days.


45 posted on 11/03/2012 5:02:33 AM PDT by trebb (Allies no longer trust us. Enemies no longer fear us.)
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To: gotribe

He had no aspirations at the national level; like Giuliani, he fits a very speciic niche. When was the last time we had an obese national candidate in the age of television? I’m not knocking his weight, but in the age of television bald, fat, or otherwise “imperfect” (in the eyes of a TV nation) candidates don’t have much of a chance.


46 posted on 11/03/2012 5:03:35 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic war against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: Cyclone59

The problem is that Christie may have risen above politics and if he did... that is admirable. I remain unconvinced. However... I am convinced that obama NEVER puts aside politics and I also know that Christie knows this.

LLS


47 posted on 11/03/2012 5:09:25 AM PDT by LibLieSlayer (OUR GOVERNMENT AND PRESS ARE NO LONGER TRUSTWORTHY OR DESERVING OF RESPECT!)
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To: RegulatorCountry

“His name was repeatedly floated for veep. I doubt he resisted the notion.”

He very publicly resisted the notion.

I’ve seen him fend off questions about his weight from reporters; I can’t see him wanting four years of that on a national level. The fact is that he is a solution to a local problem.


48 posted on 11/03/2012 5:23:01 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic war against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: markomalley

Imagine if everyone drove electric cars - think about that scenario.


49 posted on 11/03/2012 5:30:04 AM PDT by LZ_Bayonet ( I AM THE TEA PARTY LEADER !)
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To: kjo

Christie was doing what he was elected
to do. Governor of NJ. The other 49
states is someone else’s problem.


50 posted on 11/03/2012 5:45:25 AM PDT by Morris70
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To: markomalley

Unions smell per-Christmas overtime and screw over their neighbors. In a related story, Chritie is fatter than ever.


51 posted on 11/03/2012 5:56:00 AM PDT by King Moonracer (Bad lighting and cheap fabric, that's how you sell clothing.....)
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To: markomalley

too late dipstick


52 posted on 11/03/2012 5:56:01 AM PDT by yldstrk (My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: Bender2

He smelled federal money and lost his freaking mind


53 posted on 11/03/2012 5:58:10 AM PDT by yldstrk (My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: Kickass Conservative
One of the comments said it was audio from a strike at Verizon some years back. Wonder how it can verified?

Just click on Verizon Strike on the rt. utube sidebar.

same guy.

54 posted on 11/03/2012 6:02:21 AM PDT by Ramcat (Thank You American Veterans)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Thanks markomalley.
55 posted on 11/03/2012 6:02:45 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: gotribe

Coulda, woulda, shoulda. Chrissie’s finished.

Don’t think so, jersey is so smart they can’t see Crissie’s BS for their NJ BS.

The IBEW did demand these Utlity crews join. Christie knows it. He’s blowing smoke at “us” trying to recoup the bad publicity from this NJ union crap.

They deserve what they get.


56 posted on 11/03/2012 6:06:08 AM PDT by X-spurt (It is truly time for ON YOUR FEET or on your knees)
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To: bonfire

There nothing that shows this is from Jersey. As a matter of fact I heard those a;while back during a strike in NYC, con ed I think. The guys voice was very familiar, and there’s no way they’re going to use scab like that here. No one is taking anyone’s job. Hannity got punked and heard what he wanted to hear. This audio is bravo sierra.


57 posted on 11/03/2012 6:09:34 AM PDT by xkaydet65
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To: kearnyirish2; gotribe

Well it looks like you’ll get to keep him, his chances of a national office are toast.


58 posted on 11/03/2012 6:10:00 AM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: markomalley
Christie threatens...

Yawn, he's done, he should have dissolved by force all locals that interfered in any way with disaster relief and stated that the state would hold members collectively financially responsible.

59 posted on 11/03/2012 6:18:54 AM PDT by Navy Patriot (Join the Democrats, it's not Fascism when WE do it, and the Constitution and law mean what WE say.)
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To: exit82
I have two sons pulling up to 22 hour shifts, one guarding downed power lines in Monmouth County, the other trying to get the phone system up at the Seaside Heights police station. One got his home’s power restored yesterday in Toms River, and one is still without power in Lakehurst.

They have put up with no heat, no gasoline, no showers—yet they get up each morning to do their best in the face of utter devastation

(Great post in its entirety, not just the part I excerpted.)

Sounds like you have two fine sons.

Even the Mafia and the unions know better than to piss off millions of Jerseyans.

Ain't that the truth! =o)

If the power is still out in Lakehurst it includes the NAVAIR base. I suppose they're out helping with relief and restoration efforts anyway.

60 posted on 11/03/2012 6:19:46 AM PDT by arasina (Communism is EVIL. So there.)
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