Payback, Christie Style

by: Adam L

Tue May 03, 2011 at 10:59:22 AM EDT

In yet another "dog bites man" story, we find out once again that when Chris Christie talks about responsibility for actions and consequences of decisions, he means everyone but himself. Over the past week or so, "Christie's Rules™" have been on display - this time (again) with respect to his actions regarding the NJ/NY Tunnel funds that he refuses to repay while he puts on the high and mighty condescending air towards everyone else.

Never mind the 100% irony of bashing the Federal Government when it was "strings attached" to stimulus funding or when it was for his error in the Race to the Top funding lost, yet now ~~stealing~~ "refusing to pay back" over $270 million in Federal money that was supposed to go towards a project that he was for before he was against.more below...

Adam L :: Payback, Christie Style

Even after knowing that it wasn't New Jersey's money to keep after he pulled the plug and reneged on his part of the deal, in Christie's world of entitlement-when-convenient, he made the decision to not repay the money (a decision that can also cost New Jersey taxpayers $50,000 per week in interest). But wait, there's more: the law firm that Christie hired on taxpayer money (to the tune of around $800,000 so far) is none other than Patton Boggs, who also represented the New Jersey Republicans in the redistricting battle.

Nope, no conflict here - reneg on a deal, keep the money that was specific to upholding the deal, cost New Jerseyans hundreds of thousands of dollars in money on the interest, cost New Jerseyans another million (at least) on a law firm to fight it - who also just happens to be the law firm representing your own political party in a partisan political battle.

It's good to be the king.

Tags: ARC Tunnel, irresponsible, featured, transparency, hypocrisy, Chris Christie, conflict, (All Tags)

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Payback, Christie Style | 3 comments

You mean... (0.00 / 0)

Kind of like hiring Angelo Genova to defend the BPU when he is also council to the state democratic party?

(PS. his bill was $800,000 as well, only part of over 2 million spent to defend Jeanne Fox)

"Where ever you go, there you are." - Buckaroo Bonzai

by: William Weber (WjcW) @ Tue May 03, 2011 at 16:00:26 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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um..... (0.00 / 0)

isn't Christie supposed to "be different"? How is Corzine relevant to this? Had I written the post years ago, and Corzine was all high and mighty, I'd have criticized him as well - and you know I don't hold back on criticizing D's.

But if you want to compare the hiring of cronies, are you ready to do so with Christie and his no bid deals, his campaign donations for favors, his donations to get his job in the first place and the walking conflict of interest he has always been?

Scott Garrett - on the wrong side of, well, everything.

by: Adam L @ Tue May 03, 2011 at 17:23:02 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I guess... (3.00 / 1)

I'm just pointing out that it's politics as usual in NJ. But you're right, it's annoying both ways, if we have like 1000 lawyers on our payroll, it's baffling why we can't use them to defend our employees or argue the federal government.

But you know what was really interesting... (as a TOTAL aside) when I went to see who defended Jeanne Fox, I actually learned something about the whole ordeal. Apparently, the whistleblower was complaining that the BPU had set up no bid contracts with Rutgers (because Rutgers enjoyed an exception to the bidding process as a state entity), but the whistleblower was annoyed because the division of Rutgers that received the contract was run by a former BPU commissioner and the husband of another. Then furthermore, Rutgers as pointed out recently by Matt Boxer, has the ability to skirt the states procurement process (through a unique exception), and passed the grants directly to 2 or 3 vendors through a no bid process.

In the end, all very interesting, the whistleblower, (Joe Potena), essentially charged that the BPU was using Rutgers to circumvent the state's procurement statutes.

(all this I learned because I knew we had spent an exorbitant amount defending the BPU and knew connected lawyers got the business)

"Where ever you go, there you are." - Buckaroo Bonzai

by: William Weber (WjcW) @ Tue May 03, 2011 at 20:54:16 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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Payback, Christie Style | 3 comments