01-12-2014, 12:00 PM
Cracks in Chris Christie's Image?
![[Image: a-nightmarish-round-of-front-covers-for-...ristie.jpg]](http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/52ceb1f3ecad04b119d0243a/a-nightmarish-round-of-front-covers-for-chris-christie.jpg)
Christie is the governor of New Jersey and touted as a possible 2016 presidential candidate. He's known as a Republican who is more bi-partisan on issues than a lot of his party (which many of the more conservative amongst them really don't appreciate).
So he's embroiled in a big scandal at present - it's been all over the political news pages this week.
Christie claims he had no direct knowledge of the petty, idiotic, spiteful actions of some of his staff, but the matter is still under investigation. Some pundits and politicians are claiming that Christie could be impeached if it turns out he was involved.
It's been proven that Christie's staff was behind the closures and he took the first steps Thursday toward rehabilitation - apologizing profusely and announcing that he had fired two close aides connected to the closing of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge, the nation's busiest, to punish the mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey, for not endorsing him in his re-election bid last year. The lane closings caused massive traffic jams in Fort Lee.
Christie this week fired his deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, for her role in the lane closure, which was captured in e-mail correspondence that was subpoenaed by Democrats investigating the matter.
The e-mail exchanges are among the most damaging evidence so far supporting their assertions the lane closures were politically motivated. The correspondence began three weeks before access lanes to the bridge were closed.
"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," Kelly said in an e-mail to David Wildstein, then the highest-level appointee representing the state at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the bridge connecting the two states. "Got it," Wildstein replied. Wildstein resigned his post last month.
Christie's foes in the Tea Party are, of course, chomping at the bit to knock him down a peg. Judson Phillips, who heads the Tea Party Nation, made a public statement, "This incident is proof that once again the most dangerous place on the earth is the spot between Chris Christie and his presidential ambitions."
I kinda like Christie and hope he wasn't involved, though it still looks bad that he had top staff members who abused their authority so broadly over something so petty as a grudge.
Christie is the governor of New Jersey and touted as a possible 2016 presidential candidate. He's known as a Republican who is more bi-partisan on issues than a lot of his party (which many of the more conservative amongst them really don't appreciate).
So he's embroiled in a big scandal at present - it's been all over the political news pages this week.
Christie claims he had no direct knowledge of the petty, idiotic, spiteful actions of some of his staff, but the matter is still under investigation. Some pundits and politicians are claiming that Christie could be impeached if it turns out he was involved.
It's been proven that Christie's staff was behind the closures and he took the first steps Thursday toward rehabilitation - apologizing profusely and announcing that he had fired two close aides connected to the closing of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge, the nation's busiest, to punish the mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey, for not endorsing him in his re-election bid last year. The lane closings caused massive traffic jams in Fort Lee.
Christie this week fired his deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, for her role in the lane closure, which was captured in e-mail correspondence that was subpoenaed by Democrats investigating the matter.
The e-mail exchanges are among the most damaging evidence so far supporting their assertions the lane closures were politically motivated. The correspondence began three weeks before access lanes to the bridge were closed.
"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," Kelly said in an e-mail to David Wildstein, then the highest-level appointee representing the state at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the bridge connecting the two states. "Got it," Wildstein replied. Wildstein resigned his post last month.
Christie's foes in the Tea Party are, of course, chomping at the bit to knock him down a peg. Judson Phillips, who heads the Tea Party Nation, made a public statement, "This incident is proof that once again the most dangerous place on the earth is the spot between Chris Christie and his presidential ambitions."
I kinda like Christie and hope he wasn't involved, though it still looks bad that he had top staff members who abused their authority so broadly over something so petty as a grudge.