Is Christie done? | The Compost Bin | Forums

just goes to show politicians are lying scum

In September, according to a report from the Bergen Record, paramedics trying to reach an unconscious 91-year-old woman in Fort Lee, N.J., got stuck in a traffic jam that had apparently been created by associates for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie as retaliation against a Democratic mayor.

Multiple lanes were forced to merge into one, gridlocking traffic for days. The woman later died at a hospital of cardiac arrest, according to a Sept. 10 letter that EMS coordinator Paul Favia sent to the borough's mayor.

Although Favia did not explicitly blame the woman's death on the traffic delay -- the paramedics got to her in seven minutes -- it was one of four such delays reported by the coordinator, the Record reported.

"Paramedics were delayed due to heavy traffic on Fort Lee Road and had to meet the ambulance en-route to the hospital instead of on the scene," Favia wrote.

Christie had insisted he and his staff had nothing to do with the lane closings. Emails released on Wednesday, however, showed that at least one of his top aides was involved in discussions about the closures weeks beforehand.

A Republican widely expected to make a bid for the White House in 2016, Christie has become embroiled in the scandal over the closing of part of the access to George Washington Bridge, a move seen as meant to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich.

"What I've seen today for the first time is unacceptable. I am outraged and deeply saddened to learn that not only was I misled by a member of my staff, but this completely inappropriate and unsanctioned conduct was made without my knowledge," Christie said in a statement.

The George Washington Bridge is among the world's busiest, carrying some 300,000 vehicles on a typical day. The abrupt and unexpected lane closures, which lasted four days in September, badly snarled traffic in the borough of Fort Lee at the New Jersey end of the bridge.

Critics say the shutdown was retribution against the mayor, who did not endorse the governor's re-election efforts. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees the bridge, said it was the result of a last-minute traffic study.

The emails raised fresh questions about the involvement of Christie's administration.

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," his aide, Bridget Anne Kelly, wrote to a Port Authority executive in August.

The executive, David Wildstein, replied in an email: "Got it."

The emails do not give a specific reason for the closings, which left furious commuters trapped in traffic jams for hours. The closings began on the first day of school in Fort Lee.

In another message sent amid the gridlock, an unidentified author wrote: "Is it wrong that I'm smiling," and Wildstein responded: "No."

http://articles.chic.....jersey-gov

we really need a viable third party option