Governor Christie's Traffic Problem

Governor Christie has a problem.

Christie seems to have taken two lines of defense in the so-called "Bridgegate Scandal." 1) I didn't know about it. 2) This is not the way my administration works.

First, a description of the scandal. As you know, someone in the Christie Administration ordered traffic problems to occur in Fort Lee, New Jersey, as political retribution. The guessing on the reason for the retribution varies. One theory is that whoever ordered it was so upset at the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee for refusing to endorse Republican Christie, that they ordered the retribution. Another is that whoever ordered it did it for retribution against the Democratic leader of the state senate, who represents Fort Lee. What did the Democratic leader do? She sits on the committee that considers Governor Christie's judicial appointments and has helped block the candidates he wants on the courts. On August 12th Governor Christie publicly referred to the Democrats who did this as "animals". On August 13th, the infamous email from the Deputy Chief of Staff went to a Christie appointee on the bridge authority stating, "it is time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." Instead of questioning what she was talking about, the appointee replied, "got it."

For four days during the first week of school in September, two lanes from Fort Lee to the bridge were closed, causing severe traffic problems in New Jersey and possibly causing the death of one woman when EMTs were delayed reaching her.

Despite the uproar and the allegations of political vengeance, Governor Christie said that he did no investigation of the matter and first learned how serious it was on the morning the emails were published by the press, almost four months later. Although witty people have been commenting that Governor Christie not knowing what is going on qualifies him for a job in Washington, I don't think average voters will agree.

So the governor's first line of defense is that, like Sergeant Schultz, he knew nothing. (Sgt Schultz) Not really a good defense when you are seeking the nomination of the party who blames the president for not knowing that the website to sign people up for the Affordable Care Act would not work.

Assuming, for the sake of argument, that the governor did not know what his aides were up to, this brings up several other questions. After it happened, why didn't he find out why it happened? Why did it take a newspaper's investigative reporting to uncover what happened? Also, why would a Deputy Chief of Staff take it upon herself to violate state and federal laws to seek political retribution for something her boss may be upset about?

That latter question may be more of a problem for Governor Christie than the issue of whether he ordered the vengeance or not. I am assuming that whether he ordered it or not, there will not be any evidence uncovered that he did order it.

So if we are to believe this Deputy Chief of Staff took it upon herself to do this, why would she do such a thing? Governor Christie says that retribution is not "the tone" he has set with his administration. He says "I am not a bully."

Having observed Governor Christie for at least the last four years, does ANYONE within range of the media that covers New Jersey believe that? If you are not familiar with the governor's style, "tone", and ability to bully, watch the first two minutes of this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqQAB4p20lc.

Either the governor knew about this retribution in advance, or the tone he set made his staff comfortable enough with political bullying to violate state and federal laws. Either way, the legitimate question is, is this the kind of person we want as our next president? If you don't think this will hurt his campaign, take a look at these political cartoons and reconsider: Christie bridge cartoons

Observing Governor Christie in office, my only surprise is that something like this did not leak earlier.