Friday, February 7, 2014

Quick Note: Chris Christie, with Apologies to the Late Paul Harvey

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) is still trying to fight back from the George Washington Bridge closing debacle.  As chairman of the Republican Governors Association, he recently visited Florida for a fundraising event.  Governor Rick Scott (R) and all 2014 state Republican candidates managed to schedule events elsewhere to avoid being photographed with him.  He began a national fundraising tour in Texas yesterday where Republican candidates mirrored Florida's response.  

Shortly after the scandal broke, in a widely viewed, nearly two hour long press conference, Mr. Christie proclaimed his shock over the bridge closing, saying he had no knowledge of it whatsoever and was innocent of any involvement.  A few days ago, David Wildstein, high school classmate, Christie political appointee, (for whom a Port Authority job was created by the Governor) and central figure in the scandal said through his lawyer that there was proof Chris Christie knew about the traffic mess on the George Washington Bridge.  (To this point, that evidence has not been proffered.  What we have is basically one man's word against another man's word--a classic case of he said/she said.)

In a childish effort to bolster his own credibility while denigrating Mr. Wildstein's, Mr. Christie responded:  "As a 16 year old, he was sued over a local school board election" and "He was publicly accused by his high school social studies teacher of deceptive behavior."  

Taken at face value, those statements do seem to weaken Mr. Wildstein's claim.  In an effort to present all the facts, and with apologies to Paul Harvey, I offer "The Rest of the Story"...

As a 16 year old, David Wildstein unsuccessfully sued the County Republican Committee in an effort to get his name on the ballot.  As a 17 year old, and despite being below the age requirement, he ran for the local school board.  The election committee sued to have his name removed from the ballot.  His high school social studies teacher said the 17 year old had tricked him into signing an endorsement letter for the school board race.
It is easy to picture these two supposed adults shouting "Nyah, nyah, nyah!" at each other from opposite sides of the playground.  The average modern-day politician is hardly a poster child for honesty and integrity, but, really when did governing become a game designed for and played by 10 year olds?

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