Pallone Lied To HUD Inspector General When Asking For #Stronger Than Storm Audit

Christie was not first choice as star of #STTS campaign

Congressman Frank Pallone during the 2013 Democratic U.S. Senate Primary Debate

Congressman Frank Pallone lied to the Department and Housing and Urban Development’s Inspector General when he asked that they audit the Christie Administration’s 2013 post-Superstorm Sandy Shore Tourism ad campaign.

In his August 8, 2013 letter to HUD Inspector General David Montoya, Pallone said:

Recently released documents relating to the bidding process and contract award for this marketing campaign show that the contract was awarded to a firm that is charging over $2 million more than the next lowest bidder to develop the marketing plan.  The winning firm is being paid $4.7 million for their work, while a comparable firm proposed billing the state $2.5 million for similar work.  This large discrepancy between the competing proposals raises concerns as to whether these federal funds are being spent in the most cost effective manner, and should be reviewed by your office.

I am also concerned that the winning bid proposed including Governor Chris Christie in the advertisements, while the lower cost proposal that was not selected did not.  As you know, the Governor is running for reelection this year in a high profile race.  It is inappropriate for taxpayer-funded dollars that are critical to our state’s recovery from this natural disaster to fund commercials that could potentially benefit a political campaign.  In these sensitive circumstances, even the appearance of a conflict of interest should be avoided.

The fact that this particular proposal was chosen despite an obvious conflict of interest, in addition to the higher costs, raises serious concerns with the entire process.  I fought hard for passage of the Sandy aid package in Congress by assuring my colleagues that this funding was critical to our recovery and that it would be spent responsibly without waste, fraud and abuse.  Many in Congress objected to this funding precisely because of concerns their citizens’ tax dollars would be misspent.  In that regard, the state’s mismanagement of taxpayer funds for this marketing campaign is extremely troubling, especially when there are so many New Jersey residents still in need of assistance to recover and rebuild from this historic storm.

But the firm behind the #STTS ad campaign, MWW of East Rutherford, said their proposal was $2.745 million under the $25 million budget and $1.47 million lower than the runner-up’s bid.  MWW said their proposal offered the lowest hourly rate of all bids.

(Vote Here: Which song would Frank Pallone choose for the New Jersey Tourism ad?)

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Governor Chris Christie’s 2014 State of the State Address As Prepared for Delivery

Trenton, New Jersey, January 14, 2014

Lt. Governor, Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Legislators, friends, fellow New Jerseyans:

The last week has certainly tested this Administration. Mistakes were clearly made. And as a result, we let down the people we are entrusted to serve. I know our citizens deserve better. Much better.

I am the governor and I am ultimately responsible for all that happens on my watch – both good and bad.

Without a doubt we will cooperate with all appropriate inquiries to ensure this breach of trust does not happen again.

But I also want to assure the people of New Jersey today that what has occurred does not define us or our state. This Administration and this Legislature will not allow the work that needs to be done to improve the people’s lives in New Jersey to be delayed.  I am the leader of this state and its people and I stand here today proud to be both.  And always determined to do better.

Now I come before you once again to report on the state of our state.

And today, the state of the state is good, and getting better.

(View the entire State of the State address here)

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Reports of Christie’s Political Demise Are Greatly Exaggerated

New Jersey and national Democratic politicos who are dancing with glee over the ‘damage” they think they are inflicting on Governor Chris Christie’s second term effectiveness and his presidential ambitions might as well enjoy the moment.  Reports of Christie’s political demise are greatly exaggerated.

Starting today with his State of the State address (which can be viewed live here at MMM at 3PM) Christie’s comeback will begin.  A comeback that the governor starts with a 59% job approval rating, according to the Monmouth University/USA Today-Monmouth/Ocean Edition Poll released yesterday.

The poll that was taken Friday through Sunday, indicated that even with the onslaught of negative publicity that Christie has gotten locally and nationally, New Jersey residents don’t care about Bridgegate with regard to how they view Christie.  His job approval rating is net positive 27%.  His personal approval rating is down to net positive 16%, but his negatives haven’t moved since Patrick Murray last asked the approval question in November when the net positive number was 31%.  28% had a negative opinion of Christie is Murray’s pre-election November survey. 28% expressed a negative opinion in the survey published yesterday.  The 15 point drop in Christie’s net personal approval rating is the result of New Jerseyans waiting for the full Bridgegate story to come out.  Those who said they have “No Opinion” of Christie personally, increased by the exact 15 points from November to January and the 15 point drop in those who said they had a favorable personal opinion.

Even though New Jerseyans think Christie knows more than he is saying about Bridgegate, we are giving him the benefit of the doubt.  We still like him.   If a smoking email surfaces that proves he knew of the George Washington Bridge lane closures, and what they were really about, he’s toast.  If such an email exists, it will probably come out. If it doesn’t exist, Christie will come out of Bridgegate a stronger political force than he was last Tuesday, before The Record published the damning emails.

Christie knows if such an email exists.

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The State of The State

Governor Chris Christie will deliver his State of the State Address to the newly sworn State Legislature this afternoon at 3PM.

View the address live here:

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The Nation’s Most Duplicitous Republican

By David Wanetick, Princeton, NJ

Governor Christie claims to have had no prior knowledge of the September George Washington Bridge closing orchestrated by his staff for purposes of political retribution against Fort Lee’s mayor. Why would he? He is above petty and partisan politics. At least that is what Governor Christie wants us to believe.

But is it really difficult to imagine that a man who has inflicted such enormous damage on his own party through his calculated and duplicitous behavior would not be at least equally vengeful against unsupportive mayors from the opposing political party? Let’s review some recent history.

Chris Christie was given his party’s highest honor when he was chosen to deliver the keynote address at the Republican Convention in August 2012. Instead of ginning up support for the Republican presidential nominee when he had the chance to appeal to tens of millions of voters, Christie made an ostentatiously narcissist speech that trivialized Mr. Romney. A day or two later, Christie claimed not to understand what was expected of him in delivering the keynote address.  Are we really to believe that Chris Christie didn’t know that the Republican Convention was about getting that party’s candidate elected?

Did Mr. Christie correct his behavior after disgracing himself at the convention? No.

He shamefully used the tragedy of Hurricane Sandy to enshrine nearly every step President Obama made during his visits and to rhapsodize about the President’s calls in connection with restoration efforts. At a time when he could have been very constructive in helping the Romney campaign, Christie was giddy in his constant Obama worship. Christie sounded more like a teenage girl’s first encounter with a suitor than a statesman in relating Obama’s telephone calls to him. (Here is Christie cooing over his late night calls with Obama, “…President Obama called me last night around midnight … I have to say the.…president himself…. have been outstanding with us so far..….. I want to thank the president personally for his personal attention to this.”)

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Monmouth Leaders Speak Out On Bridgegate, Christie’s Response.

We’re hearing plenty about Bridgegate and Governor Christie’s response to it from cable news pundits and late night comedians.  MMM thought it would be interesting to hear what our Monmouth County leaders, from both parties, have to say about the controversy and Christie’s response to it at his press conference last Thursday.

Sea Bright Mayor Dina Long, said “No, and I’m angry that some are tossing by name around as if I’m waffling about my endorsement,” when we asked her if she regretted endorsing Christie in light of the Bridgegate scandal. “Bridgegate is terrible, but it does not undue the Sandy recovery.  My endorsement was based on the Sandy recovery.   Let’s wait and see what happens when all the facts come out. Right now it’s a feeding frenzy.”

Senator Jennifer Beck said, “The governor has always straight forward me with, and he was forthcoming in his press conference on Thursday.  I believe him.”

Monmouth County Republican Chairman John Bennett said, “Governor Christie was open and sincere in his press conference.  He said that he will now talk to everyone on his staff himself to get to the bottom of what happened.  This issue may have gotten away from him because he departed from his usual practice of doing it all himself.

“Unfettered and overzealous politicos on Christie’s staff went way over the mark.  The lane closures were a bad, bad idea that never should have happened.”

Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal hasn’t returned our calls since we debunked his malicious and inaccurate attempted character assassination of a Red Bank Republican Council Candidate last October, so we asked his predecessor, Victor Scudiery, and the man who opposed him in the chairman’s race in 2011, Frank LaRocca to comment.

Former Monmouth Democratic Chairman Victor Scudiery said, “I take Chris Christie’s word for it. We’ll have to play it out and see what happens.  Everyone is jumping on the bandwagon, it’s frightening, but we have to wait and see.”

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Bridge scandal to be investigated by special committee empaneled by N.J. Assembly

Bridge scandal to be investigated by special committee empaneled by N.J. Assembly (via NJ.com)

TRENTON — Leaders in the state Assembly said today they will form a special investigatory committee with subpoena power to continue the probe of the September lane closures on the George Washington Bridge. The committee will be led by Assemblyman…

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Bridge scandal: Democrats say they will pursue investigation into lane closures

Bridge scandal: Democrats say they will pursue investigation into lane closures (via NJ.com)

By Salvador Rizzo and Mark Mueller Democratic lawmakers say they will “aggressively” press on with their investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal after Friday’s release of thousands of pages of documents showing key members…

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Best of Bridgegate Funnies

Found on facebook and twitter

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Kean Sr joins the Christie feeding frenzy

Former Governor Tom Kean, Sr dealt a body blow to his former protégé today in an interview published by The Washington Post.

Governor Chris Christie and former Governor Tom Kean Sr celebrate the first annual Livingston Day, April 11, 2013. Photo by Tim Larsen/Governor’s Office

“On the one hand, I think he’s got a lot to offer. I think he’s the most able politician since Bill Clinton,” Kean (R) said in an interview with The Washington Post. “On the other hand, you look at these other qualities and ask, do you really want that in your president?”

Kean’s comments come as the current governor is beset by controversy over revelations that officials loyal to Christie engineered closure of part of the George Washington Bridge in September, inconveniencing tens of thousands of state residents in an apparent act of vindictiveness against a local mayor.

There is no evidence that Christie knew of the actions of his subordinates and appointees, some of whom he has since fired. But Kean — who has known Christie since the current governor was a teenager — faulted Christie for establishing a culture in his tight inner circle in which no one “will ever say no to him, and that is dangerous.”

He also said that Christie’s approach to governing is overly aggressive and his agenda is personal.

In a press conference last month, Christie said he had not talked to Kean Sr since the attempt to oust Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr from his leadership post.  Kean Sr has characterized Christie’s ill-fated attempt to replace Kean Jr with State Senator Kevin O’Toole as a personal betrayal.

Christie’s got some fence mending to do.

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