Chris Christie is sincere in bridge scandal apology, body language expert says

Chris Christie is sincere in bridge scandal apology, body language expert says (via NJ.com)

Gov. Chris Christie showed all the signs of telling the truth during Thursday’s news conference, a body language expert said. According to Janine Driver, president of the Alexandria, Va.-based Body Language Institute, Christie exhibited some of the…

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Opinion: Big and Small Thinking at the Port Authority

Opinion: Big and Small Thinking at the Port Authority (via NJSpotlight)

The reason I believe Gov. Chris Christie will survive the Bridgegate controversy is that he is too smart to have directed or encouraged what he accurately called the “abject stupidity” of September’s lane closings on the George Washington Bridge…

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Will the Bridgegate Scandal Change the Way Christie Governs?

Will the Bridgegate Scandal Change the Way Christie Governs? (via NJSpotlight)

For all the talk about how the George Washington Bridge scandal is going to affect Gov. Chris Christie’s national ambitions, what about closer to home, what about the “business of the people” as it’s conducted in New Jersey? Christie gives a State…

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Fort Lee Mayor: I Accept Christie’s Apology

Fort Lee Mayor: I Accept Christie’s Apology (via Wall Patch)

‘I take him for his word,’ Mayor Mark Sokolich said after accepting governor’s in-person apology late Thursday afternoon. Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich not only accepted Gov. Chris Christie’s apology for choking lane closures at the George Washington…

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Report: Fort Lee death was not cause by the traffic jams

h/t Matt Rooney

The daughter of the 91 year old woman who died during the George Washington Bridge lane closures told The New York Times that the traffic jams caused by the lane closures were not a factor in her mother’s death.

“I honestly believe it was just her time,” said Vilma Oleri, whose mother, Florence Genova, died on the morning of Sept. 9, the first day that the closing of local lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge set off the snarls.

Mrs. Oleri obviously did not talk to an attorney before talking to the NY Times reporter. Good for her.

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Tune in, Call into The Final Say

UPDATE: Is you missed the show, listen to the recording here. Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornik called in after my segment:

MMM publisher Art Gallagher will be a guest on the blogtalkradio show, The Final Say with Brett and Jon Rappaport, between 3 and 4 this afternoon.

We’ll be discussing Bridgegate, Governor Christie’s press conference and the impact the scandal might have on the 2016 presidential race.

Access the show here.   The call in number is 347-945-7895

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Christie Fires Kelly and Stepien, U.S. Attorney Opens Bridgegate Investigation

A contrite and “heartbroken” Governor Chris Christie answered questions for almost two hours today from the state and national press corps in a press conference in which he announced the firing of his Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Kelly and his long time political manager Bill Stepien.   Kelly’s employment was terminated first thing this morning and Stepien was advised that his consultancy with the Republican Governors Association was terminated and that Christie is withdrawing his nomination as Chairman of the NJ GOP.

Christie said he fired Kelly because she lied to him about her prior knowledge of the September lane closures at the George Washington Bridge.  Stepien was let go because Christie lost confidence in the political operative’s judgement after reading his participation in the emails released in the Bridgegate controversy yesterday.

The New York Times is reporting that U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Paul Fishman has opened an investigation into the Bridgegate matter today at the request of the Port Authority of NY/NJ’s Inspector General.

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Watch Christie’s press conference and Assembly Transportation Committee Bridgegate hearing

Courtesy of NJTV, Governor Chris Christie’s Bridgegate press conference will be livestreamed at 11am.

Following the press conference, NJTV’s livestream continues with coverage of the Assembly Transportation Committee’s hearing into the George Washington Bridge lane closures. David Wildstein, the Christie appointee who order the lane closures is scheduled to testify.

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Third-rate corruption

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Christie’s former running mate invokes Nixon in Bridgegate commentary

Former Assemblyman Rick Merkt is the first of Governor Chris Christie’s former allies and fair weather friends to prematurely dance on Christie’s political grave.

Assembly candidates Chris Christie and Rick Merkt examine the ballot in 1995

Merkt, who was Christie’s running mate for Assembly in 1995 and ran a lack luster primary campaign against Christie in 2009, compares the governor to disgraced former President Richard Nixon in a interview with former MMM contributor Olivia Nuzzi for New York Magazine.

“You know, reading the reports about the GW bridge fiasco, I recalled how similar the governor’s conduct during the re-election campaign was to that of President Nixon during his victorious re-election campaign in 1972,” he said. …

… He had no need to engage in an abuse of power to win re-election, and, in fact, he won by a landslide. But Nixon just couldn’t help himself; he did it anyway; he eventually got caught, and it cost him his office and political career. One might surmise that it was the arrogance of power that did him in, but I suspect it was really his control-freak nature and deep vindictiveness fundamental to his nature. …

Remind you of anyone we know? I doubt the comparison will long be lost on New Jersey Democrats, who already smell blood in the water. …

…. Merkt says several people he spoke with in Trenton agree with the predictions that this will be the end of the governor’s 2016 presidential bid. “Given his vindictive nature, I always sensed that Christie would implode at some point, but I did not foresee it happening so soon or over such a petty matter,” said Merkt. “By the way, my recollection is that Nixon crushed McGovern by a 60 percent to 38 percent margin, a margin virtually identical to Christie’s victory over Buono.  Funny how history repeats itself.”

Politicos with Christie envy might as well get their names in print over the next week or so.  I think Christie will land on his feet and end up being an even more respected leader before the dust is settled on Bridgegate.

Before long Christie will be compared more to Truman than Nixon.  Watch for a “the buck stops here” Town Hall Meeting in Fort Lee before the end of the month.

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