New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ) could not have predicted that a shocking scandal, attributed to his office, would erupt right before he would be sworn in as governor for his second term.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Christie claims to not have any knowledge of the cruel political trick played by his high officers that resulted in unbearable traffic . Speculations about Christie’s level control regarding what happens desks away from him continue to arise.
On September 9th, residents of Fort Lee and surrounding communities had to endure a longer commute on the George Washington Bridge, which connects Fort Lee to Washington Heights in Manhattan, after two of the three lanes were closed on the entrance to the bridge.
E-mails and text messages sent between Bridget Anne Kelly, deputy chief of staff to Christie, and David Wildstein, a friend of the governor who worked at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, indicate that they ordered these lane closings to punish Fort Lee’s mayor, Mark Sokolich (D-NJ) for not endorsing Christie’s re-election campaign. Kelley wrote to Wildstein, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”
While Christie’s aides were enjoying the havoc they wrought, emergency vehicles were obstructed from attending to three people with heart problems and finding a missing four-year-old. Not to mention, commuters were furious with the gruesome gridlock.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Kelly and Wildstein received help in covering up this trick as a traffic study from three important people on Christie’s staff: David Samson, chairman of the Port Authority chosen by Christie, Michael Drewniak, the governor’s chief spokesperson, and Bill Stepien, Mr. Christie’s campaign manager who was previously appointed by Christie to be head of the state Republican party and a top adviser to the Republican Governors Association. Now, Kelly has been fired by Christie, Wildstein resigned, and Bill Stepien has been removed by Christie from consideration for his pending positions.
Christie will assume his position as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, and it is rumored that he will be the Republic candidate for the 2016 presidential election. So, will this scandal affect his campaign?
In a poll conducted by Quinnipiac University on December 11th of a hypothetical 2016 presidential race, Christie received 42% of the votes, while Hillary Clinton, who is a potential Democratic candidate for 2016, obtained 41% of the votes. After Christie’s scandal was plastered all over the news, Quinnipiac released the results for another poll mimicking the 2016 presidential race taken on January 21st. This latest poll shows that Clinton trumps Christie, capturing 46% of votes while Christie slides down to 38%.
For some, the traffic scandal has presented Christie as tough and able to take responsibility for the actions of his staff. He apologized to Sokolich and the residents of Fort Lee, who cheered for him as he arrived to the borough with his motorcade. At a two-hour news conference on January 9th, Christie said, “So I take this action today because it’s my job. I am responsible for what happened. I am sad to report to the people of New Jersey that we fell short.”
However, the most recent poll conducted by Quinnipiac shows that others do not believe that Christie was completely unaware of the retributive actions being taken by his inner circle. Worse yet, if Christie was in fact blindsided by this act, this occurrence displays his ignorance of the inner-working of his office; he may, therefore, be unable to control his presidential staff.
Christie may have been given an early taste of what is to come in the presidential race. After all, which president has not endured his fair share of scandals?