Mayor of Hoboken Dawn Zimmer: Chris Cristie Holds Hoboken Sandy Relief Money Hostage for Expediting Rockerfeller Group Development Group

Governor Christie has Much Bigger Problems than his staff Closing a Bridge

July 9 2009, A Day New Jersey Changed Forever

NEWARK (WABC) -- Three mayors and two assemblymen were among at least 44 arrested Thursday morning in a major federal corruption sweep in New Jersey. 

 Hoboken's newly-elected mayor, Peter Cammarano, Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell and Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez were arrested, as was Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini. Assemblymen Daniel Van Pelt and L. Harvey Smith were also taken into custody. An aide to Smith, Richard Greene, was also arrested.

 Then Attorney General of New Jersey, Chris Christie, was catapulted to a savior, and the man to take corruption out of New Jersey. The newly elected Mayor of Hoboken, Peter Cammarano, was already being touted as "a raising star," but only one month into office he accepted a $25,000 bribe by an undercover investigator to "expedite" permits and projects from the fake developer.

Governor Chris Christie - Photo by www.upi.com

Mayor of Hoboken, NJ Dawn Zimmer

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www.nj.com

Governor Chris Christie, Mayor Dawn Zimmer, The Rockerfeller Group, David Samson and Influence

 Steve Kornacki, host of Up with Steve Kornacki, on MSNBC, who cut his teeth on NJ politics, had Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer on his show to expose a much more serious problem Governor Chris Cristie has than his staff closing lanes on the busiest bridge in the world.

 Hoboken is a one square mile city, land is at a premium. The Rockerfeller Group bought up 3 blocks in North Hoboken and want it deemed a redevelopment zone which would give it many benefits. The Mayor was told that the Governor favored the Project. Mayor Dawn Zimmer would not approve the project until a study was done, but with trying to recover from Sandy there was no money for a study right now.

 The Commissioner of the Port Authority, David Samson, was nominated to the Board of Commissioners by Governor Chris Christie. He was confirmed by the New Jersey State Senate on January 25, 2011 and was elected as the agency's Chairman on February 3, 2011. Mr. Samson is a Partner and founding member of the law firm Wolff & Samson, the firm that represents The Rockerfeller Group, as well as being the Chairman of The Port Authority of NY/NJ.

 The Port Authority offered to pay $75,000 for the study that Mayor Dawn Zimmer said was needed to move the Rockerfeller Group project forward, red flag one, why?

 Two senior members of Gov. Chris Christie’s administration warned Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer earlier this year that her town would be starved of hurricane relief money unless she approved a lucrative redevelopment plan favored by the governor, according to the mayor and emails and personal notes she shared with MSNBC.

 The mayor, Dawn Zimmer, hasn’t approved the project, but she did request $127 million in hurricane relief for her city of Hoboken – 80% of which was underwater after Sandy hit in October 2012. What she got was $142,000 to defray the cost of a single back-up generator plus an additional $200,000 in recovery grants.

 After a media event to show how retail businesses were recovering from hurricane Sandy at a Shoprite in NJ  Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno pulled Mayor Zimmer aside in the parking lot and told "I know these things shouldn't be connected, but they are.The Governor favors this project, move the Rockerfeller Project forward or I don't think we're going to be able to help with Sandy Relief money. In other words "expedite" the project, sound familiar?

 There were 20 subpoenas issued Friday, there are investigations by the State Assembly, State Senate, as well as federal investigations into the lane closings of the Fort Lee access lanes to the George Washington bridge, but it looks like pandora's box has been opened. 

And Now What? February 3, 2014 Deadline for Answering the Subpoenas

 It appears that the lanes being closed on the world's busiest bridge may have not been retaliation for the Mayor of Fort Lee, N.J., Mark Sokolich,  not endorsing Gov. Chris Christie. The largest redevelopment project in NJ is the $1B project in Fort Lee. The Governor's office was 1of 2 organizations issue with the 20 that were issued yesterday. If the Governor is holding Sandy Relief Funds from Hoboken to get a private developer's project "expedited" that is a much bigger problem for Christie. The subpoenas issued require a response by February 3, 2014 and are asking for everything, letters, e-mails, any electronics devices used since September 2012. Let's see what the Governors office is going to do. Just a word for the 20 that received subpoenas,  if your thinking of deleting e-mails, shredding documents, or anything else that would obstruct the investigations, that's a good idea, if you don't mind spending many years in a State Penitentiary.