POLITICAL INTRIGUE
ON THE WATERFRONT
Hoboken
Mayor Dawn Zimmer might have the
evidence to
topple Governor Christie
TAGS:
CHRIS CHRISTIE, BRIDGEGATE, CHRISTIE WITHHOLDING FEDERAL DOLLARS FOR HOBOKEN,
HOBOKEN
MAYOR DAWN ZIMMER, FEDERAL PROSECUTOR INVESTIGATING,
NJ
STATE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY CONDUCTING INVESTIGATIONS,
LT.
GOVERNOR GUADAGNO STRONG ARMED ZIMMER?
(Tuesday January 21, 2014
Hoboken, NJ) The 1954 Hollywood highly
acclaimed classic movie “On the Waterfront” filmed here tells the story of
corruption on the docks and piers of New York City, shady characters from mob
bosses, leg breakers to rough necked underdogs and boxers pursuing their dreams. In one of the most powerful scenes a boxer
who blew a fight intentionally so a gangster could collect big on a wage, Terry
Malloy acted by Marlon Brando laments that he “could have been someone…I coulda’
been a contender” and that all he ever got out of throwing that fight was a “one
way ticket to Palookaville”. In many ways
the plot of this timeless cinematic masterpiece has been used as both metaphor
and analogy for a variety of David versus Goliath type stories; tales of lost
or unfulfilled potential and as a point of reference for compromising, selling
out, forfeiting one’s integrity for a pittance, regret and the lessons learned
by underdogs.
In its most recent and as yet
to be anywhere near concluded version, Goliath is the loud-mouthed,
in-your-face, ‘my way or the highway’ New Jersey Governor Chris Christie while
Hoboken’s petite, soft spoken Mayor Dawn Zimmer is the reluctant but not
intimidated or timid David. That Zimmer
could very well be a heavy contributor to the ultimate demise of Christie, the
metaphor is apt. Christie who was sworn
in to his second term earlier today had been widely popular beyond the narrow
confines of New Jersey and was being touted by the Republican Party as a
possible presidential candidate in 2016.
Christie was billed as a Republican who had notched up some impressive
legislative initiatives working with the majority Democratic State Assembly and
Senate. Many GOP operatives viewed the
bellicose Governor as having a good measure of national appeal particularly for
those who consider themselves moderate, centrist and independent. Oh, how the times have changed.
In a matter of a scant 11 days
Christie’s bandwagon of supporters, advisers, financiers and donors has
lightened considerably while it has been counterbalanced by the weight of the nonstop coverage of
possible scandals that lead to the tightknit circle of his closest staffers,
three separate investigations which could expand further and the 20 subpoenas tossed
to those both in his innermost circle as well as high placed officials in The
Port Authority of NY & NJ some who’ve been forced to resign and some who
have done so on their accord. What had
begun initially as a probe seeking answers explaining the cause of four days of
lane closures at the George Washington Bridge last September that caused
gridlock of an epic scale, to who
ordered such a disastrous traffic pattern, and if, in fact, it had been sanctioned
by Christie as a retaliatory strike against the Fort Lee NJ Mayor who refused
to endorse the Governor’s re-election efforts last summer has exploded into a
full-fledged inquiry that has the potential to topple Christie.
TRAGIC COMEDY
The ancient Greeks contributed
much to our world not the least of which are philosophy, political theories and
the use of tragedy and comedy as elemental tools by which to explore some of
life’s intrinsic ironies, individual conflicts, weaknesses, traits and the interplay
between two dichotomous forces in public and private scenarios. Drama, as a form of theatric expression, a writing
genre and part of most of our lives at some point was used by the Greeks and
Romans as a vehicle to present a cautionary tale or the morale of the
story. They used the mechanism of an
antagonist battling a protagonist in some way in their mythology and ancient works
much as the Christian Christ used parables to set the scene to make a
particular point.
In this still developing drama
in New Jersey Dawn Zimmer is the protagonist who found her way to the center of
a packed arena last Saturday morning during a long live on air interview on
MSNBC. For anyone who did not see that
televised interview it would be well worth your while to catch a clip of it on
YouTube or other media site. Zimmer comes
across not only as extremely credible and sincere but also as a true public
servant who has labored since the brutal blast Hurricane Sandy unleashed on her
state and on her Hoboken in particular.
Hoboken is the most densely populated city in the Metropolitan New York City
region and in the top of in the country.
Over 50,000 people call the “mile square city” home and most of it is
below sea-level. As Zimmer’s story goes
she was pulled aside after an event at a Hoboken Shop Rite by the New Jersey Lieutenant
Governor Kim Guadagno. Zimmer stated and
wrote contemporaneously immediately after that discussion in her personal
journal that Guadagno indicated the bulk of the money pledged to help Hoboken
in its recovery efforts, federal disaster relief money at that, would not be
coming her way unless Zimmer got behind a local development project that was “important”
to Christie and some of his well-placed, well-heeled cronies. In essence, the federal relief money was
being “held hostage” by the Christie Administration and Guadagno advised Zimmer
that she’d better play ball or else. Of
the approximately $1.3 million allocated to Hoboken as of now a mere $300,000
has been released to Mayor Zimmer for recovery and remediation efforts.
According to published reports
and a statement directly from Mayor Zimmer on Monday she spent over “two hours
yesterday (Sunday) in the Federal Prosecutors Office” discussing her
allegations and also that she had turned over to that Office her journals,
diaries and e-mails relevant to her public statements which were really serious
accusations. Zimmer has also offered to
take a polygraph and insists she will cooperate in every way she can with the
various investigative bodies assembled to look into Christie and the his
Administration is structured and functions.
If Mayor Zimmer is not telling the truth why would she ever put herself
into the precarious position of speaking with federal Prosecutors of her own
volition? Clearly, she would not have
done so if she was fabricating or embellishing what transpired between her and
Guadagno last summer.
Are the ears of everyone on
the Hoboken waterfront perking up by now?
Word on the streets of this diverse city answer “Oh yea…” For all the Yuppies, Wall Street type,
non-natives of Hoboken there is a larger contingent of natives most of whom can
trace their ethnic heritage back through many generations to Italy, Ireland,
Germany and Puerto Rico. These are the
hard working, blue collared Hobokenites that have been here long before the
first ferry catering to those newcomers working at the World Financial Center
in Lower Manhattan and they can smell shit, be it bullshit, horseshit or just
garden variety political shit when it crosses their path and, at present, as
the wind continues to blow more shitty air over Hoboken, they are all paying
attention. Having lived through the fury of Hurricane
Sandy and still coping with the severe damages they incurred today, the very
concept that there may have been some malfeasance connected to the receipt of Federal
aid is enough to make the natives restless and highly disturbed. So many who voted for Governor Christie are
now left with the awful taste of being “had” in their mouths and it will take
the New Jersey Federal Prosecutor and State Assembly investigations to find the
truth buried beneath the layers of political shit.
ANTAGONIST VERSUS PROTAGONIST
It seems like it was just
yesterday that Chris Christie, coming off his landslide reelection and
appointment to head the Republican Governors Association, was the “Golden Boy”
of the Republican Party’s more realistic, pragmatic king makers. They
saw him as a potential candidate with national appeal; appeal that transcended
the definition of stereotypical politicians from the Northeast Corridor. However, those who have followed Christie’s
meteoric rise from Federal Prosecutor to Governor have long been aware that he’s
possessed of a vein of veniality and pettiness; that he is far too thin skinned
for the high wattage of presidential politics.
Dawn Zimmer arose from the
ashes of defeat after losing her bid for the Mayoralty of Hoboken after the victor;
Peter Cammarano became embroiled in the sort of corrupt politics that have
driven men of far greater acumen and ability from Office. Zimmer, having placed a close second to Cammarano
became Mayor and by all accounts has served the City of Hoboken well. If Zimmer
is nothing else she is an intelligent, engaged advocate for her constituents
and not naïve about the bruising reality of municipal and state politics. While Republican stalwarts and Christie
loyalists try to besmirch her abilities and reputation, they cannot lay a glove
on her. She is as committed and
dedicated a public servant as Hoboken and, New Jersey writ large, has ever
seen.
Zimmer is by most accounts the
last Jersey politico one would cast as the protagonist to the larger than life
antagonist Governor and it is in this altered state of reality that her story
and testimony is that much more believable and credible. One might think that Christie, a former
federal prosecutor himself, would have found exercising the power of his Office
to be unsavory at best; criminal at worst but the intoxicating nature of raw unbridled
power has doomed lesser and far greater men to the footnotes of history if not
to a stint in a federal penitentiary. At some point in the not too distant future
this entire corrupt mess will come to a screeching halt and the once formidable
Governor will likely not find himself near a chair when the discordant music
stops.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/19/1271021/-Some-good-background-info-about-Mayor-Dawn-Zimmer#
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