By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
Having trouble keeping track of the Bridgegate sideshow going on in Hoboken, Save Jerseyans?
Fear not; we’ve put together a streamlined timeline for you to consult/post/share and, once you’ve reviewed it from beginning to end, I don’t think you’ll conclude that the chronology is flattering for Hoboken’s Mayor:
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Winter 2010 to Fall 2012
Mayor Dawn Zimmer is only one year into her new job when she decides to endorse the Governor’s property tax cap. She’s backed other major initiatives since then.
October 2012
Hurricane Sandy strikes New Jersey and floods much of Hoboken.
November 2012
Over the next year and change, Zimmer repeatedly — both online and in the real world, too — praises Chris Christie for his Sandy aftermath assistance without qualification:
May 2013
Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno visits Hoboken and, according to Mayor Dawn Zimmer, allegedly tells the mayor that Governor Chris Christie is tying Sandy aid decisions to her cooperation with moving along a multi-million dollar development project, a charge which Guadagno later vehemently denied.
Here’s the journal entry allegedly authored by Zimmer in May 2013 describing the incident:
MEANWHILE, as our friend Art over at MMM pointed out (and our own Joe Sinagra also recently outlined), Sandy aid… largely controlled by the feds and other agencies/layers of government outside of the Christie Administration… continued flowing into Hoboken:
“Hoboken’s clean up and repair money would not have been administered by the Christie Administration. That money comes directly from FEMA. Hoboken was approved for almost $6 million from FEMA last May, according to a report in HobokenPatch. The $127 million in requests that Zimmer referred to on Up with Steve Kornacki is for Hazard Mitigation, that would be administered through the Hudson County Executive and Board of Freeholders, and new projects that would be considered by EDA.”
July 2013
Zimmer is deposed for an unrelated lawsuit and she is asked, among other things, the following question: “When you have meetings regarding day-to-day activities involving Hoboken business with your department heads, do you memorialize any of the conversation that takes place yourself?” by attorney Zayas. She responded, “No, I don’t transcribe it.”
The deposing attorney followed up by asking whether she wrote “notes in a calendar or some sort of memo pad that says follow up on a text or this was said during this meeting; anything that would help you recall what was said during the course of the meeting?”
Zimmer responded, “No, I don’t.”
August 2013
Zimmer is still praising the Governor in glowing terms months after the alleged shake-down:
September 2013 to January 2014
Zimmer remains silent on the topic of her alleged “shake down” by Lt. Governor Guadagno as indicated above.
CNN’s Candy Crowley (no conservative by any stretch of the imagination) would later confront Zimmer regarding her behavior: “…we have seen since this happened in May, which you recorded in your diary, we have seen you compliment the mayor, we have seen you several months later say in a tweet, ‘I’m so glad that Chris Christie is our governor. So can you square that for me? Because as you know, coming at this point, what the Chris Christie office says is this is just politics? Why can this not be seen through a political lens?”
January 9, 2014
A regional NJ/NY Port Authority gets much bigger when an email dump tied to legislative subpoenas results in the sacking of two key Christie lieutenants: Deputy COS Bridget Kelly and campaign manager Bill Stepien. Reporters from all over begin trolling New Jersey towns for more evidence of Christie bullying behavior…
January 10, 2014
After the Bridgegate story goes national and the media feeding frenzy begins in full force, Dawn Zimmer is interviewed by Sarah Gonzalez of WYNC and blames a purported loss of Sandy aid for Hoboken (Huh? See May 2013 note above) on her failure to endorse Chris Christie’s reelection.
January 12, 2014
Steve Kornacki of MSNBC turns heads when he speculates that a politically-connected development deal may’ve played into the Bridgegate political retribution scandal calculus.
January 18, 2014
Zimmer visits MSNBC’s UP with Steve Kornacki and drops her bombshell allegations for the first time… changing her story from eight days earlier and discarding the retaliation endorsement motive for a development-related tale… hmm… I wonder where she got that idea?
January 22, 2014
Zimmer stops talking to the press or commenting publicly on her prior allegations, telling media that the U.S. Attorney’s office told her to clam up. It’s also reported that she turned over a diary (Huh? See our July 2013 note above) to the U.S. Attorney allegedly describing her May 2013 meeting with the Lt. Governor.
January 25, 2014
The AP reports what we’ve all been saying: Sandy aid in Hoboken was consistent or “on par” with what other communities received, noting, for example, how “Hoboken’s $200,000 grant [to hire experts for the development of long-term recovery plans] was the fourth-highest allocation among the 35 local governments in the program.”
I think she’s became a bit confused with all of the attention she received from the socialist state broadcast network MSNBC
..it happens
@Gordon It does. Watching MSNBC and staring directly into the sun… both things you don’t want to do.
Gov. Christie has no problem frequently appearing as a guest on MSNBC shows for the past four years
And some of us never thought it was a good strategy. Now it’s coming back to bite him; the Left can’t be satiated. If you’re an “R” then you’re an enemy.
Imagine changing your story multiple times over a few months… I’m dizzy just thinking about it!
Enjoy being on Christies payroll! Let me guess u r his education advisor!
@Christopher Attack the messenger rather than address the substance… typical. Yawn.
@Christopher, it used to be easy for your Union to shake down New Jerseyans ..that’s going to stop the more people find out whats going on with their Money!
attack the messenger..how is it you guys can defend someone that is facing an investigation by the justice dept!!!!! the only shake down going on is by the Governor!
@Christopher No one is defending anyone. We’re scrutinizing the allegations. Many folks just hate the Governor and want to seem him fail without looking at the evidence. And an investigation doesn’t equate to guilt. Ask the many individuals audited by the IRS solely based on party affiliation.
justice dept… those Clowns! You’re either Naive or An Absolute Idiot like the hack Eric Holder. Guy belongs in Jail
Gordon sorry .. Not sure if u r defending Christie or what … The justice dept keeps u clowns safe while would be terrorists attempt to harm us.. Clearly u know nothing about sacrifice or defending freedom… Thanks for reminding me what’s wrong with this nation…
Honestly how can this website say U r the messenger … U clearly r in Christies pocket.. Any mention of the democrats questioning Bridgate and it’s a witch hunt… Good luck when your boy is no longer “stronger than the storm”!
Or maybe it’s simply that we don’t think a two-year standing committee with broad, unspecific goals and powers isn’t constructive? But hey, common sense is anything but common, right? So plug back into MSNBC and believe whatever you’d like. It’s still a free country… unless you want to keep your doctor.