Anyone who has executive or managerial experience on a large level knows...

[busterbrown]

Chris Christie is full of shit. Competent Execs. on all levels know exactly whats going on in all levels of their operations. His explanation is just ridiculous and makes him sound like an idiot..

I managed a large retail operation and knew what was going down on every level of the operation.
Its called being ultimately responsible for everything which goes down. I hired people to keep me fucking updated on everything, no matter how insignificant the matter might be..

"Everything starts on the top" is not a phrase to be taken lightly by any executive or manager of any business..

Give me a break Christie...

[Whisp]

1. I think this should also apply to past SoS Hillary Clinton

and the State Dept covering up investigations of pedophilia and sexual assault. Top Levels were aware.

The story broke in June and a re investigation was to take place with a new report expected in the autumn.

But no word, nothing. Dead. Covering up the cover up.

People claim that Hillary would not have known about any of this - nor her right hand people. I am curious to see who says Christie knew but Hillary couldn't have known. I'll be watching.

[TwilightGardener]

3. WaitWHAT?

[Whisp]

7. I'm not sure what you mean by that reaction, here is a link

for you if it means you don't know anything about it.

It's Lawrence O'Donnel at MSNBC. Story broke middle of June, ran a couple days here and there then nothing.

http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/state-department-cover-up-33164355621

[TwilightGardener]

11. Yes, that's what I meant--thanks!

[DURHAM D]

12. This is about Obama's Ambassador to Belgium.

No cover up by State ... he just resigned.

However, Obama should of canned his ass in 2011 over this - http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2011/12/republicans-target-ambassador-belgium-howard-gutman

[B2G]

6. +1000

[Whisp]

15. I wonder if this Bridge thing is Obama's fault too...

after all he's in charge, he should be watching. That is what some Hillary defenders are saying about the Sexual Assault and Pedophilia investigation. It's Obama's responsibility, not hers.

Yeh, sexual assault and pedophilia - what lovely words to connect to this supposed great humanitarian that represents feminism and all that is good about woman and humankind.

[Whisp]

32. juried and stays.

REASON FOR ALERT:
>
> This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.
>
> ALERTER'S COMMENTS:
>
> Absolute trolling in a thread about Chris Christie. This is the definition of disruptive.
>
> You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Thu Jan 9, 2014, 04:20 PM, and the Jury voted 3-3 to LEAVE IT.
>
> Juror #1 voted to HIDE IT and said: No explanation given
> Juror #2 voted to HIDE IT and said: wow, yeah it truly is.
> Juror #3 voted to HIDE IT and said: This knee jerk reaction to SOS Clinton isn't just over the top and divisive, it is uninformed and banal. Whatever policy disagreements you have with SOS Clinton on domestic politics may be, it is absurd not to acknowledge what she has done to advance equal rights across the world in international forums, and how she has made a difference in places like Burma. She is not a 'supposed' great humanitarian, but that is a term that you would likely find at Free Republic.
> Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: Silly post does not equal TOS violation. Leave it.
> Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: IMO it makes a comparative point, though I'm not sure what.
> Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: The truth is quite often upsetting to someone. It is just pointing out some hypocrisies.
> The real reason this was alerted on, is because Hillary, a woman, is mentioned in a less than flattering light.

==
Let's jury Lawrence O for daring to talk about this, here and make his links unacceptable to post on DU:
State Department Cover Up:
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/state-department-cover-up-33164355621
so take that trolling charge and aw, maybe put it under a bridge.

Or was my post to be hidden because I was 'off topic' from the subject of Christie?

[beaglelover]

36. It should also apply to Obama and the distasterous rollout of the healthcare website. n/t

[Whisp]

37. of course that can be compared to sexual assault and pedophilia...

silly me.

[TwilightGardener]

2. I don't believe they always know--but they should know whether their people are

corrupt liars, and fire them before it ever comes to a scandal.

[TheBlackAdder]

5. But if the people are just like you, would you notice that they have that flaw? n/t

[Tikki]

9. Wouldn't commuters have called christie's office to ask why the lanes where closed…at least ask him

to find out why they where closed?

We know way in advance here on So Cal roads if they are going to close. Unless it is an emergency and then we hear about it
on a radio station or an overhead sign.


Tikki

[TheBlackAdder]

4. Yep. Subordinates don't do ANYTHING that could come back to haunt their bosses. n/t

[Gman]

8. Christie maybe just said something like "Make his life miserable"

and she says "Gotcha" or whatever and made it happen. He may have plausible deniability.

[TexasProgresive]

16. Like Henry II in reference to Thomas á Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury

"Who will free me from this turbulent priest?"
Henry didn't order Thomas' execution but the result was the same.

[Thinkingabout]

10. The news conference came after the emails surfaced, Christie should have been far ahead

Of the emails. When the resignations came out, Christie should have been ahead if them. I like the Christie type much more than Romney and since Christie is a Republican he will be able to get past this. Last week there was still bitching and moaning about Ted Kennedy and Chappaquiddick. Bill Clinton will be degraded forever because he beat Bush Sr. Can Christie overcome this, only if the GOP wants him to do so, for many of the GOP will not be able to get past his hug of Obama.

[Aerows]

21. But Clapper and Alexander are totally blameless, right? n/t

[Thinkingabout]

24. If there was not enough background checking to keep out people which should not have

Security clearance even if they are employed by a contractor yes the top is responsible to see this does not happen.

[alc]

13. been true in both parties for too long - and in politics and business

Many positions exist just to keep the top guy/gal in the dark while doing exactly what he/she wants. And we accept plausible deniability from "our side" any time an issue comes up while demanding blame goes to the top for the other side. Both sides need to demand that blame always goes to the top no matter how believable it is that the person at the top was "out of the loop". If they really weren't involved, they either didn't want to be or selected incompetent advisors/administrators and it very much is there fault either way.

[TheOther95Percent]

14. Somebody else posted that the lie his staff told him was that it wouldn't come back to the Governor.

I think that's a safe bet. I think the Christie staff involved used private email accounts and texts thinking that those items would never see the light of day. Now that there is a paper trail, and from what I've heard today about an immunity deal for Wildstein, I think someone is going to talk. There are at least four people facing possible charges: Baroni, Kelly, Wildstein, Sampson. One of them is going to take a deal. And if the NJ USDA is going to take a swing at this one, he's going to swing hard. Careers get made on this kind of case.

[1000words]

17. Stonewall is usually the go-to first response

Need time for the CYA that's going down, right now.

[philosslayer]

18. I am not defending Christie by any stretch of the imagination, but.....

You knew what was going on down at EVERY level of the operation?

You knew what two sales people were secretly screwing on the side?

You know who was pilfering merchandise every now and then?

Unless this was some two bit 3 person operation, I don't think you knew nearly as much as you think you did.

[busterbrown]

22. Huh? Are you serious?

I should have stated ... Every facet of the operation which would effect the bottom line numbers of the company. But I thought that was obvious..

Two people screwing on the side? Inside the operation or outside? Big difference? Happens in retail all the time..Personnel would handle the situation and would keep me informed... Lawsuits!!!!!

Employee Theft? Absolutely!! If there was an inkling that an employee was stealing, I’d be constantly updated.. One employee thief is equivalent to 20 external thieves.. Would effect the bottom line..
Heads role in retail if Inventory results are poor..

I hired assistants to inform me immediately of anything which would effect my review..
And thats just about everything. They were hired on the premise that they would know what matters to bring to my attention and what not to.

The difference is, I knew I was gonna be held responsible...Christie on the other hand is a dime a dozen hustler who feels he is immune (Darling of the republican party) to any criticism or accountability..

He feels he can talk himself out of any problem at any time...

[philosslayer]

33. Politics ain't retail

Staff will do things without the boss knowing to protect the boss. "Plausibile deniability". Happens all the time.

Again, not defending Christie because he hired these people and established the tone of the office.

[busterbrown]

34. Ah, you cant fool a Corleone..

That might have been the case 30 years ago, but doesn’t hold water today.. Too much evidence out in space..or servers..

Besides I think many would take exception with your statement. Any organization with several layers of management are in essence a smaller model of any organization no matter how big..

Why do you think Christie is lying?.. There is no “Plausible deniability”.

[TBF]

19. Knowing and directing activies are two different things -

plenty of managers are hands-off and really don't want to know half the stuff going on. They know in a general sense but if pressed couldn't give you details. Still when issues are this big they have a way of sticking to people. He's going to have a hard time depending upon how much the underlings have in writing. Everything else is deniable ...

[busterbrown]

23. Yea, but the good ones have staff that understand what to bring and what not to bring..

Thats how I operated..Must have fullest confidence with people who are hired to understand the difference..

[TBF]

29. If you're arguing that he's incompetent as

a manager I certainly can't argue with that.

[busterbrown]

31. Exactly!!!

Maybe I was not clear.. I tend to ramble and sometimes don’t make myself clear..

I wish I had better writing skills.

[okaawhatever]

20. He is responsible for knowing the big stuff and certainly someone who works in your office every

day keeps you abreast of their actions. Also, it would be one thing if Christie put a stop to the bridge closures as soon as something came out. Are you telling me during all this time he didn't ask what was going on? If the staff did this without his knowing he would have re-opened the bridge right away and this would all be forgotten.

[CFLDem]

25. In my experience

at both fortune 100 companies, small mom and pop shops, and everything in between, the executives are the LAST to know.

I think a lot of it's due to middle managers not reporting issues to make themselves look better and lower employees not wanting to narc or whine.

[1StrongBlackMan]

26. I disagree ...

I can count any number of times where an executive didn't know that his/her subordinates were engaged in corrupt/illegal/unethical conduct. But in this case, no way do I believe Christie didn't know.

[KentuckyWoman]

27. I gotta call BS

Your people did all sorts of things you never knew about. You can bet your last nickel some shennanigan went on that was either deliberately hidden from your people or simply dealt with and deemed not significant enough to pass upward. It's the nature of being in the hot seat.

What you hope is that no one does anything bad enough for you to have to invoke "The buck stops here.".

All that said if Christie didn't know he should have. Plus he obviously has at least one idiot on his team because a smarter bunch would never have let us find out.

[busterbrown]

28. Back on ya..

If you continually produce bottom line numbers which are good it means the operation is run well.
Includes Personnel issues (law suits), Inventory Results, Customer’s perception of the operation, and of course sales..

Do you really think I meant that I was was aware of every situation which took place? Of course not.
But rarely was I not aware of anything which could impact the bottom line.

Incidentally, no one went to bat concerning raises to my staff more than I did..I respected and treated everyone who worked with me as well I could...I would fight like hell against those 2and 3 per cent increases which were just awful..

[KentuckyWoman]

38. You modified your position from the OP. With good reason.

Your response to me this time acknowledges it was rare for you to be caught by surprise. That would have to be true for Christie as well or he'd never be at this level. Even so surprises do come along.

An executive of Christie's caliber is not a failure simply because one of his staffers got off the ranch. It happens. Christie's leadership failure is the fact he clearly leads a team that thinks using Americans as pawns for political retribution is acceptable. That kind of team culture doesn't suddenly appear out of thin air.

My point really isn't with you personally. It's to point out it doesn't matter quite so much what the executive knew in advance. It's more important to look at what this says about his leadership philosophy - especially since he clearly has presidential aspirations.

[Zorra]

30. Yes, and this is actually a pretty serious crime he has apparently committed. nt

[JoePhilly]

35. This was not a small detail.