Christie's GWB counsel fights to shield toll files

[George II]

Source: Bergen Record

The law firm representing the Christie administration in several investigations into the George Washington Bridge lane closures is aggressively trying to keep communications between the governor’s office and the Port Authority private in an unrelated court case about the unprecedented Hudson River toll hikes approved in 2011, records show.

That strategy, employed by former federal prosecutor Randy Mastro and the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, could provide clues as to how a flurry of legislative subpoenas delivered to the governor’s office on Friday will be handled. Christie has said he will cooperate with all “appropriate inquiries” into whether his office had any involvement in the September lane closures, seen as an act of political retribution, but it’s still unclear whether he will try to block the release of some internal communications.

Mastro is representing the Port Authority in a lawsuit filed by the automobile club AAA over massive toll hikes, but progress in that case has been slow, with accusations of stonewalling keeping it in its early stages. It is getting renewed attention this week as the lane-closure scandal unfolds.

The two seemingly unrelated issues were linked on Friday for another reason: the Port Authority raised concerns that Mastro’s firm had a potential conflict of interest because it was also chosen by the Christie administration this week to handle document requests from twin probes of the lane closures being conducted by the Legislature. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is also reviewing the closures.

Read more: http://www.northjersey.com/news/state/Christies_GWB_counsel_fights_to_shield_toll_files.html

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This is the same attorney who Christie hired to defend him and his office. Curious!

[mountain grammy]

1. Just keep digging.. soon the hole will be big enough to bury this man.

[Berlum]

2. Republicons choose the OCCULT pathway

As usual - they want to hide the truth from the American people who pay their salaries.

Republicon OCCULTISM is a poison to America and American democracy.

[herding cats]

3. AAA who filed the lawsuit over the Hudson River toll hikes thinks there's an overlap in the cases

Court records show the George Washington Bridge controversy has already been raised in the AAA lawsuit since records surfaced last week linking the governor's office to the September lane closings that gridlocked Fort Lee for four days.

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In a court filing in federal court on Thursday, AAA New York's attorney claim that e-mails and messages that surfaced last week linking the governor's office to the George Washington Bridge closures are pertinent to the toll hike lawsuit.

"The communications are germane ... because they highlight the types of communications that can occur and have occurred between officials at the Port Authority and the New Jersey Governor's Office," attorney Kevin Mulry wrote. The AAA attorneys are pointing the explosive communications in an attempt to get the Port Authority to turn over documents it has claimed are priveleged.

The letter says that some of the messages that have surfaced are from former Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni, Christie's previous top executive at the agency, who was deposed in the AAA lawsuit. - See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/state/Port_Authority_Lawyers_for_Christie_admin_in_GWB_scandal_have_conflict_of_interest.html?page=all#sthash.z8HWkRYs.dpuf

It's the same firm as the one representing the PA. Here's where I posted on the possible conflict of interest yesterday.

Christie bridge scandal: Lawyers may have conflict of interest, Port Authority says

[Raine1967]

4. From 2012:

the entire article is pretty amazing:

http://www.northjersey.com/news/138280609_Dozens_of_PA_jobs_go_to_Christie_loyalists.html?page=all

Still, the extent of gubernatorial referrals has seldom been made public by the agency, which has often been criticized for being secretive.

The list of Christie administration referrals was provided by the Port Authority as part of a wrongful termination lawsuit filed in federal court in Newark. Hannah Shostack, an appointee of former Gov. Jon Corzine's administration, claims she was pushed out for political reasons. In the suit, her lawyers requested a list of all Christie referrals that had been hired by the Port Authority.

According to the document, the job referrals began about four months after Christie took office. The referrals continued even as the agency felt so pressed financially that it adopted a 50 percent toll increase to shore up its bottom line.


(snip)

Running the authority's day-to-day operations on behalf of the Christie administration are Baroni and David Wildstein, who went to school with Christie in their hometown of Livingston and later became mayor of the township. He also was referred to the Port Authority. Wildstein, a former prominent blogger who broke political stories anonymously by using the pen name Wally Edge, was a key architect of how the toll hikes were presented to the public last summer, multiple sources have said. He still keeps a low profile, rarely attending public Port Authority functions. But within the agency, he attends high-level meetings and makes sure the Christie administration's interests are represented, the sources said.

The title for his $150,000 job is Interstate Capital Projects director.

[malthaussen]

5. For "National Security" reasons, right?

Ooops, sorry, wrong scandal.

-- Mal

[cosmicone]

6. Governor Soprano is toast

If he fights to keep any documents out, he will be found guilty by the public.

If he releases everything and it contains lies, he will be found guilty by the courts AND the public.

His choices are limited -- either be a crispy golden brown toast or be a burnt carbonized toast.

[Little Star]

8. lol

[Matariki]

11. staying out of prison might be the number one priority here

over public opinion.

[Iliyah]

7. Well CC gotten the "Alligator" lawyer

we're got "The Gator Boys"!

LOL

[Baitball Blogger]

9. Nothing is private in public business.

Unless the side who is getting investigated also has enough crooked influence to stop investigations.

[Botany]

10. I wonder if Christie and company were using the extra money as some kind of "slush fund?"