Christie scandal proves yet again that government will punish the public to gain more power

Sunday, January 12, 2014 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: Chris Christie, bridge closure, government pettiness

(NaturalNews) It's far too early in the news cycle to know the total involvement of New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie in the lane closures of the vital George Washington Bridge in September, as reports continue to filter in about who knew what, when and who talked about it with whom.

As for Christie, who is already being mentioned by the GOP establishment as a frontrunner for his party's 2016 presidential nomination, he wasted no time getting in front of the emerging scandal. During a lengthy news conference this week, Christie apologized to New Jersey residents and to residents of Ft. Lee, N.J., the city most affected by the sudden closures, because it appears that it occurred as a result of political retribution against Ft. Lee's mayor, for his refusal to support Christie's recent reelection.

"Ultimately, I am responsible for what happens under my watch," Christie told reporters, adding that he was "embarrassed and humiliated by the conduct of some of the people on my team." He also said, repeatedly, that he was "stunned by the abject stupidity" of emails from staffers allegedly involved in the closures which disclosed details about the incident and the Ft. Lee mayor, Mark Sokolich, who was disparaged in a few of them.

Heads rolled, but not before citizens were hurt

During the presser, Christie also made a couple of major announcements. One, he fired Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Kelly, who reportedly masterminded the closures, and he plans further interviews with his staff to see if he will have to fire others; two, he has removed Bill Stepian from the top of both the state Republican Party and a position of leadership within the Republican Governor's Association, for his reported involvement in the scandal.

"I can never allow personal feelings or longstanding relationships to get in the way of my doing my job," he said after he announced both terminations. Further, as reported by Breitbart News:

Christie noted that he told Kelly and every other staffer that they had one hour to tell him or his chief of staff whether they had anything to do with the traffic jam in Fort Lee, and all said they did not. He then told the press that no one in his staff had anything to do with the incident. "This was obviously a lie," Christie noted, adding that "there is no justification... for ever lying to a governor or person in authority in this government." He fired Kelly because "she lied to me," as well as Stepian.

"I was disturbed by the callous indifference of Bill Stepian," Christie said. "You cannot have someone at the top of your political operation who you do not have confidence in."

What's more, Christie added an additional apology for cracking a joke when first asked about the bridge scandal weeks ago; he quipped that he was the one personally setting up the cones and closing the lanes.

What happened to government 'of the people, for the people'?

"I would have never come out here four or five weeks ago and made a joke," he said, unless he had been convinced that no one on his staff "would be so stupid but to be involved and so deceitful as to not disclose the information of their involvement to me."

As for Sokolich, a Democrat, Christie says he plans to go to Ft. Lee in person to apologize to the mayor and the people of his city. "I think they need to see me do that personally," he said.

What this scandal - and so many other government actions in recent years - proves is that those in power have a disdain for the people that is nearly unprecedented in our history. The masses are used as pawns and punished by petty tyrants for nothing more than blatant political partisanship.

Closing a bridge hurt the citizens of northern New Jersey who were guilty of nothing more than trying to make a living, trying to educate their children and just trying to live life. People and groups targeted by Obama's IRS in 2012 only wanted to make their political views known - and because they were different from those held by the president's party, vindictive, partisan tyrants within the powerful tax agency punished them by refusing to process their applications for tax-exempt status.

It's the same thing, only on a larger scale than New Jersey.

Our government is supposed to be one "of the people, for the people and by the people." Do these examples, and the plethora of others, sound like it is?

Sources:

http://www.breitbart.com

http://online.wsj.com

http://www.newsmax.com