“Christie’s not in a jam yet”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, January 11 2014
He’d better hope that’s all there is.
Chris Christie is still standing, as is his political career, after the killer emails, the firings, the endless news conference, the Fort Lee mea culpa and the adamant assertions of total ignorance from a man who doesn’t normally miss too much.
So what’s coming next?
Will ex-staffer Bridget Kelly announce she acted on orders from above? Which other senior staffers had their fingers in this mess? Will the New Jersey governor’s far-flung DNA — perhaps in the form of an email CC — tie him indisputably to the retribution traffic jam, called down like locusts on helpless Fort Lee?
We’ll know soon.
New documents are leaking by the hour. The full George Washington Bridge scandal is dribbling inevitably out. I’m plowing through the pages. Here’s what I’m looking for:
Who else was Kelly emailing?
Is Chief of Staff Kevin O’Dowd implicated, too? He was Kelly’s immediate superior. He’s one degree closer to the guv. If O’Dowd is fingered, Christie is through.
What’s the real reason for the bridge-lane closures? I like Rachel Maddow’s theory on MSNBC: Christie’s seething anger over Supreme Court nominees — not the Fort Lee mayor’s refusal to endorse him.
What other political dirty tricks did the governor’s staff play? It can’t be just one town! What about other mayors or legislators who displeased the boss? What bennies did friendly pols receive? An attack so bold cannot possibly stand alone.
Where are the other Republicans? Many already resented Christie’s egocentric personality and his coziness to Barack Obama. They’ve been awfully quiet the past four days. His chairmanship of the Republican Governors Association is in genuine peril now.
Christie has already used up 81/2 of his nine political lives. He doesn’t have much room left for further revelation.
CHRISTIE CULPA
1. Who wants to drive into New York anyway?
2. Don’t hate me because I’m skinnier.
3. Kelly bullied me.
4. It’s not like I shut down the Super Bowl.
5. Will Obama hug me now?
THE NEWS IN SONG
Fifteen minutes to go three blocks
“Traffic Jam”
by
James Taylor
ASKED AND UNANSWERED
Flavor Flav is a public enemy again? Does he get any slack for speeding on the Meadowbrook — to his mother’s funeral? . . . Rent is too high on Sag Harbor’s Division Street for throw-down grilled Bobby Flay? Can’t Jimmy McMullen help? Has the weird-bearded Rent-Is-Too-Damn-High candidate just found his running mate? . . . Who knew that yellow lights are supposed to be three seconds long? If Nassau’s are shorter, could that really mean hundreds of thousands of the traffic-cam tickets must now be tossed out? . . . Nearly 500 applicants for 43 AvalonBay apartments in Huntington Station? Does anyone still pretend there’s no rental crisis on LI? . . . How did Hofstra lure the Ms. New York Senior America Pageant away from longtime host Lindenhurst High? I’m betting the university’s Women’s Studies profs had nothing to do with this . . . How did a Farmingdale house fire get 13,000 YouTube views? John Senia’s helmet-cam video (tinyurl.com/farmfire) of the nozzle team’s attack is downright heart-pounding . . . What kind of publicity did the Episcopal Diocese of LI expect when they began eviction proceedings against the congregants at historically black St. Matthias Ministries in Wantagh? Well, they’re getting it.
E-mail ellis@henican.com