CHRISTIE PRESIDENTIAL ANNOUNCEMENT A PRELUDE TO JULY 4th FIREWORKS

By Louis Manzo / June 25, 2015

     In all likelihood, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will make known his intention to seek the GOP’s nomination for President of the United States in the days leading up to July 4^th.

     It would be optimum timing for such an announcement. Given the furious pace of candidates [13 as of this writing] who have made known their intentions to compete in the Republican field. The days preceding and over a holiday weekend are typically slow news cycles and it would give such an announcement a greater shot at grabbing and maintaining a presence in news headlines before, during, and after the holiday break.

     Such a timeline [as I had predicted during the course of numerous radio, TV, and web interviews the past year regarding my book, Ruthless Ambition], would fit Christie’s style of attempting to mimic his hero of convenience, Ronald Reagan. To borrow from former Democratic Vice-presidential nominee, Lloyd Bentsen: Trust me, Chris Christie is no Ronald Reagan! (more…)

CHRISTIE PUTS A TIGER IN HIS TANK

By Louis Manzo / March 13, 2015

    The latest Chris Christie caper centers on the Christie Administration’s just announced settlement agreement with ExxonMobil, amounting to $225M, for an environmental damages lawsuit initiated under the administration of former NJ Governor James McGreevey. The lawsuit went after the corporate giant for pollution damages resulting from their refinery operations in Union County and elsewhere in New Jersey. Anyone who has traveled the New Jersey Turnpike in the vicinity of Exit 13 and whiffed the putrid rotten egg smell there will catch the drift of the lawsuit right away.

    The original lawsuit brought by the State sought $8.9B for damages and another $2.6B in remediation costs. After years of legal battling, the State’s legal team won significant court victories establishing ExxonMobil’s guilt. The company was on the ropes. Apparently, that wasn’t good enough for the Christie Administration. Enter the Governor’s Chief Counsel, Christopher Porrino—a genuine legal eagle…with an apparent broken wing and dry beak—who inserted himself in the process and meddled with the successful legal team. (more…)

THE PARTY IS OVER: DEMS FACE A DRUBBING AT THE POLLS WITH LONG-LASTING CONSEQUENCES

By Louis Manzo / October 29, 2014

An astonishing seventy percent of American’s are dissatisfied with the direction the country is headed in.

According to insiders from both major political party persuasions, along with a smattering of recent national polling, indications are that the Democratic Party stands ready to have their heads handed to them at the polls next Tuesday [November 4, 2014.] The only question that remains is how far down the ballot the blood from this massacre will flow? Can those Democrats running on the party line in local elections be spared the animus of ticked-off voters who are fed up with a party that they feel has stepped much too far to the left, and perhaps off a cliff? (more…)

Jersey Journal/NJ.COM POLL: Public Agrees With Conclusions of Ruthless Ambition

By Louis Manzo October 13, 2014

In a recent poll of its readers [reported on October 3, 2014], the Jersey Journal and NJ.COM asked if the Bid Rig III Sting and arrests were politically motivated. The book   Ruthless Ambition: The Rise and Fall of Chris Christie presented overwhelming evidence and documentation to support the conclusion that they were. An astounding amount of those polled—87.5% [424 participants]—agreed with the same conclusions reached in the book: the prosecutions were politically motivated.

The newspaper and website poll was taken in conjunction with a news story covering the sentencing of Lavern Webb-Washington. She was the last of those charged in the sting to have her final day in court. Ron Zeitlinger, the deputy managing editor who reported on the poll, points out the contrast of how prosecutors managed the media for the day of the arrests compared to how they managed Webb-Washington’s sentencing. “No showy press conference with construction board filled with mug shots after LaVern Webb-Washington of Jersey City was sentenced to 18 months probation for misspending campaign cash,” noted Zeitlinger. (more…)

U. S. Attorney Spokesperson on Bridgegate: Ignore Leaks of Our Intentions to Clear Christie

By Louis Manzo September 24, 2014

Governor Chris Christie gave the appearance of a cat who swallowed a canary as he chastised and taunted members of the legislative committee investigating him last Thursday [September 18, 2014]. “They’ve been irresponsible,” Christie charged. “These are people who are addicted to MSNBC and the front pages of your newspapers,” he further declared to a gallery full of media.

The Governor’s remarks mysteriously coincided with the song of another canary, this one chirping inside the offices of federal prosecutors in New Jersey, which later in the day let the cat out of the bag regarding information about the United States Attorney’s Office’s [USAO] supposedly surreptitious investigation of Bridgegate and other matters. The news that Christie would not be charged in the probe might be considered a sort of in-kind contribution to the Governor’s stealth presidential campaign from prosecutors in his former office. (more…)

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Today’s Star-Ledger headline story [see link below], is based upon a lead WCBS Channel 2 news story [the news clip appears at the bottom of the Ledger’s news link]is rattling the cages of the Christie camp. The report discloses an effort by Christie brass in the Port Authority Police Department to silence cops trying to alleviate the hazardous conditions posed by the George Washington Bridge 4 day traffic jam created by Christie’s office last September.

Subsequent to the refusal of Fort Lee, NJ’s mayor to support Governor Christie’s 2013 reelection bid, Christie’s office ordered lane closures on the bridge in order to gridlock Fort Lee, which sits at the western mouth of the George Washington bridge and punish the Mayor of the town for his failure to endorse Christie’s 2013 reelection bid.

Ironically, Christie has spent more than $7M of taxpayer’s money to date on his own self-initiated investigation which cleared him of any involvement in the Bridgegate scandal. Apparently, Christie’s team of lawyer’s “very thorough investigation” managed to miss the inconvenient details reported in today’s news items.

Port Authority cops told to ‘shut up’ about GWB lane closures, memo says

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/09/port_authority_cops_told_to_shut_up_about_gwb_lane_closures_memo_says.html

Despite Christie Whirlwind National Spin Tour, Governor Keeps Pace with NJ Town Hall Schedule

The Star Ledger reported this week about Governor Christie’s campaign tour on behalf of Republican gubernatorial candidates and other candidates in his role as Chairman of the Republican Governor’s Association. The stumping for candidates affords Christie the advantage of marketing his brand to national audiences that he needs to woo for his contemplated run at the GOP Presidential nomination in 2016. One of the states that Christie will visit is Iowa, which holds the nation’s first presidential caucus.

In Chapter Fourteen and Fifteen of Ruthless Ambition, readers are given a glimpse of what may be in store for these national audiences—a depiction of Christie’s other national stumping tours during his first term as Governor. Christie has been characterized by some in the media as the best politician able to spin an audience since Bill Clinton. (more…)