Radio Free Montone: Fair Or Not, People Blame Christie
Fair or not plenty of folks in Fort Lee still blame Gov. Chris Christie for those big back-ups at the George Washington Bridge.
I am almost always at least a little surprised by what people have to say. I stopped at a strip mall just south of the bridge because a report by a New Jersey legislative panel had been leaked to the public. The report found that the governor did not order or even know his aides were plotting to disrupt traffic as political payback to the local mayor for not endorsing Christie in 2013. So folks, I asked, do you agree with the findings?
The answer was a resounding, "No!"
A fellow who had sat in traffic for more than two hours said he was, "100%" certain Christie knew what his aides were cooking up. Lou the limo driver who knows a thing or two about traffic jams told me, "I love the governor. I think he does a great job, but I think he had to know…"
A father who was unable to get his children to school on time for two days while toll lanes were closed during the morning rush said he might not vote for Christie for President because of the bridge scandal. And Carol, a thoughtful woman who said she doesn't like to blame people without proof, guessed that Christie had "indirectly" ordered the closings through his staff members, "his peeps," she called them by speaking in "code."
We still don't know what prompted the Governor's Deputy Chief-of-Staff Bridget Kelly to send that infamous e-mail, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." Or why Christie's appointee to the Port Authority, David Wildstein, allegedly implemented the order. Was Bridget Kelly as Carol believed getting her orders from the Governor in "code?"
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But lest you think it's just Chris Christie the people I talked to don't trust, what they had to say about politicians and the political process was quite telling. People told me they don't like politicians, any politicians. That this is the type of behavior they expect from elected-officials and their aides. Okay, that may not sound like an earth-shattering revelation, but in almost 35-years of talking to voters about their leaders I had never before heard the politicos held is such low regard.
So think of it, we have come from the heroic General George Washington who became our first President, "The Father of His Country." To the great steel span across the Hudson that bears his name. A bridge built on the backs of Depression-era laborers, a dozen of them killed during its construction.
To some spiteful, scheming political lackeys whose great contribution to our democracy was to disrupt the daily lives of hard-working, taxpaying people.
