UPDATE:  $10’s OF MILLIONS to FRIENDS = Christie’s 7 deferred prosecution agreements

UPDATE:

Christie childhood pal = emails show Port Authority Police Lt. Thomas (Chip) Michaels took Wildstein, on a tour of the span at the start of the traffic mess.

Michaels had gotten wind of the plan to flood Fort Lee with traffic the day before the controversial lane closings and kept Wildstein updated.

Sept. 8 = Day before lane closures Michaels emailed PC Capt. Darcy Licorish, asking, “Is there going to be a new traffic pattern installed for Monday the 9th?”

Licorish confirmed that “maintenance personnel” were closing the lanes and would “most likely” affect rush-hour operations.

“Concerns were made to no aval (sic) locally,” Licorish texted Michaels.

7:28 a.m. Sept 9 = Email on 1st day of the September GWB CLOSURE, Wildstein informed Robert Durando, general manager of the bridge, “Going to take a ride with Chip and see how it looks.”

“Its fkd up here,” Michaels, a 15-year Port Authority officer, tells Wildstein in a text before picking him up for the bridge excursion.

Following the tour, Michaels texted Wildstein, “I may have idea to mak ths beter (sic).”

Sept. 10, Michaels texted Wildstein, reporting, “Local ft lee traffic disaster.”

Like Wildstein, Michaels grew up with the governor in Livingston, N.J.

Wildstein was brushed off by CHRISTIE as a distant acquaintance at best.

Will Christie do the same with Michaels remains to be seen.

Michaels took Wildstein on a tour of the George Washington Bridge at the start of the traffic mess, emails reveal.

He’s the brother of New Jersey Republican power broker Jeffrey Michaels, whose lobbying firm has boomed under the Christie administration.

Michaels coached Christie’s son in Little League hockey = growing list of Christie loyalists who knew of the bridge shenanigans the governor insists were done behind his back.

Text-message exchanges between Michaels and Wildstein included in a trove of documents subpoenaed by a New Jersey legislative committee investigating the bridge scandal.

Wildstein’s lawyer revealed that “evidence exists” Christie knew of the lane closures while they were occurring.

Christie has repeatedly denied knowing of the bridge debacle until it was over.

While Christie claims he was told a traffic study required the lanes to be shut down, emails between Wildstein and the governor’s deputy chief of staff, Bridget Kelly, suggest otherwise.

“Time for some traffic problems in Ft. Lee,” Kelly told Wildstein in a now infamous email she sent in August. Wildstein responded, “Got it.”

Christie canned Kelly on Jan. 9, the same day he says he learned of her email exchange with Wildstein, and held a two-hour news conference to deny he was involved in the bridge foulup.

Sept 9 = Wildstein was at the bridge with Durando at 6 a.m. when the three eastbound toll lanes on the Fort Lee side were reduced to one lane.

“Port Authority Police Officers are advising commuters in response to their complaints that this recent traffic debacle is the result of a decision that I, as the mayor, recently made,” Sokolich in a Sept. 12 letter to Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni, who has since resigned.

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PAUL NUNZIATO = PRESIDENT OF PORT AUTHORITY POLICE UNION – ENDORSED CHRISTIE

LT. THOMAS CHIP MICHAELS & WILDSTEIN AND HE RODE AROUND WATCHING THE TRAFFIC MESS GROW!

MICHAELS BROTHERS old friends of CHRISTIE

http://www.politickernj.com/author/jeff.michaels?page=2&quicktabs_mostx=commented

Jeff  Michaels – 27th most powerful Lobbyist in NJ

“In the end, the McGreeveys, the Corzines, they’re all going to be with me – not because they like me – but because they have no choice.”

– George Norcross, FBI Recording

SWAMP WATCH = “Because New Jersey is a Swamp”

Top 10 NJ LOBBYISTS = #9 OPTIMUS PARTNERS = $845,050 = JEFFERY MICHAELS + PHILIP NORCROSS  = CASINO ASSOCIATION OF NJ + LIBERTY SCIENCE CENTER + SAYREVILLE SEAPORT ASSOCIATES

ADUBATO: Close to Chris Christie?

Mr. MICHAELS: I’ve known him for a long time. We went to high school with–we–our families knew each other from Livingston, and just stayed in close contact with him over the years and was very pleased to help his campaign out with policy and…

ADUBATO: And Julie is not a friend of Chris Christie?

Ms. ROGINSKY: I don’t know Chris–I don’t know Chris Christie, I don’t know if he wants to be friends with me. I think I’ve been kind of harsh on him

over the past year, so–but…

Optimus Partners = LOBBYING firm in Trenton came into bing in 2009 when Sweeney became Senate President = Veteran Republican lobbyist Jeff Michaels (who donated $25,000 to Reform Jersey Now) as his partner, Philip Norcross = Big splash in a short time

Philadelphia Inquirer:  “The success of Optimus, one of the newer firms to lobby in Trenton, offers insight into relationships that seldom draw public attention and the demand for well-placed consultants to navigate state government….Norcross built a reputation as a smart and business-savvy lawyer over several decades and is now managing partner at Parker McCay, one of the state’s top law firms. The company received $9.2 million from public sector contracts in New Jersey last year – more than $513,000 from the Gloucester County government, where Sweeney until December was the longtime freeholder director…The firm was incorporated early in September 2009, as Sweeney was rounding up the votes behind the scenes to oust Richard Codey as Senate president. He was voted into the position that November, the month that Christie was elected….Sweeney said that while he has always known Michaels as a lobbyist, he doesn’t view Norcross as such because he knew him long before Optimus. Sweeney grew up with the Norcross brothers and considers Philip one of his most trusted friends….A very trusted friend. One you could even trust to bend if not break the law with, lobbyist-client privilege.

And that kind of trust is quite lucrative, same article:

Norcross had done minimal work for the lobbying arm of Parker McCay before starting Optimus. A review of state disclosure records shows that the highest annual earnings he received from lobbying in the four years before starting the company was $43,270.

Last year, he made $201,287 from lobbying at Optimus.

The highest amount Michaels reported receiving from lobbying in the four years before starting Optimus was $102,000, and it was just $60,000 in 2009. Michaels earned $294,813 from lobbying at Optimus…

$10’s OF MILLIONS to FRIENDS = Christie’s 7 deferred prosecution agreements

$52 Million to John Ashcroft. Christie’s former U.S. Justice Department boss made in 18 months for monitoring Zimmer Holdings, medical device manufacturer, kickbacks to surgeons for using their replacement hips and knees.

David Kelley, Former US Attorney, was given contract to monitor another medical device makers = Kelley investigated a stock fraud case involving Christie’s younger brother, Todd, but declined to prosecute him.

$5 Million in Endowment for a professorship at Seton Hall Law School, Christie’s alma mater as part of Settlement for Bristol-Myers Squibb on a $300 million fraud Christie negotiated. US DOJ then issued guidelines barring such PAY TO PLAY.

$10 Million to David Samson, former GOP attorney general, got fees for monitoring medical device maker Smith & Nephew Inc. Samson’s firm, Wolff & Samson was put on Christie’s payroll for legal work = $9,439.40 in legal fees/rent +$18,439.40 still owed

$10 Million Contract to Herbert Stern, Christie mentor to monitor University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, accused of double-billing for services covered by Medicare. Stern and partners and their wives later effectively gave $71,000 in donations to Christie’s campaign for governor.

Debra Wong Yang, a former U.S. attorney and Christie colleague with ties to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, was chosen to monitor Deputy Orthopaedics Inc.

John Carley, Sen. John McCain’s 2008 fundraising team got monitoring contract involving Stryker Orthopedics.

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/06/nj_gop_gubernatorial_candidate.html

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CHRISTIE = ENTIRE CAREER REEKS OF CORRUPTION by ALEX MacGILLIS of New Republic

Click for Full Article

Christie = Singularly successful at constructing his own mythology = Reformer + Crusader + Bipartisan problem-solver = a Rotten Foundation

Christie = Actually = A bully building a career on NJ’s most toxic forces = powerful bosses allowed to HIDE and against cleaning up New Jersey = Rewarded for their support by punishing their enemies = FEEDING the MACHINE

Christie = Never give an inch = Sicilian mother + Irish-German father = Strong Opinions on money + politics + everything = Relentless + Punctuate point with a raised middle finger

Chris started running for office long before his first keg party = 3rd grade he was piping up at PTA meetings on field trips and fund-raisers.

At age 14 he knocked on the front door of the local assemblyman, Tom Kean, and asked for advice on how to get elected.

Christie’s term = Democratic boss George Norcross = become more powerful than ever.

Senior year Christie was chosen to represent NJ in Hearst Foundation’s Senate Youth Program to spend a week with their home-state senators in the legislative process = BUT massive FBI sting operation with a federal agent posing as an Arab sheik with suitcases stuffed with cash BRIBED (Abscam) Mayor of Camden, 6 House Members, and Senior Senator, Harrison Williams = Christie recalled. “We were the butt of jokes all week.” = Alerted him to “the problem of corruption in NJ” = Epic understatement = A Political System designed to facilitate public fraud = Enoch “Nucky” Johnson + Jersey City, Mayor Frank Hague, on a salary of $8,500/year left office with a $2 million fortune in  bribes = NJ is SlCKEST in USA = generous repositories of contract work + public jobs

Married Mary Pat, a Wall Street investment banker.

Young Christie waded into NJ swamp playing reformer handling medical-malpractice cases and securities fraud plus lobbying.

1994 Christie ran for a seat on the Board of Chosen Freeholders in Morris County = “I’m sick and tired of people hiring their political friends.” = But borrow some of its uglier tactics with ad that FALSELY claimed his fellow board members were under investigation = Christie finished first and 2 Republicans lost and sued him successfully for defamation.

4 weeks after taking office, Christie announced that he was thinking of challenging a veteran Republican for the state Assembly but lost.

1996 Christie gave his concession speech = 2nd loss in a ROW

So CHRISITE covered up a FEDERAL CASE for a US SENATOR who got him the US Attorney JOB!

Christie tried “federal route might give him another bite at the apple.” = Get appointed to an influential post by engaging in precisely the sort of grubby glad-handing Christie had condemned. George W. Bush’s driver advised Christie to raise money for Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign and Christie pulled in $350,000 to qualify as a Bush “Pioneer” so Bush nominated Christie US attorney for NJ = One of biggest offices in USA to which Christie had zero experience in criminal law = never filed a motion in federal court and state’s senior senator, Robert Torricelli, under investigation, pushed it through easily in light of the 9ll attacks but Christie had to hire a “professional” as his deputy – Torricelli close confidante but FBI had already connected him to Torricelli so Christie demoted Michael Guadagno, the head of the frauds division who had led the initial investigation into Torricelli to a satellite office in Trenton and the case against Torricelli was dropped =  “Chris kept the commitment that he made to me.”

Christie quashed any doubts about how he got the US Attorney job by unleashing the full might of his office against corruption. = “Corrupt politicians will steal your trust, your taxes, and your hope.” Christie in 2007. Treffinger (R) under investigation for awarding no-show jobs to friends and extorting campaign donations in exchange for contracts was his 1st TARGET = thrown up against a car and frisked, an image that appeared in the next day’s Star-Ledger, which had been tipped off to the arrest = Christie cast Treffinger’s treatment in moral terms = “worse than the street criminal because the street criminal never pretends to be anything but what he or she is.”  Treffinger’s observation that Christie “wouldn’t know a law book from a cookbook.” + 7 MORE YEARS OF never-ending PERP WALKS = 130 convictions and guilty pleas = “The office leaked like a sieve.  I had reporters calling me at four in morning and saying, [so and so] is going to get pinched.”

George Norcross III = Most Powerful Man in NJ = Supremely wealthy chairman of Conner Strong & Buckelew, one of the largest insurance firms in the nation; the chairman of Cooper University Hospital in Camden; and, as of last year, the majority owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer + Norcross’s own firm holds sway over New Jersey’s large municipal insurance market. = OWNS 50 elected officials in South Jersey including Christie.