Chris Christie is denying he knew about the September lane closures on the George Washington Bridge. The lane closures which his appointees apparently ordered to retaliate against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, for not supporting Chris Christie’s re-election, crippled traffic for more than three days. During the time the lanes on the bridge were closed, Christie allies joked and quipped that the families being inconvenienced were Barbara Buono voters.
However, the gridlock was no joking matter to individuals who experienced medical emergencies during the lane closures. During the closures, four medical emergencies occurred and emergency response time in all four instances was delayed because of the lane closures. Response time doubled in two of the four emergencies.One woman died of cardiac arrest at the hospital after it took emergency response teams longer than normal to respond to her medical emergency. While it is not clear whether she would have survived had the response time been a few minutes quicker, it is clear that officials who played politics with lane closures on the George Washington Bridge did so with a reckless disregard for public safety.
The very idea that public officials would even consider using traffic closures to punish political opponents in a democracy is appalling enough. However, when those officials also endanger the lives of constituents, then accountability should not only mean tendering resignations, it should also include criminal indictments. Whether Chris Christie knew his appointees were engaging in reckless, petty mischief to punish one of Chris Christie’s political opponents, is not yet determined. However, it is clear that something is amiss within the Governor’s office in Trenton. Chris Christie’s staffers and appointees that engaged in a vindictive effort to shutdown traffic in Fort Lee, need to be held accountable. Furthermore, Chris Christie’s inability to prevent rogue members of his staff from engaging in dangerous and vengeful conduct, should raise questions about his capacity to serve in an executive office in a position of public trust. For anyone who jumped on the Chris Christie for president in 2016 bandwagon, this scandal should give pause. His path to the White House just stalled on the George Washington Bridge.
Edited/Published by:SB
