Video: Hoboken Mayor Says Christie Denied Sandy Relief Funds Unless She Played Ball
The mayor of Hoboken, who was apparently a big fan of Chris Christie for his first few years in office, went public today to say that Christie’s office told her last year that Hoboken wouldn’t get any Hurricane Sandy relief funds unless she approved a redevelopment project being managed by some pals of Christie:
The mayor, Dawn Zimmer, hasn’t approved the project, but she did request $127 million in hurricane relief for her city of Hoboken….[On May 10, 2013] Zimmer got a call from the Lieutenant Governor, Kim Guadagno, who wanted to come to town to do an event at a ShopRite to spotlight businesses that had recovered from the storm.
On May 13, Guadagno and Zimmer met at the Hoboken ShopRite. That is where, Zimmer said, Guadagno delivered the first message about the relief aide.
Zimmer shared this diary entry which she said she wrote later that day. “At the end of a big tour of ShopRite and meeting, she pulls me aside with no one else around and says that I need to move forward with the Rockefeller project. It is very important to the governor. The word is that you are against it and you need to move forward or we are not going to be able to help you. I know it’s not right — these things should not be connected — but they are, she says, and if you tell anyone, I will deny it.”
More: Hoboken Mayor: Christie Denied Me Sandy Relief Funds Unless I Played Ball