Bridge Scandal Made Dawn Zimmer's Hoboken Story Believable: Editorial

Bridge scandal made Dawn Zimmer's Hoboken story believable: Editorial
Star-Ledger/NJ.com
1/20/14

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Had Dawn Zimmer told her story last May – that Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno threatened to hold Hoboken’s hurricane aid hostage unless the mayor signed off on a pet construction project – would anyone have listened?

Not likely. If a Democratic mayor accused the Republican incumbent of playing politics with Hurricane Sandy money – while the governor was knee-deep in a re-election campaign – Zimmer’s allegations would have been dismissed as election-year shenanigans. Her word against Gov. Chris Christie’s.

We’ve all seen how Christie treats those who cross him.

But eight months later, Zimmer’s going public, and her story has grown legs. In the span of a weekend, she’s talked publicly, to the TV cameras, and privately, to federal prosecutors. For the moment, she has the nation’s ear.

Zimmer’s critics, namely the Christie administration, say the long delay torpedoes her credibility. She’s agreed, in part: “I probably should have come forward in May when this happened,” she said. Zimmer says she stayed silent because she feared Guadagno’s backroom threats: that the administration would sink Hoboken’s Sandy aid if Zimmer didn’t play ball.

For eight months, Zimmer wouldn’t sign a Hoboken redevelopment plan pushed by the Rockefeller Group, which is represented by David Samson, Port Authority chair and a powerful Christie ally. That’s why, she believes, her city has gotten just $342,000 in Sandy aid – despite applications for $100 million. Pennies, for a city Sandy nearly drowned.

Bridgegate convinced Zimmer to break her silence...

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More: http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2014/01/bridgegate_made_dawn_zimmers_h.html#incart_river_default