Hoboken mayor goes Emily Latella in claim against Christie

One week ago today, we covered in detail serious allegations from the Democratic Mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey against Chris Christie’s administration. Dawn Zimmer claimed that two high-ranking Christie officials — including the Lieutenant Governor — told her that aid for her city’s recovery from the storm was contingent on her approval of a building development deal favored by the governor. I discussed several curious elements of this accusation at the time, noting the Mayor’s unqualified praise of Christie several months after this alleged shakedown attempt took place, and citing a local reporter to whom Zimmer had floated a different version of her story the previous week. I also reported that MSNBC’s coverage of the story they broke was deeply misleading in regards to funding. The original report led readers to believe that Hoboken had been starved of virtually any assistance, receiving a $350,000 pittance compared to the more than $100 million in requested funds. In truth, Hoboken has been approved for about $70 million in federal and state relief and recovery help, with more on the way, pending the approval of the Obama administration.

Over the course of the week, additional facts and accounts came to light that cast further doubt on Zimmer’s claims, the only “evidence” of which are unverifiable scrawlings from a diary she said she wrote last May. CNN reported that Zimmer had explicitly denied any withheld Sandy funds were the result of any political machinations just one week prior to changing her story for MSNBC. In addition, a Democratic mayor of a different New Jersey town — who, according to Zimmer’s account, was present for one of the extortionary encounters — stated for the record that his recollection does not coincide with hers. He went on to praise Team Christie for their professionalism and responsiveness in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Zimmer has since announced that she won’t comment publicly on her allegations any further, in accordance with a supposed request from investigators.

The rest is at Townhall

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