A bridge too far? by The Economist Lyrics
CHRIS CHRISTIE, New Jersey’s Republican governor, revels in his reputation as a bully. Fans praise his habit of picking fights as “straight talk”. And New Jersey, home to “The Sopranos”, tends to favour grit over guff. So new evidence that staff in his office vindictively schemed to snarl traffic in a rival’s district has something of a ho-hum quality. A scandal without sex or blood? Could this really hurt a politician who won re-election in November by 22 points? Yes, it could.
The story is water-cooler ready, which does not help the governor. In September the Port Authority closed two lanes of traffic on a bridge that links New Jersey with Manhattan for a so-called “traffic study”. The weeklong traffic jam that resulted was hardest on commuters in Fort Lee, a nearby suburb run by Mark Sokolich, a Democrat who refused to endorse Mr Christie in the election. Besides being a nuisance, the gridlock also reportedly kept ambulances from reaching an unconscious 91-year-old woman, who later died. State Democrats cried foul. On January 8th they found their smoking gun: e-mails from Bridget Anne Kelly, a senior Christie staffer, to the governor’s friends at the Port Authority signalling the closures. “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” she wrote.
So far there is no evidence that Mr Christie was involved, and the governor was quick to deny it. “What I’ve seen today for the first time is unacceptable,” he said, adding that the closures were “completely inappropriate and unsanctioned”.
All the same, the news grates against his image as a man who is abrasive, sure, but on behalf of the little guy. And it reinforces other revelations that hint at a man who holds grudges. He won the election with the endorsement of more than 60 local Democratic officials, which lent him an attractive bipartisan glow. Yet a report in the New York Times alleges that he exacts petty revenge against those who criticise him even mildly.
Voters may forgive a bully if he gets things done. Lyndon Johnson, the foul-mouthed arm-twister who pushed through the Civil Rights Act and the “war on poverty”, is now revered. But Mr Christie is no LBJ. As he prepares to run for the Republican presidential nomination, many—and particularly Democrats—are keen to see him sweat under a more powerful spotlight. It is ages until 2016, but he should start mending bridges now.
The story is water-cooler ready, which does not help the governor. In September the Port Authority closed two lanes of traffic on a bridge that links New Jersey with Manhattan for a so-called “traffic study”. The weeklong traffic jam that resulted was hardest on commuters in Fort Lee, a nearby suburb run by Mark Sokolich, a Democrat who refused to endorse Mr Christie in the election. Besides being a nuisance, the gridlock also reportedly kept ambulances from reaching an unconscious 91-year-old woman, who later died. State Democrats cried foul. On January 8th they found their smoking gun: e-mails from Bridget Anne Kelly, a senior Christie staffer, to the governor’s friends at the Port Authority signalling the closures. “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” she wrote.
So far there is no evidence that Mr Christie was involved, and the governor was quick to deny it. “What I’ve seen today for the first time is unacceptable,” he said, adding that the closures were “completely inappropriate and unsanctioned”.
All the same, the news grates against his image as a man who is abrasive, sure, but on behalf of the little guy. And it reinforces other revelations that hint at a man who holds grudges. He won the election with the endorsement of more than 60 local Democratic officials, which lent him an attractive bipartisan glow. Yet a report in the New York Times alleges that he exacts petty revenge against those who criticise him even mildly.
Voters may forgive a bully if he gets things done. Lyndon Johnson, the foul-mouthed arm-twister who pushed through the Civil Rights Act and the “war on poverty”, is now revered. But Mr Christie is no LBJ. As he prepares to run for the Republican presidential nomination, many—and particularly Democrats—are keen to see him sweat under a more powerful spotlight. It is ages until 2016, but he should start mending bridges now.