NJ’s Largest Newspaper Calls For Christie To Resign Or Be Impeached

The editorial board of the Newark Star-Ledger, New Jersey’s largest newspaper, is calling on Governor Chris Christie to resign or be impeached if allegations made on Friday are true. The allegations were made by an old friend of the governor’s, David Wildstein. Weinstein works for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Wildstein claimed, through his lawyer, that he has proof that Christie knew about the closure of lanes on the George Washington Bridge when it was happening. If true, the evidence would directly contradict two hours of public denials Christie made on January 13th. A statement from his press conference on that date is quoted in the editorial:

I had no knowledge of this — of the planning, the execution or anything about it… I first found out about it after it was over.

The Christie administration is ‘dangerously out of control’.

The editorial board said that, if the charges are true, the governor must resign or be impeached:

Because that would leave him so drained of credibility that he could not possibly govern effectively. He would owe it to the people of New Jersey to stop the bleeding and quit. And if he should refuse, then the Legislature should open impeachment hearings. By the governor’s own standard, lying is a firing offense.

And fire Christie did, as he sought to assign blame. Specifically, his deputy chief of staff, Bridget Kelley, was given the axe. At the time, he said that there was no excuse for “lying to a governor” in her handling of the scandal. The Star-Ledger, of course, raises the question of what excuse can there be for a governor to lie to the citizens of an entire state? The editorial cites the bridge scandal, even before the latest revelations, as evidence that the Christie administration is “dangerously” out of control. However, “if the governor himself was involved, this moves to a new level.”

The editors already called on Gov to quit Republican Governors Association.

It’s been less than a week since the paper called on Christie to step down as head of the Republican Governors Association. Their reasoning was that he promised in his inaugural address to put all his energy into making New Jersey “all it could be”. That promise was almost immediately followed by his entanglement in two major investigations. The first is Bridgegate. The second stems from charges by the mayor of Hoboken. She claimed that her city was denied a fair share of Hurricane Sandy relief funds, as an act of political revenge.

When Christie was running for re-election last fall, the Star-Ledger gave him a tepid endorsement. Their support was given in spite of what the editors called his “measurable failures” and the conclusion that “he is much better at politics than he is at governing.” They reasoned that his opponent, Democratic state Sen. Barbara Buono, was even more “deeply flawed”. Their main objection seemed to be that Buono defended teachers’ unions and chose to uphold traditional schools over charters. In what might be seen as an unfortunate choice of words, the paper described Buono as lacking “the strategic savvy to be a successful governor.”

The editors apparently have buyer’s remorse over their “savvy” governor. They not only didn’t get the ‘successful’ official they were hoping for, but are anticipating a dismal future for the state if Christie tries to hold onto his job:

Wildstein’s statement means that others who have been implicated in this scandal will probably come forward now as well, hoping to strike deals with prosecutors before their testimony becomes redundant. And all this will happen as the administration answers dozens of subpoenas, and grapples with both criminal and legislative investigations.

Both his governorship and presidential aspirations may be gone.

They can’t see how the governor can function under these circumstances. The editorial ends by repeating that, if the allegations are true, “the governor must go”. Hopefully, the citizens of New Jersey and its legislature see the situation the same way. The nation, however, can be thankful that it has dodged a bullet. It looks increasingly impossible that the governor will be the GOP’s nominee for president in 2016 — or, hopefully, ever.