APP Letter: Christie Blames Others For Sandy Recovery Delays

For some of those that attended Governor Christie's recent town hall meeting or watched it live on T.V., the governor's attempt to blame President Obama and other federal agencies for his administration's failures to properly oversee  Superstorm Sandy recovery efforts rang hollow. It appeared as nothing more than a weak attempt at pandering to an audience that was full of angry and desperate storm victims unhappy with the slow, snail like pace that it has taken thus far to get their lives back to normal and into their homes.

As Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, states in his excellent letter to the Asbury Park Press, "Harry Truman said “the buck stops here.” Under Gov. Christie, the only thing that stops is the traffic on the George Washington Bridge." You can read the letter below:

Almost 16 months after superstorm Sandy, there have been delays in rebuilding and half the federal relief funding from the first round still has not been spent, yet Gov. Christie seems to be blaming everyone else.

First it was the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, then the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

It’s the Christie administration’s action plan that they proposed, and their Department of Community Affairs that is administering it. It was Christie’s consultants that handled the funding, yet it’s everyone else’s fault?

Delays have been caused by the consultants they hired and fired; environmental standards have been waived and proper permitting has not been done; there has been a failure to do proper monitoring and oversight; and the Christie administration has shown overall incompetence on Sandy rebuilding.

It is typical for the governor to blame someone else when his administration is at fault. He keeps looking for excuses when so many people are still suffering.

New Jersey has failed to have proper oversight and monitoring of recovery efforts. The governor vetoed the Sandy Transparency Act, which would have required more oversight of Sandy funding.

He had no problem running around cutting ribbons on boardwalks, going on David Letterman’s show, or doing ads on the Shore, but what about making sure people got their grant money?

Harry Truman said “the buck stops here.” Under Gov. Christie, the only thing that stops is the traffic on the George Washington Bridge.

Jeff Tittel

Director, New Jersey Sierra Club