The hall of VFW Post 2179 was packed with members of the media from all over tri-state region; camera crews and reporters from NY, NJ and Philadelphia along with various national news outlets and blogs where there along with a few hundred Hurricane Sandy survivors looking for answers.
Sandy victims wanted to know when they could expect some real help getting back into their homes 16 months after the storm, while the media was curious if someone would ask the governor about the George Washington Bridge scandal that has engulfed his administration for the past month.
The media left the hall scratching its head, wondering why no one asked about Bridgegate ( I did have my hand raised to ask but wasn't called upon) and many of the Sandy survivors left scratching their heads still wondering what they needed to do to get back into their homes.
The governor took the opportunity to bash President Obama, Congress, FEMA and Democrats in the State Legislature for the slow response and lack of help for needy Sandy survivors. When a gentleman tried to ask a question about why the governor wasted over $50 million on private companies to oversee sandy relief efforts instead of getting the money directly to those that needed it the most, the governor made his best post-bridgegate attempt to not talk down to the person who asked the question but made it pretty clear he thought it was a stupid question.
And that was pretty much it, nothing news worthy as it would pertain to the various scandals circling the governor's administration came to light.
I'm sure that if you look around the internet or watch the evening news tonight you'll read or watch pretty much the same (maybe with a little more detail) as what I've posted here.
For those who were looking for answers, there were few to be had. For those that had questions that weren't asked there will be other opportunities to do so.
Here are a few pictures that I took of today's town hall:
4 comments:
I was there today AND I had the chance to address the Governor about an important issue to me and my family: Family Law Reform. Nobody discussed Bridgegate b/c people have real issues and real problems. Nobody pre-screened the questions. Seems the media and other politicians care more about Bridgegate than the residents of Monmouth and Ocean County.
Thanks Mike for the summary and pictures. We had signed up but decided not to go.
This town hall may have done more harm to Christie's national image than if the audience had concentrated on Bridgegate.
The perception of Christie that I have gotten from people out of state is far different than what some of us have here in Jersey.
While traveling out of the country on vacation another vacationer asked me where I was from. When I told him he said he loved our Mayor. I asked if he meant Bloomberg and he said no, he was talking about Christie. This guy was from the Southwest, wealthy, and he probably voted. Scary.
So even people who aren't savvy enough to know the difference between a mayor and a governor love Christie based on the 20 second YouTube clips and the media snippets that depict a no nonsense, straight talking Jersey boy.
Perhaps a few will now see that there are a lot of people in Jersey who realize that every breath Christie has taken since he first entered politics has been taken with one eye on the presidency. Christie thinks he was born to run, for the Whitehouse.
In a way, talking about Sandy relief is talking about Bridgegate and the related abuse of influence scandals. Apparently, (or is it allegedly?) Christie was using Sandy money to curry support from Democratic mayors in order to run up the election numbers to make himself more appealing to the deep pockets required to buy the seat in the Oval Office.
Maybe this will serve as a wake-up call to the casual out of state observers that there are those of us who thought Christie was doing a crappy job long before traffic jams in Fort Lee opened the door leading to a public view of his darker side.
Read the Sunday edition of the Star Ledger for some very informative info on Christie's woes and his ridiculous blaming of everything his failures as a governor have been on the federal government.
This man is not a leader but has become a prime example of failed leadership.
The buck stops with CC and his whole batch of cunning associates.
Stop making excuses and accept responsibility !!
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