A year after a major closure on the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, N.J. shut down traffic and inconvenienced countless motorists, Department of Justice investigators have been unable to pin any of the blame on Gov. Chris Christie.
The extensive delay did result in two of the governor’s staffers resigning based on evidence that they played a role in the closure to retaliate against partisan rivals
Dubbed ‘Bridgegate’ by critics of the Republican governor looking to tarnish his reputation by suggesting he was either responsible for or complicit in the traffic jam, a nine-month probe into the incident has yet to reveal any evidence of Christie’s involvement. Though the investigation is still technically ongoing, WNBC reports that the current situation looks positive for the potential 2016 presidential candidate.
According to Democrat state Assemblyman John Wisniewski, evidence supporting Christie does not mean investigators’ interest in this story is waning.
“This is not a Chris Christie investigation,” he explained. “It’s an investigation as to why this happened and who authorized it. As a consequence, this does not change our position.”
Marist Institute for Public Opinion Director Lee Miringoff explained that, while his ultimate exoneration is the best result of this investigation, Christie will not escape unscathed.
“That’s good news for him,” he said. “The bad news remains that politically, as chief executive, it looks like he was not in control of his administration at the time when this occurred.”
Nevertheless, Miringoff concluded that “this panel provides greater credibility barring any further revelations coming out.”
Christie noted that he never had any doubt that his name would be cleared.
“I don’t want to overreact to it, because I’m not surprised by it,” he said of the news. “And I’m hoping that, you know, we can start to focus on things that are important to all the people in the state of New Jersey.”
No comments:
Post a Comment