{"id":234,"date":"2014-01-12T00:41:17","date_gmt":"2014-01-12T00:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/?p=234"},"modified":"2016-08-11T04:06:21","modified_gmt":"2016-08-11T04:06:21","slug":"fort-lee-is-finally-famous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/?p=234","title":{"rendered":"Fort Lee is Finally Famous"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"b3a83a1673a4de94f561f926f0228e2\"<\/a>Fort Lee is finally on the map. We are officially famous, having been in the \u201cnational news\u201d all week.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To loosely quote Alan Keller, upstanding local citizen, \u201cprior to this episode, the only individual in Fort Lee who believed we were famous was Tom Meyers\u201d.\u00a0 Of course, we all understand that Tom receives a nice salary as Director of the Fort Lee Film Commission and is thus obligated to believe that Fort Lee is important.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

None of us every doubted that Chris Christie had an ego. So why should we be surprised at the behavior of the people with whom he has surrounded himself?<\/b><\/p>\n

The only real questions left on the table is whether Chris Christie knew and was he involved.\u00a0\u00a0 Personally, I believe that the possibility exists that he was unaware of this \u201chigh school prank\u201d perpetrated by his \u201ctrusted\u201d aides.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But as Harry Truman often stated \u201cThe Buck Stops Here\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 Christie is ultimately responsible for this action for two reasons:<\/b><\/p>\n

(1) He hired individuals obviously having no class or moral compasses.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

(2) When you breed a culture of arrogance a la Christie\u2019s persona, what would you expect of your aides, but to have an aura of invincibility?\u00a0\u00a0 In an era of NSA surveillance scandals, they had the audacity to recklessly send texts and e-mails, broadcasting their misdeeds with no fear of any ramifications.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Originally, Christie showed total disdain for this whole affair\u00a0 with his statement that <\/b>\u201cno one in his staff or campaign was involved in the lane closings\u201d<\/i><\/strong>,<\/b><\/i>and he had been total dismissive of the accusation of political retribution by joking<\/b> \u201cthat he moved the traffic cones himself<\/b>\u201d<\/b><\/i>.\u00a0 One would have to assume that he failed to read the August 13th e-mail from a<\/b> Deputy on his Senior Staff, Bridget Anne Kelly \u00a0to one of Christie\u2019s top Port Authority executives:\u00a0 \u201cTime for some traffic problems in Fort Lee\u201d.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

On Meet the Press, Sunday, 1\/12\/2014, Mayor Sokolich responds to the entire incident.\u00a0 \u00a0Being extremely diplomatic, Mark states that he takes Gov. Christie at his word that this type of incident will never be repeated. However, Mayor Sokolich also concedes that he is reluctant to state that Gov. Christie\u2019s does not resort to \u201cbullying\u201d tactics in the course of his \u201creign\u201das governor.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

On the same Meet the Press episode, a memo apparently from Pat Foy, the Port Authority Director, was sent to a top Christie aide, stating: \u201cI will get to the bottom of this abusive decision which violates \u00a0everything this agency stands for\u201d.<\/i> It has Bill Baroni\u2019s name on the memo. Bill Baroni, until recently, was the Executive Deputy Director of the Port Authority.\u00a0 He has now resigned over this incident. It is somewhat difficult to conceive that Gov. Christie never saw that memo!
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

After watching a recent movie (\u201cKnife Fight\u201d) regarding spin doctors, perhaps Christie should have hired Rob Lowe to handle \u201cBridgegate\u201d.\u00a0 With his Korean-American sidekick, Jamie Chung (perfect for Fort Lee). Lowe could have convinced us that Christie could not possibly have known what was being perpetrated, i.e. totally innocent, based on the fact that he was negotiating a nuclear disarmament treaty with North Korea at the time of the incident and probably having dinner with Dennis Rodman.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

The ultimate display of incompetence clearly was when Port Authority Executive David Wildstein couldn\u2019t even get an ethnic slur correct!\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cA little Serb\u201d!\u00a0 <\/i>Are there no maps in Trenton?\u00a0 Do they not have google on their computers?\u00a0 No way! Mayor Sokolich is 6\u20194\u201d.\u00a0 If you are going to slur him, at least address him properly as a \u201cGiant Croat\u201d.\u00a0 \u00a0To add insult to injury, upon receiving an e-mail stating \u201cI feel bad about the kids\u201d<\/i>, (referring to kids on school buses stuck in traffic), Wildstein compassionately responded : \u201cThey are the children of Buono voters\u201d <\/i>\u2014 referring to Democrat Barbara Buono, whom Christie defeated easily in the November gubernatorial election.www.nypost.com<\/a>1\/09\/2014<\/b><\/p>\n

And what\u2019s so terrible about being Croatian?! The world of sports has been graced by great Croatian athletes.\u00a0 <\/b>Janica Kosteli\u0107<\/b><\/a> was an Alpine Ski champion and Olympic Gold medalist.\u00a0 The world of Tennis has been graced by a deluge of great Croatian players over the years: <\/b>Goran Ivani\u0161evi\u0107<\/b><\/a> is a former Wimbledon champion;\u00a0<\/b> Marin \u010cili\u0107<\/b><\/a> \u00a0a top tennis professional, once ranked in the top ten in the world; <\/b>Ivan Ljubi\u010di\u0107<\/b><\/a> , retired but once ranked\u00a0 #3 in the world; Iva Majoli , former French Open winner; and <\/b>Mario An\u010di\u0107<\/b><\/a> who helped Croatia win the Davis Cup.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

And what about great Croatian coaches!\u00a0 Bill Belichick, Nick Saban, and Brian Billick have been outstanding NFL coaches, with Patriots Coach Belichick getting votes as one of the greatest coaches of all time.\u00a0 And finally Coach Mark Sokolich who coached an undefeated little league team and several championship soccer teams in Fort Lee.\u00a0 Sokolich was revered for years as the coach with the most resounding voice in Fort Lee history.\u00a0 When he was upset, you could hear him in Cliffside Park.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Thirteen year old expert photographer, Michael Chien, was present at Borough Hall to watch Governor Christie exit from his \u201capology\u201d meeting with Mayor Sokolich.\u00a0 Michael, a student at the Fort Lee Lewis F. Cole Middle School, fought his way through the professional news photographers, TV reporters, and paparazzi to get photos of Christie kissing old ladies and babies.\u00a0 It\u2019s obviously never too soon to start that Presidential campaign! \u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

What time did this meeting take place? Rush hour of course, so Governor Christie could tie up some more Fort Lee GW Bridge traffic!\u00a0\u00a0 Would we expect anything less from our distinguished governor and whatever key staff members he has left after all the firings?\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Speaking for the citizens of Fort Lee, if Mayor Sokolich does not get a gig on Saturday Night Live, many of us will be very disappointed.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

As for Christie\u2019s future, well it is safe.\u00a0 If he doesn\u2019t get the 2016 Presidential Nomination, HBO may consider resurrecting the Sopranos, with Chris Christie replacing James Gandolfino as the Don. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fort Lee is finally on the map. We are officially famous, having been in the \u201cnational news\u201d all week.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To loosely quote Alan Keller, upstanding local citizen, \u201cprior to this episode, the only individual in Fort Lee who believed we were famous was Tom Meyers\u201d.\u00a0 Of course, we all understand that Tom receives a nice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=234"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236,"href":"https:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234\/revisions\/236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}