GUEST BLOG: Christie’s ruthless ambition–a report from a victim
By Louis Manzo
Governor Chris Christie gave the appearance of a cat who swallowed a canary as he chastised and taunted members of the legislative committee investigating him last Thursday [September 18, 2014]. “They’ve been irresponsible,” Christie charged. “These are people who are addicted to MSNBC and the front pages of your newspapers,” he further declared to a gallery full of media.
The Governor’s remarks mysteriously coincided with the song of another canary, this one chirping inside the offices of federal prosecutors in New Jersey, which later in the day let the cat out of the bag regarding information about the United States Attorney’s Office’s [USAO] supposedly surreptitious investigation of Bridgegate and other matters. The news that Christie would not be charged in the probe might be considered a sort of in-kind contribution to the Governor’s stealth presidential campaign from prosecutors in his former office.
Based on my experience with the New Jersey U.S. attorney’s office, it was totally predictable that it would bag the case out of institutional loyalty and self-seeking career incentives. I outlined the general process in my book “Ruthless Ambition: The Rise and Fall of Chris Christie.”
Now let’s examine how his ruthless methods, greed and other misconduct as New Jersey’s U.S. attorney during the GOP years from 2001 to 2008 found a parallel in the actions of his Democratic successor, Paul Fishman.The Chief Judge for a United States Circuit Court cited some of these same types of prosecutorial misconduct in a recent opinion, depicting them as an “epidemic” in prosecutor’s officesthroughout the country.
This federal prosecutor’s office has a rich history of leaks if not “floods.” Just ask Senator Robert Menendez. During the Christie era as U.S. attorney, he endured GUEST BLOG: Christie’s ruthless ambition–a report from a victim | Bob Braun's Ledger:
