The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza has thorough rundown of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's (R) political incubation, future ambitions, and, yes, the controversy surrounding the bridge scandal that paints the governor as ruthlessly petty yet politically astute. Some of the most interesting tidbits have been reported before — like the story that a teenaged Christie and his father considered trying to prevent another student from transferring to Christie's school and usurping his spot on the baseball team. But other fresh facts shed more light on Christie's reputation as pugnacious and thin-skinned.
To wit, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop (D) related this anecdote about his encounter with the governor:
After Fulop was elected, in May, 2013, Christie showered him with attention. Top Christie officials were scheduled to meet individually with Fulop on July 18th. "They were going to roll out the red carpet," Fulop told me. He considered endorsing Christie, but decided not to, partly because he realized that, if he ran for governor in 2017, the endorsement could be used against him in a Democratic primary. Bill Baroni, Wildstein's boss, and Christie's top appointee at the Port Authority, called and canceled his meeting with Fulop. Baroni gave no explanation and made no offer to reschedule it. Michele Brown and three other Christie officials made similar calls within twenty-four hours. "Yes, it's political retribution," Fulop told me. "And it's amateur and immature. But if I saw any indication that they were penalizing the city on something, that would've been a different animal." He added, "It's a d-ck move, but it is what it is." [The New Yorker]
Read the whole story here.
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