RandySF
RandySF's JournalChristie sued for defamation 90's over false accusation.
In Chris Christie’s first successful campaign for public office, he sat down next to his wife and baby, looked into a camera and told voters something that wasn’t true.
It was 1994, and Christie was a 31-year-old lawyer running for the county board in suburban Morris County, N.J. He was making a television ad, saying to the camera that his opponents were “being investigated by the Morris County prosecutor.”
Actually, they weren’t. But Christie’s inaccurate ad ran more than 400 times on cable TV before the June GOP primary. He won.
Today, Christie is the Garden State’s governor, facing allegations that, during last year’s reelection campaign, his aides snarled traffic on a major bridge to punish a political enemy.
That 1994 race was New Jersey’s introduction to the brash and confident Christie, whose hardball tactics have repeatedly surprised people — even in a state that thinks it invented hardball.
But in Morris County back then, people thought Christie had learned the downside of playing so rough: That ad helped get him into his first elected office but then helped get him out of it. He was sued for defamation, required to apologize and then defeated at the polls after just one term.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/chris-christies-1994-ad-was-too-tough-and-inaccurate-for-jersey/2014/01/19/b69f0d86-7ef8-11e3-93c1-0e888170b723_story.html
Indiana Speaker Brian Bosma steps in front on marriage battle with force
INDIANAPOLIS — House Speaker Brian Bosma has spent months working behind the scenes to approve an amendment banning gay marriage while publicly keeping the measure at arm's length, promising that it would run its normal democratic course in the Statehouse. Until last week.
Bosma's public revelation that he was ready to change the makeup of the House Judiciary Committee in order to advance the measure showed just how much pressure is being applied outside the public eye to ensure the proposed ban advances.
Bosma has spent hours inside private meetings of the Republican caucus pushing the amendment. Routine meetings of House committees have been thrown off track as rank-and-file Republicans have tried to figure out when the marriage debate would hit the full House.
The first hint that things might not go according to plan came last Monday, after the House Judiciary Committee heard close to four hours of testimony. Committee Chairman Greg Steuerwald, R-Avon, ended the committee without holding a planned vote, amid speculation that a handful of wavering Republicans could spike the measure.
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140119/NEWS/140119549/1054/LIVING
Va. Quickly Emerging As Key In Gay Marriage Fight
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Almost overnight, Virginia has emerged as a critical state in the nationwide fight to grant gay men and women the right to wed.
This purple state was once perceived as unfriendly and even bordering on hostile to gay rights. That's changed after a seismic political shift in the top three elected offices, from conservative Republicans to liberal Democrats who support gay marriage.
Two federal lawsuits challenging the state's constitutional ban on gay marriage are moving forward, and a hearing on one of the cases is scheduled for Jan. 30.
Along with the recent court rulings in which federal judges struck down gay marriage bans in Utah and Oklahoma, gay rights advocates are heartened by the new mood in Virginia.
Symbolically as well, they say, the challenges of Virginia's gay marriage ban resonate because of the founding state's history of erecting a wall between church and state and a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision involving a Virginia couple and a past taboo: interracial marriage.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=264028387
NJ: It's starting to sink in on residents.
Many residents walking along Washington Street on Sunday appeared willing to take her at her word.
Jean-Marc Golden, who stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts to grab coffee while walking his dog, said he had “more of a tendency to believe her now.”
“Anything any of [Christie’s] lieutenants do, they didn’t go off the reservation,” he said, adding that, “This is completely believable because it plays into his personality.”
Golden pointed to the time the governor told a doctor commenting on his weight to “shut up.”
Patrick, a third-generation Hobokenite who declined to provide his last name, agreed.
“The governor has always been a bully, and I give the mayor a lot of credit for taking such a risk and standing up to someone as powerful as the governor,” he said. He said he voted for Christie’s opponent in November’s election.
Even a Christie supporter seemed inclined to believe Zimmer.
“I’m really not surprised,” said James Faulkner when told about Zimmer’s claim, even as he criticized what he called her “overwhelmed” reaction to Sandy. As he put up a Super Bowl poster on the 8th Street Tavern, the 12-year resident said his 16-hour shift on Saturday prevented him from reading up on the latest news.
Meanwhile, Amit Bar, who moved to the city six weeks ago, reflected the view of many residents when he said, “I’m not really sure what’s going on.”
One 25-year resident said she didn’t support Zimmer but was willing to believe her claim about Guadagno.
“After the lane closing, how that reflected on Christie’s choice of staff, I would have hoped he’d have known her,” said Susan, who didn’t want her last name in the newspaper because “it’s a small town.”
http://www.northjersey.com/news/hudson/Hoboken_mayor_worried_no_one_would_believe_Christie_threats.html?page=all
Putin: Russian Anti-Gay Law 'Does Not Hurt Anyone'
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday defended the country's recently enacted law that bans pro-gay "propaganda" around minors and said that people visiting for the Sochi Winter Olympics will not have an issue.
"It seems to me that the law that we have adopted does not hurt anyone," he said on ABC's "This Week." "Moreover, individuals of non-traditional orientation cannot feel like second-rate humans in this country because they are not discriminated against in any way."
Putin said the new law will not impact attendees at the Olympic games.
"I couldn't care less about their sexual orientation. We will welcome all athletes and all visitors to the Olympics," he said. "None of our guests will have any problems."
The Russian president said that other countries should not interfere with his country's laws.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/putin-russian-anti-gay-laws-does-not-hurt-anyone
I never bought into the Christie hype.
Sure, he want to run for president, but I never expected to go far and still don't. That's because the upper crust is waiting for Jeb! Bush to announce his candidacy.
Hoboken mayor turns over journal AND OTHER DOCUMENTS to U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer turned over her journal and other documents to the U.S. Attorney’s Office Sunday, which she says show Governor Christie’s administration threatened to withhold Superstorm Sandy aid if she didn’t approve a development.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said the office does not discuss publicly its meetings and would not confirm whether the office is investigating Zimmer’s allegations.
The mayor released a statement saying she met with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark for several hours at their request and turned over the journal entry she cited as proof of her conversations with Guadagno and Constable.
“As they pursue this investigation, I will provide any requested information and testify under oath about the facts of what happened when the Lieutenant Governor came to Hoboken and told me that Sandy aid would be contingent on moving forward with a private development project,” Zimmer said in a statement.
The administration has denied Zimmer's allegations.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/Hoboken_mayor_turns_over_journal_to_US_Attorneys_Office_which_she_says_documents_Sandy_aid_claims.html#sthash.uUanKFzK.dpuf
Dem Mayor: I Got 'Enhanced' Access To NJ Officials After Endorsing Christie
Long Branch, N.J. Mayor Adam Schneider (D) on Saturday said he got "enhanced" access to state officials after he endorsed Gov. Chris Christie (R) during his re-election campaign.
Schneider told the Washington Post that a few months after he endorsed the governor, he contacted his office about an issue he couldn't get resolved by the state utility board.
"I'm not talking to any more underlings, and I'm not being delegated to," Schneider told Christie's aides, a strategy that proved successful. "I got what I needed."
The Long Branch mayor believes the help from Christie's office can be attributed to the endorsement, even though the governor never promised him anything.
The Washington Post reported that Democratic mayors who supported Christie said that the benefits they reaped from doing so outweighed frustration from fellow liberals who did not endorse the governor.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/long-branch-mayor-enhanced-access-christie-endorsement
Olympics staff assault gay protester in Russia for waving rainbow flag
Official Olympics representatives tackled a gay protester in Voronezh, Russia today for the “crime” of simply holding a rainbow flag as the Olympic flame went by.
UPDATE: AP confirms that it was “Olympic security personnel” in the photos.
Gay rights protester Pavel Lebedev was jumped on by agents of the Olympics, who were wearing an official Olympics uniform, with the Olympics rings on it and all, for holding up a rainbow flag along the road as the torchbearer went by. Credit goes to Queer Nation’s Duncan Osborne for spotting the identity of Lebedev’s attacker.
http://americablog.com/2014/01/olympics-staff-tackle-gay-protester-russia.html
Company files for bankruptcy after West Virginia spill
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The company blamed for a chemical spill that left 300,000 West Virginians without safe drinking water filed for bankruptcy Friday, temporarily shielding it from dozens of lawsuits, many by businesses that were forced to shut down for days.
Freedom Industries Inc. also used its bankruptcy papers as a forum to hypothesize about what caused the spill.
The company filed a Chapter 11 petition with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of West Virginia, eight days after the spill was discovered.
Company president Gary Southern signed the paperwork, which lists both the company's assets and liabilities as being between $1 million and $10 million. It says the company has at least 200 creditors and owes its top 20 creditors $3.66 million.
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/west-virginia-chemical-spill-bankruptcy-102348.html#ixzz2qsE7co8R
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