New Jersey Governor's Political Scandal Exposed

A newly exposed political scandal could hinder New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's bid to become the Republican Party's leading candidate for the 2016 US presidential election.

The scandal has had wide-ranging repercussions and has struck at what have been considered his strong points, from his war on political corruption to his commitment to Republican-Democratic cooperation.

Mr. Chris Christie. (Source: CNN)

Appearing for an hour in a press conference that was broadcast live by most US television channels, repeatedly asserting that the incident only happened behind his back, the Governor said he had no knowledge of the matter until it broke.

Mr. Chris Christie said he fired his assistant, but he still hasn't convinced everyone that he's honest and innocent.

Because his close assistant, Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly, was the one who did not support her boss in his campaign for the governorship.

Anne Kelly was also the one who ordered a traffic incident in a city with a Democratic mayor to make Chris Christie look bad.

The person who received the request and carried it out was Mr. Christie's high school classmate, Mr. David Wildstein, Director of Capital Projects for the Port Authority of New Jersey and New York.

The consequences of the incident, which was orchestrated and carried out by Governor Christie's aides and friends, were dire.

On September 9, 2013, under the pretext that New York was hosting the US Open tennis tournament, two of the three toll gates on the George Washington Bridge connecting New Jersey and New York were suddenly closed.

This caused traffic to be disrupted for a whole day in the two busiest areas of the two states of New Jersey, Fort Lee, and New York, Manhattan.

Not only was traffic on the bridge at a standstill, but the area around the bridge in the city of Fort Lee was described as resembling a giant parking lot, as vehicles were unable to exit.

Even ambulances, fire trucks, and police vehicles were unable to move. A woman is believed to have died after the ambulance carrying her got stuck and could not reach the hospital in time.

A federal judge in New Jersey said he would investigate the incident at the request of the Port Authority Inspector, and the death of a woman may be taken into account.

This will be a major blow to Chris Christie's presidential ambitions no matter what the outcome. Touting his strengths now seems ridiculous.

Over the past two years, Mr. Christie has emerged as one of the leading politicians in the United States in general and the Republican Party in particular.

His victory was a stunning coup for Republicans, as his losing opponent that year was incumbent Governor Jon Corzin, a Democrat.

In November 2013, Governor Christie was easily re-elected, not only with strong support from conservative Republican voters, but also with his Democratic support increasing from 8% to 36% in four years.

His popular policies focused on fighting political corruption, sex slavery, crime, arms smuggling...

At the 2012 Republican Convention, Mr. Christie was chosen to give one of the keynote speeches - a move usually reserved for figures considered to have a bright political future, and predicted that he would be supported to run for President in 2016.

Time magazine also had many articles praising him, even declaring that his massive body (about 130kg) was not an obstacle for him to become the future leader of America.

After Hurricane Sandy devastated many states and cities in the US in October 2012, including New Jersey, Mr. Christie was praised as someone who could cooperate with the Democratic Party enthusiastically and effectively. He appeared next to President Obama to inspect the damaged areas.

The American public and media consider him to be someone who can resolve the division between the two parties if given power, and could become a worthy opponent of Mrs. Hilary Clinton, who is expected to run for President for the Democratic Party in 2016.

But now, just to intimidate a Democratic Mayor, a decision that many consider cowardly and dangerous has been made.

Even though he claims that all the incidents were secretly caused by his assistants, will the Republican Party still trust Christie for the 2016 campaign to regain power?

According to VNA