January 10, 2014

Meet the Other Mayor Accusing Chris Christie of Retaliation

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/42486034@N08/9193664350/in/photolist-f1pW7j-f1aKd6-f1azhP-f1az6t-f1aH3M-f1aCWa-f1aBcM-f1pTKY-f1q4HJ-f1q3o5-f1aNoz-f1aE62-f1q123-f1azzV-f1aDy6-f1aDux-f1aFwK-f1q1w9-f1aBgv-f1pUsj-f1aKKx-f1pSiC-f1pYbb-f1aMe6-f1aLaR-f1pUEq-f1aAJH-f1aFna-h9ShsE-h9Sj1u-h9RUmp-h9S5YA-h9S417-h9RYZn-h9RGb2-h9TrRV-h9RGBm-h9RQFN-h9TevT-h9TsLR-h9RZqS-h9RRnP-h9TbwM-h9RND3-h9RNt1-h9RTjL-h9SdR9-h9Sfzj-h9Sd2f-h9S3n3-h9RRTt">May S. Young</a>/Flickr

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


His city might not have been flooded with traffic as an act of political retribution, but Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop still considers himself Gov. Chris Christie’s number one enemy.

Like Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, Fulop wouldn’t endorse Christie in last year’s gubernatorial race. (Though Fulop is a Democrat, Christie spoke at his inauguration in July.) Fulop alleged in a statement Thursday that he received swift punishment from the governor’s office after informing the Christie camp in September that he would not be endorsing the Republican incumbent. Fulop claimed that Christie officials canceled meetings and rejected his requests to discuss city issues immediately following the news.

“Cancelations include an entire day of meetings with state commissioners scheduled to be in Jersey City that was abruptly canceled, with each of the commissioners individually canceling within an hour of the time I communicated my intention to not endorse,” Fulop said.

The Jersey City mayor is referenced in the bridge closure emails released on Wednesday. After being told that Sokolich was asking questions about the George Washington Bridge lane closures, recently resigned Port Authority official David Wildstein replied, “Radio silence. His name comes right after mayor Fulop.” Fulop told the Jersey Journal that after seeing that exchange he believes he’s “Enemy Number 1.”

Shortly after Christie won re-election, Fulop announced plans to sue the Port Authority for $400 million. He claims the agency, which is run by New Jersey and New York, has not been paying enough taxes on the 32 properties it owns in Jersey City.

When Christie was asked about the Jersey City controversy during his long press conference on Thursday, he said he didn’t know if Fulop’s meetings were canceled for purposes of payback, and he promised to look into the matter. “What Mayor Fulop knows is, when we agree with him from a policy perspective we’ll work with him,” Christie said. “When we disagree with him, we’ll express those disagreements. And sometimes that’ll mean friction.”

He added: “Have I at times been angry with Mayor Fulop and disagreed with him? You bet I have.”

WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we need readers to show up for us big time—again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we need readers to show up for us big time—again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate