A longtime New Jersey lawmaker contended Monday that “Democratic power brokers” aligned with Gov. Chris Christie (R) are trying to quash the investigation into lane closures on the George Washington Bridge.
State Sen. Richard Codey (D) was asked during an appearance on MSNBC about Christie’s bipartisan coalition of support, a point Republicans have been eager to highlight following the governor’s runaway re-election victory last year.
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“Well, let’s talk about that. You’re talking about he’s involved with Democratic power brokers who are not members of the legislatures. So they deliver him votes. Simple as that,” Codey said. “And in my opinion, those power brokers are still trying to interrupt this investigation without question. So there’s a movement afoot, there has been for a while, to stop this whole thing and stop it cold. So this thing about bipartisanship, I don’t buy it for one day.”
But Codey, who served as governor of New Jersey for 14 months following the resignation of James McGreevey in 2004, suggested that any talk of impeachment for Christie is premature at this point.
It’s unclear who exactly Codey was referring to when he mentioned the “Democratic power brokers.” He did not immediately respond to TPM’s request for comment.
Codey said last week he doesn’t buy the notion that Christie was in the dark on the lane closures.
“I think when he has had previous press conferences, it’s hard to believe he didn’t have some knowledge … in some way,” Codey told Salon. “After the stuff started coming out about some phony traffic study? Come on, you knew this was bullshit. You should’ve been saying this back then.”
