A spokesman for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) pushed back on Saturday afternoon against allegations that the governor’s office withheld Hurricane Sandy relief funds from Hoboken, N.J. until the mayor there approved a real estate project.
In a memo sent to reporters that stretched more than 1,500 words, spokesman Colin Reed characterized the allegations as part of a “gleeful assault” by the “partisan” MSNBC network and disputed the notion Hoboken had not gotten its fair share of Sandy aid funds.
Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer (D) first made the accusations on MSNBC’s “Up With Steve Kornacki” on Saturday morning. CUNY Assistant Professor Brian Murphy, who was a guest on the show, further detailed the allegations in a piece published later in the day on TPM.
In his memo, Reed pointed to a mock anti-Christie campaign ad aired by MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell on Wednesday night and a chart showing the network has covered the scandal involving the George Washington Bridge and the Christie administration far more than its competitors.
“MSNBC is a partisan network that has been openly hostile to Governor Christie and almost gleeful in their efforts attacking him, even taking the unprecedented step of producing and airing a nearly three-minute attack ad against him this week,” Reed said.
Reed also argued Hoboken “requested $100 million out of a $300 million dollar pot of money” and has received “nearly $70 million.” He also pointed to multiple occasions where Zimmer tweeted praise for the governor, including one instance in August when she said she was “very glad Governor Christie has been our Gov (sic).”
“Governor Christie and his entire administration have been helping Hoboken get the help they need after Sandy, with the city already having been approved for nearly $70 million dollars in federal aid and is targeted to get even more when the Obama Administration approves the next rounds of funding,” Reed wrote. “The Governor and Mayor Zimmer have had a productive relationship, with Mayor Zimmer even recently saying she’s ‘very glad’ he’s been our Governor. It’s very clear partisan politics are at play here as Democratic mayors with a political axe to grind come out of the woodwork and try to get their faces on television.”
