Dear Editor:
According to her most recent statements, the Christie administration has been allegedly extorting the city of Hoboken since last May 13th when the Lt. Governor allegedly threatened to withhold Sandy relief money if the Rockefeller Group was not granted a huge development deal. So if the mayor’s own story is to be believed, she knew the Christie administration was engaged in extortion in the city of Hoboken since May 13, 2013, over eight months ago.
What did the mayor do about this? Nothing. She remained silent and kept law enforcement in the dark. According to her story, she did however make a journal entry lamenting the fact that the governor was cut from the same corrupt cloth as Peter Cammarano. She says it brought her to tears. The mayor claims she did not tell anyone because she didn’t think anyone would believe her.
Does Zimmer honestly expect us to believe that she didn’t think she could find anyone who would listen to her story about corruption involving Chris Christie, the favorite for the Republican presidential nomination, in the Eric Holder Justice Department? Consider her past conduct as well. When Zimmer suspected her emails were being distributed illegally early in her first term, what did she do? She reported it immediately to the FBI. So the mayor knew the right thing to do, she just refused to do it.
Even if you can get past the mayor’s explanations and past conduct, Dawn Zimmer had a moral and legal responsibility to report criminal activity to law enforcement as soon as it became known to her whether she thought anyone would believe her or not . Instead she deliberately kept law enforcement in the dark for over eight months. If the mayor had actually done her duty, if she had cooperated with law enforcement in a timely manner and reported criminal behavior back when something could have actually been done about it, it might have resulted in prosecutions and arrests, as we all saw in 2009.
Not only did Zimmer remain silent about a governor, who, in her own words, was cut from the same cloth of corruption that swept her into office, she voted for him and let us all know how happy she was that he was the governor. As recently as Jan. 11, she misdirected us all from what she now says is the truth. When asked if she thought Sandy funds were being withheld because she didn’t endorse the governor, Zimmer replied, “I don’t think that’s the case.” “I don’t think it was retaliation and I don’t have any reason to think it is retaliation.” Why did she say that if Kim Guadagno was shaking her down in ShopRite parking lots?
It is difficult to believe the mayor’s recent account now because she has diminished her own credibility with her own conduct. If her recent story is accurate however, Zimmer put her own political interests above the welfare of Hoboken.
Christopher Carbine