HOBOKEN — The Hoboken City Council will vote on Wednesday on a resolution to allow city attorney James Maraziti to waive attorney/client privilege so that he can testify about the ongoing Gov. Chris Christie scandals as they relate to Hoboken and Hurricane Sandy aid.
In January, Mayor Dawn Zimmer alleged that top Christie officials came to Hoboken last year and told her, during various events, that the city might receive more Hurricane Sandy aid if she helped shepherd a development project near the city’s northern entrance to town. The project was proposed by New York City’s Rockefeller Group, a firm whose lobbyist, David Samson, had close ties to Christie. The problem was that the development was private, and not a reason that state officials should hold up aid for hurricane victims. Zimmer’s bombshell allegations of a quid pro quo to help a Christie friend are now being investigated by two government agencies.
Zimmer herself has come under some scrutiny because of apparent contradictions in what she has said, including the fact that she wrote in her diary last spring that Christie was corrupt — and then fawned over him in a Tweet and sent at least one pandering email to him warning him of a press inquiry.
Over the last few months, the press has published that Zimmer had told at least five people last year about a conversation Zimmer alleged she had with Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno about the matter last May. Those five people might confirm that Zimmer did indeed mention the conversation at the time and is not making it up now for political reasons.
Several media outlets have speculated that four of the people were Zimmer’s spokesman, Juan Melli, who used to run a New Jersey political website, her aide Dan Bryan, City Councilman David Mello, and presumably her husband. It is unknown whether the fifth person was Maraziti.
If Maraziti did know of a possible illegality, it might raise a question as to why he didn’t encourage Zimmer to go to law enforcement last year.
MSNBC did report Sunday morning that Maraziti got numerous inquiries from David Samson about the development last year, which may be the focus on his testimony. Thus, Maraziti may be a new witness to bolster Zimmer’s credibility.
The upcoming council resolution was discussed on MSNBC Sunday morning. On the web, MSNBC posted, “In a statement, Zimmer’s spokesman said, ‘The City wants to ensure that Joe Maraziti, special redevelopment counsel for Hoboken, is able to fully cooperate with the U.S. Attorney’s investigation so that he can respond to the document subpoena he recently received and so that he can answer all questions when he is interviewed’ … Among the documents Zimmer provided to msnbc was an email from Maraziti telling the mayor and other city officials that he was ‘getting the full court press’ from David Samson’s law firm, Wolff & Samson, on behalf of the developer, including emails with David Samson copied on them.”
Samson resigned this past Friday, although he declined to say it was related to the ongoing scandals.
Our Digital Archive from 2000 – 2016
