HOBOKEN — After U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman on Friday handed down indictments for two officials involved in the Bridgegate scandal, but none in relation to Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer’s claims that Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno linked Hoboken’s Sandy relief aid to support for a private development project, Zimmer issued a statement defending her allegations.
Fishman did not indicate on Friday whether indictments based on the Hoboken allegations were still forthcoming, but in a recent Wall Street Journal article, informed sources said the federal investigation into Zimmer’s claims had gone dry, with no interviews conducted in relation to them in almost a year.
“I stand behind my account which was corroborated by substantial additional evidence,” said Zimmer. “In addition to my contemporaneous journal entry, I told six people about the conversation on the day it occurred, including a lawyer representing the City of Hoboken.”
As further evidence, Zimmer pointed to statements by Christie administration officials revealed in an internal investigation of the Hoboken allegations conducted by the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.
According to Zimmer, in the report, an aide recalled Guadagno stating that “she had to be firm and tell Mayor Zimmer to play ball” shortly after the May 2013 meeting in which she allegedly linked Sandy aid with a Hoboken development project desired by the Rockefeller Group. However, the Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher report did not conclude that Guadagno was guilty of any wrongdoing. In the report, Guadagno said her “play ball” comment referred to Zimmer “not being a team player in failing to recognize the profound needs of the entire state” in terms of Sandy relief.
Zimmer’s statement on Friday made no mention of her prior allegations that state Sandy czar Marc Ferzan and Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Richard Constable had also delivered messages linking Sandy aid and the Rockefeller Group project.
“My responsibility is to cooperate with all legitimate investigations, tell the truth both to the public and to the U.S. Attorney, and to protect the best interests of the people of Hoboken,” said Zimmer in her statement. “That is what I have done and what I will continue to do.”
“It is the U.S. Attorney’s responsibility to determine whether these facts, as well as whatever other information they obtained as a result of their investigation, constitute a criminal offense provable beyond a reasonable doubt,” she continued.
“I believe that they have taken this matter seriously and respect the judgment that they have made.”
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