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 Widely seen as a Republican contender for the White House in 2016,
Christie avoided mention of his troubles at home while he raises
funds on a closely watched trip to Florida this weekend.
His office dismissed as false claims by Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer
that he sent his deputy to tell her she risked not getting requested
funds for Superstorm Sandy relief unless she backed a redevelopment
project in her city.
But Zimmer stuck to her story on Sunday that two state officials,
including Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno, told her Christie would
withhold funding if Zimmer did not support a bid by the New
York-based Rockefeller Group to build on several blocks in the city.
"She came and made a direct threat to me," Zimmer told CNN
television, describing a conversation she had with Guadagno in a
parking lot shortly before an event in Hoboken in May. "I'm offering
to testify under oath."
Zimmer says she has only received a fraction of the $127 million in
relief funds she requested for Hoboken, a city just across the
Hudson River from Manhattan that was badly flooded by Sandy in late
2012.
"The lieutenant governor said, essentially: 'You've got to move
forward with the Rockefeller project,'" Zimmer said on Sunday. "She
said this is a direct message from the governor: 'I was with him on
Friday night.'"
Zimmer said later on Sunday in a statement that she had met for
several hours with members of the U.S. Attorney's office in Newark.
"This afternoon I met with the U.S. Attorney's office for several
hours at their request and provided them with my journal and other
documents," Zimmer said in the statement released by her office.
"As they pursue this investigation, I will provide any requested
information and testify under oath about the facts of what happened
when the Lieutenant Governor came to Hoboken and told me that Sandy
aid would be contingent on moving forward with a private development
project," she said.
Christie is in Florida this weekend to raise money for Republican
Governor Rick Scott, on a trip viewed as a test of donor confidence
in a potential presidential bid in 2016.
It is his first political trip since his office was engulfed by
scandal this month after it emerged that some of his closest aides
orchestrated chaotic traffic jams in the city of Fort Lee by closing
lanes on the busy George Washington Bridge linking New Jersey and
New York City.
So far, Christie has largely avoided speaking with news reporters in
Florida. Reporters were kept on the highway outside and out of view
of the Country Club of Orlando while Christie joined Scott at a
benefit lunch there on Saturday. Attendees told reporters Christie
did not speak about the allegations he is facing in New Jersey.
BRIDGE CLOSURES
The bridge closures appeared to be retribution against Fort Lee's
Democratic mayor, who declined to endorse Christie for re-election.
Christie said he did not know of his aides' plans, and fired two of
the aides after their role in the closures emerged.
Federal prosecutors and both chambers of the state legislature are
now investigating what happened. Nearly two dozen New Jersey
officials, including much of Christie's inner circle, were served
with subpoenas on Friday over the lane closures.
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Assemblyman John Wisniewski, a Democrat leading one of the
investigations, said on Sunday that Zimmer was a "well-respected"
mayor and that her claims need to be examined.
"I think we have to give the allegations serious thought because it
is a pattern that we've heard time and time again throughout New
Jersey," he said in an interview with NBC television. "I think the
committee needs to look at the facts, hear her story, look at the
emails and consider where we go next."
Federal officials are also reviewing Christie's use of about $2
million in storm Sandy relief funds for a tourism campaign that
features him and his family. New Jersey Democratic Rep. Frank
Pallone requested the probe, saying he was concerned about the
bidding process for the marketing campaign.
Zimmer's accusations were the third blow to Christie in two weeks.
A Christie spokesman disputed the mayor's account.
"Mayor Zimmer's categorization about her conversation in Hoboken is
categorically false," Colin Reed, the spokesman, said in an email.
He declined to answer further questions about what Guadagno and
Zimmer actually discussed, and said the lieutenant governor was not
available for an interview.
Reed said Zimmer and other Democratic mayors had a "political ax to
grind" and only wanted a chance to be on television.
The mayor and the governor's office have wildly diverging accounts
about how much funding has been given to Hoboken. Reed said Hoboken
has received about $70 million, including about $50 million from
various Federal Emergency Management Agency programs.
Zimmer said that number was misleading, and was mostly made up of
payouts on residents' and businesses' insurance policies.
"We got just a little bit more than $300,000," Zimmer said. "They're
playing games with the numbers, and it's a deflection."
Calls to Zimmer and the U.S. Attorney's office seeking comment were
not immediately returned on Sunday evening.
(Additional reporting by Barbara Liston in Orlando, David Jones in
Newark and Ellen Wulfhorst in New York; editing by Dina Kyriakidou,
Jonathan Oatis and Bernard Orr)
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