Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer and Gov. Chris Christie
Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer said today that the Christie administration told her that the city would only receive Sandy recovery funds if they aided a politically connected development project.
(Star-Ledger staff)
NEWARK — Hours after Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer accused the Christie administration of withholding Hurricane Sandy relief funds until she approved a development project in the Hudson county city, officials from the agency that distributed the money flatly denied the allegations.
"Mayor Zimmer's allegation that on May 16, 2013 - in front of a live auditorium audience - (Department of Community Affairs) Commissioner (Richard) Constable conditioned Hoboken's receipt of Sandy aid on her moving forward with a development project is categorically false," DCA spokeswoman Lisa Ryan in an interview.
On MSNBC this morning, Zimmer told anchor Steve Kornacki the Christie administration pressured her to approve a development deal with the Rockefeller Group, saying the city would receive Sandy aid if she went ahead with the deal.
Zimmer requested more than $100 million from Christie in Sandy relief aid, but received just $342,000.
Zimmer recorded her interactions with Christie officials in a diary and recounted an event in which she appeared with Constable.
“We are mic'd up with other panelists all around us, and probably the sound team is listening, and he says ‘I hear you’re against the Rockefeller project… If you move that forward, the money would start flowing to you.”
Reached by phone late this morning, Constable declined to comment and referred questions to Ryan.
Ryan said Zimmer's statements about Constable defy credibility. She pointed out that Constable is a former federal prosecutor who worked for five years in the anti-corruption unit.
"This is a man who has spent a large portion of his professional life serving the public first in his capacity as a federal prosecutor and now is the head of a major state department," Ryan said.
"What Mayor Zimmer is alleging is that the commission was talking with her about this at an event where there were literally hundreds of people," Ryan said. "There were dozens of people on the stage as guests were getting mic'd up. There were hundreds of people in the audience."
Ryan also questioned why Zimmer would bring up the allegations now, after remaining silent for eight months.
"She was saying she was very distraught about these conversations, yet she hasn't talked about them until eight months later to a media outlet," Ryan said. "She hasn't gone to law enforcement or (other) authorities. "
Zimmer's allegations are a potential bombshell for Christie, whose administration is already hobbled by the George Washington Bridge scandal and the ongoing investigations into the lane closures there that stopped traffic for miles. Some have alleged the closings were political payback to the mayor of Fort Lee for not endorsing Christie's re-election bid.
In an interview with The Star-Ledger Zimmer stood by her allegations.
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