One of the chief talking points assailing Mayor Zimmer’s claim decrying Sandy aid being held hostage to a potential billion dollar development in Hoboken has fallen with a national investigative report revealing at least five people in the Mile Square City are witnesses. The news comes from a national investigative report by NBC confirming the US Attorney’s Office and FBI interviewed others in Hoboken on MLK last Monday. Federal agents have asked each to preserve all evidence including emails verifying details of the allegations Hoboken was being held hostage by Christie Administration officials in SandyGate.

Dan Bryan, Chief of Staff to Mayor Zimmer is reportedly in the know on SandyGate and is cooperating with the Feds.

Among those on the in-the-know list: Dan Bryan, the mayor’s Chief of Staff, Juan Melli who holds the unsworn position running the City’s communications and reform Councilman Dave Mello. Zimmer’s aides won’t speak on the matter as they’ve been directed otherwise by the Feds who are actively investigating but Mello is quoted in the story confirming he knew of Zimmer’s allegations about the Christie   administration linking Sandy aid to approving the Rockefeller Group development. From the NBC report, Mello recalls speaking to the mayor about it last summer saying: “I distinctly remember [Zimmer] saying that the lieutenant governor said, ‘If this came out, she would deny it,'” he said. “I thought it was absurd and outrageous,” said Mello, adding that he pressed Zimmer whether she would speak out publicly about what she said took place. “She told me, ‘It was a done deal that [Christie] was going to be re-elected” and she did not want to jeopardize further funding for the city, he said

Read the complete NBC story: 

FBI questions Hoboken mayor’s aides over alleged Sandy relief funds threat

Talking Ed Note: Last night in the City Council meeting, there was some chatter from the “Antis,” the virulent Zimmer haters who spit out half-truths, fabrications and spin no matter the facts.  In this instance, the irony is they have to choose between Mayor Zimmer and Gov. Chris Christie who they also revile with one Carmelito, directed otherwise.  (It’s State Senator Brian Stack’s 20/20 vision.) Read More...

The great suck out you’re feeling is the air being pulled out of Hoboken by the national media caught up in the latest in the Gov. Christie “gate” scandals.  Tonight the City Council will get back to the business of running a city and consider ending meetings at midnite.

That means no more loons sitting around to yell their insanity past the witching Beth Mason hour, throwing racial bombs, transparent political operations from the “public” nor screaming for approvals or hijacking the meeting for million dollar profit in developer deals with no paperwork, etc. Read More...

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According to a report, City Communications Manager Juan Melli said Mayor Dawn Zimmer will not be commenting further on SandyGate. The end of public comment by the mayor comes at the direction of federal investigators.

The announcement, reported to come from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark matches with that law enforcement office not commenting either. Mayor Zimmer stated she met with the US Attorney’s Office on Sunday and mentioned Hoboken had been paid a visit on Monday by the Feds on Martin Luther King Day, a national holiday. For federal agents to skip a national holiday reflects the allegations Sandy aid were possibly leveraged to push ahead development of the Rockefeller Group is being taken seriously and any investigation is entering a quiet period. Aside from the likely federal investigation under way, a development project in Fort Lee called =&2=& mirroring the size, scope and =&3=& of the proposed Rockefeller Group development in Hoboken may hold a key determinative factor within the buzz of allegations. Each of the proposed developments are valued at up to ONE BILLION EACH. According to a report by Steve Kornacki, before SandyGate broke, the Fort Lee Redevelopment 5 project had reached critical mass in its approval process last year: financing had not yet been finalized for the redevelopment of the second half of land – a plan to build a mix of commercial, residential and parking facilities. Speedy access to the George Washington Bridge – and to those access lanes in particular – is what made the land particularly valuable, both to developers and potential tenants. Peeking further under the covers of the two development projects – in the billion dollar area for each can’t be good news to Governor Chris Christie who was sworn in to his second term yesterday.   The SandyGate scandal appears to have legs coinciding with a NJ legislative investigation into the controversial lane closures at the George Washington Bridge several months ago. Legal observers are already saying the misuse of federal funds is a serious matter and the US Attorney’s Office will act accordingly.  The Star Ledger posted a story quoting Fordham Law Professor James Cohen who views SandyGate as more serious than the GWB lane closures saying: “Closing the George Washington Bridge, that is very serious. It takes a lot of balls,” Cohen said. “But this deals with dollars — the misuse of federal tax dollars. The feds will treat that very, very serious.” Ultimately, the US Attorney’s Office is likely to seek parallels with other NJ government executives, mayor’s and officials charged with public-private policy development in New Jersey and who may have felt heavy muscle coming down from gubernatorial height levels.

In the HBO series, the Sopranos, a meeting of bosses discusses the windfall from the “Esplanade Project” with a government official.   Is Sopranos fiction meeting reality?

Talking Ed Note: Taken together, the Hoboken and Fort Lee’s development projects in near proximity potentially hold a total value of $2 Billion.  That makes the Vision 20/20 scam in Hoboken put forward where millions in profits were on the table with NO MASTER PLAN to view by the public look like a pikers convention.

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While some continue to question why Mayor Zimmer waited months before going public with her allegations Sandy aid was being linked to a potential billion dollar development, the claim the charges are merely she said, she said are not supported by key documents in the affair.

On May 8th, 2013 Mayor Zimmer wrote a letter directly to Governor Christie conveying the seriousness for the “severe flooding” and “we (the City) “urgently need the help of the State… for hazard mitigation grant funding for three additional pumps.” Read More...

Interviews with Hoboken residents downtown outside City Hall today showed unanimous support for Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer in the widening federal investigation into the SandyGate scandal.

One resident said “I think Dawn is doing a real good job…  Dawn is doing a nice job trying to clean it (corruption) up,” speaking of the mayor’s efforts in recent years. “We have to clean up the city and the State… I think she’s doing a great job,” he concluded. Read More...

A CNN interview with former Republican National Chairman and Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour signaled the latest escalation in an all out death match between Governor Chris Christie and Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer over Sandy aid.

The mayor continues to point to additional details in documents to the State supporting her allegations the aid was held over her head in lieu of approving a massive development potentially valued at a billion dollars in Hoboken for the Rockefeller Group.

The media blitz begun Saturday after the three day holiday weekend is exploding nationally. Read More...

The media and pr war ramped up yesterday with the weekend ending but even with MLK Day, the all out assault of words continues.

Mayor Dawn Zimmer appeared last night on Anderson Cooper’s CNN show and late last night an announcement from the mayor made clear the Justice Department had been to Hoboken on the matter of her allegations about trading Sandy aid for approval to the Rockefeller Group’s uptown development proposal.

On the Justice Department visit, the mayor is quoted saying: “They were talking to people in Hoboken today,” she said. “They were definitely talking to people today.” Read More...

The following video comes from Gov. Christie’s YouTube channel featuring the Lt. Governor’s remarks earlier today on the emerging SandyGate scandal.

The Lt. Governor did not take any questions.

Talking Ed Note: The conflict is evident, the stakes are obviously of national importance and the positions of the respective sides are irrevocably in conflict.

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Lt. Governor Kim Guardagno, a direct party to the Hoboken conversation last May with Mayor Dawn Zimmer concerning Sandy aid is denying the allegation she made any “direct threat” to the Hoboken mayor linking hurricane relief to approval of a proposed massive development in the Mile Square City for the Rockefeller Group.

For the first time, a senior member of the Gov. Christie administration who is alleged conversation with Mayor Dawn Zimmer on the subject of Sandy aid to Hoboken and the allegation of its connection to development approval for the Rockefeller Read More...

Office of the Hoboken Mayor announces:

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Mayor Zimmer issued the following statement after meeting with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Newark, New Jersey this afternoon:

“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. 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.” Read More...