Mayor Dawn Zimmer of Hoboken Challenges Governor Christie's Lt. Governor to Go Under Oath

I made a point of watching Hoboken New Jersey's Mayor Dawn Zimmer speak on MSNBC this Saturday morning.

She was asked to side with plans favoring a rich developer to please the Governor Christie preferred plan for redevelopment in Hoboken, with Hurricane Sandy relief money as leverage.  

In other words, Hurricane Sandy relief money would be released to rebuild her city devastated by the destructive storm if she supported the Governor's preferential redevelopment plan for a small plot of land in Hoboken. Speaking on the Saturday morning show Up with Steve Kornacki, Mayor Zimmer said, in an exclusive interview  the warning came from Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and Richard Constable, Christie’s community affairs commissioner.

Mayor Zimmer is very credible. She had nothing to gain from risking the telling of the truth and she appeared to be distressed at being put in an untenable position with Governor Christie's staff. 

I believe Mayor Zimmer is telling the truth because she offered to say what she knows under oath and challenged Governor Christie's staff to do the same. In fact, Mayor Zimmer even offered to take a lie detector test to prove she's telling the truth about the quid pro quo and abuse of power.

Zimmer, a Democrat who hasn’t approved the project favored by Christie, said she requested $127 million in hurricane relief for her city, but has so far received only $142,000 to defray the cost of a single back-up generator, plus an additional $200,000 in recovery grants.

"It's not fair for the governor to hold Sandy funds hostage for the city of Hoboken because he wants me to give back to one private developer," she said.  Of course, both Constable and Christie both denied Zimmer’s claims.

But will they take up Zimmer's challenge and deny the claims under oath? Moreover, will they be willing to take lie detector test to back up their denials? 

“I’d be more than willing to testify under oath and – and answer any questions and provide any documents, take a lie detector test. And, you know, my question back to them is, ‘Would all of you? Would all of you be willing do that same thing, to testify under oath, to take a lie detector test?”

The developer of the project, the New York City-based Rockefeller Group, said in a statement to msnbc: “We have no knowledge of any information pertaining to this allegation. If it turns out to be true it would be deplorable.”

Zimmer’s allegations of pressure tactics from Christie’s administration come on the heels of “Bridgegate” – a scandal that erupted on Jan. 8 when emails surfaced showing that Christie aides ordered lane closures on the George Washington Bridge in apparent retaliation for the mayor of Fort Lee, N.J., endorsing the governor’s opponent in last year’s election.

Does any of this sound like a sequel to The Sopranos?  

I'm wondering just how close to reality television The Sopranos stories actually were, when comparing this New Jersey George Washington "bridgegate" and developer scandal to the mobster show's drama? 

Governor Christie, in his obsession with Bruce Sprintsteen, may also have strangely internalized tactics on the popular mobster drama, especially knowing how the plot's location was New Jersey.

It raises the salient spectre of just how close The Sopranos were to the potential candidate Chris Christie, who considered running for the office of President of the United States.

Mayor Zimmer, you may have saved our nation from a fate even worse than the horrific destruction of Hurricane Sandy's flooding in Hoboken.  

God Bless You.