A jury has been selected for the trial of two former allies of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie charged with causing traffic gridlock at the George Washington Bridge three years ago.
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Since June, Christie, a close ally of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, has been pushing for an overhaul of the state’s education funding formula to provide all public school districts with a flat rate of $6,599 per student, an effort aimed at reducing the state’s high property taxes. 11th Hour host Brian Williams asked.
In 2012, Christie and state Democrats passed legislation that weakened New Jersey’s almost century-old tenure protections for public school teachers. Christie held a long news conference disavowing the scheme and announcing the firing of key staff members.
David Wildstein, another Christie appointee at the agency, pleaded guilty and is expected to testify at the trial.
Christie ended his presidential campaign in February after poor showings in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. Christie denied any knowledge of the lane closures, and he has never been charged.
Both said they could judge the evidence impartially.
New Jersey state lawmakers are discussing the possibility of cutting the state sales tax as part of an agreement with Gov. Chris Christie on renewing the funding for the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF), according to a report by Politico New Jersey.
“It would be criminal to allow this situation to continue”, Christie said in a statement.
Anthony Attanasio, executive director of the Utility and Transportation Contractors Association of New Jersey, said the bulk of the job losses in his industry occurred right after the shutdown, when 3,200 such positions were shed. “The ramifications of this, I don’t think folks truly appreciate this yet”.
New Jersey has spent almost $100 billion on those 31 districts since 1985, Christie’s statement said, even as students in the districts “have lower graduation rates, and many of their graduates require costly remedial courses before attending college”.
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“We’re going to have six weeks of revelations of how the Christie administration did business”, Dworkin said.
