NYT: Rockefeller Lobbyists Invited to EPA Meeting with Zimmer

Excellent NYT article, January 29, 2014: "How Pressure Mounted for Development in  Hoboken"

Folks, here it comes: the drip, drip, drip of documents revealing the extraordinary pressure Mayor Zimmer was under to "come through" for the Christie- allied developer, the Rockefeller Group.

An excellent piece of reporting by The New York Times reveals "newly obtained emails" about how when Mayor Zimmer met with the New Jersey Environmental Protection Agency to discuss protecting Hoboken from the next catastrophic flood, the EPA's top agenda item was  "a review of concepts for flood control measures at the Rockefeller property".

And two Rockefeller Group lobbyists were there. Since when are a private developer's paid-lobbyists invited by a state agency to attend a meeting with a city's mayor?   

Talk about delivering a message.  In this case, a billion-dollar message.  

And this is only the beginning, folks.

Between the coming federal Department of Justice investigations and hard-nosed investigative journalism, the truth will emerge.  Eventually.  Until then, the tale of Hoboken disaster-relief cash held hostage to green-lighting a massive development cast a long shadow on Governor Christie's presidential ambitions.

Locally, it has been amusing to see the A-List of Zimmer-haters rush to TV studios and microphones to complain how the mayor wants attention, stardom, etc. and, to question her timing.  Mind you, these elected officials should be outraged that, if allegations are true, funds for their constituents were withheld because the mayor wouldn't green-light a development deal.

But no, Zimmer so enrages her enemies that they can't help themselves.  

Predictably, her critics who always desert Hoboken residents in their time of need, will alienate us all yet again, as they attack our "lady mayor" who  has bravely spoken truth to power.  Remember these elected officials sued Councilman Jim Doyle off the City Council in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy;  Mason, Occhipinti, Russo and Castellano were more focused on political games than keeping government running in a time of disaster.

These four nudniks continue to make the same mistakes, again and again.  As their attacks on the mayor escalate locally, the wider, national story may once again put them political-Siberia.

Speaking as a fan of good government, what a relief.