With news that the incoming speaker of the New Jersey Assembly, Vincent Prieto, will renew the Transportation Committee’s subpoena power, there is no hope of the BridgeGate controversy going away. But, more importantly, Governor Christie has lost some erstwhile allies in the Democratic Party. It’s not just Prieto who supports allowing Christie to get chipped to pieces.
Senate President Stephen Sweeney also “emphatically” supports reauthorizing subpoena power to the Assembly committee in the next legislative session, his spokesman, Chris Donnelly, said Friday.
Prior to the recent revelations, Gov. Christie was in strong position to move his agenda with a strong mandate and significant Democratic support. That’s gone now.
After all, John Sweeney was known as a Christie-crat and Prieto was widely believed to be opposed to extending the subpoena power. MSNBC reporter Steve Kornacki has been like a broken record on this issue, with his belief that the Christie administration thought they could rely on Prieto to let the clock run out.
Well, he won’t.
Christie’s allies now have the long-knives out, and he can’t afford to continue using the same bullying tactics he employed to win the support of Democratic mayors.
He hasn’t even been sworn in for his second term, and he’s a lame duck.
