Governor Christie clarified his position in the scandal and came out clean saying he didn't know anything about it. He went on to say that he fired the executive involved in the scandalous bridge closure. For now the New Jersey Assembly has set up a committee to investigate Gov. Chris Christie’s administration in the bridgegate scandal.
But in the midst of the bridegate scandal, Gov. Chris Christie is facing another federal investigation from the Department of Housing and Urban Development over allegations that he misused Hurricane Sandy relief funds. The investigators claim that the governor used the Sandy relief fund for an advertisement on the "Stronger Than the Storm" campaign during his reelection run.
The public relations agency MWW has been dragged into the probe initiated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. MWW made the "Stronger than the Storm" campaign for the now embattled Jersey Governor Chris Christie. The total cost of the campaign was a whopping $25 million.
MWW has however welcomed the probe. The PR agency executives say that their ad campaign proposal has no mention to include the governor and his family in the paid advertisement campaign. And that the decision to include the governor was made after the PR agency was awarded the contract.
Well there’s no problem with the campaign if it was only meant to increase tourism and for economic recovery of the Jersey shore. But the inclusion of Governor Chris Christie and his family in the campaign made it look more like a reelection campaign than a tourism campaign and there’s where the problem lies.
MWW is also dragged in a controversy of winning the ad campaign because of its political muscle in the state. The Park Press revealed that MWW has a history of making donations to both Republicans and Democrats. The paper also revealed that MWW hired a former state Republican official just before making the bid for the Sandy campaign. Governor Chris Christie's spokesperson said that these revelations were not true and that MWW won the contract purely based on merits.
Well while investigations of these never-ending probes made on Governor Chris Christie’s administration goes on, it appears that there are many more skeletons that are waiting to fall from the Jersey shores. But one thing is for sure whether you are a politician, a PR agency, or an NGO, it is very important to play a fair game. Because dishonesty in business might not land you in a mess when you are committing it, but some day down the line when it unexpectedly shows-up it can ruin not only an individual’s image but also the brand of the organization will sink with it.
So while the federal investigations are on, why not just enjoy the parodies and jokes made over the whole scandal. Governor Chris Christie is the topic of discussions at every talk show. You name it – Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Fallon, Jon Stewart or Jay Leno – Chris Christie seems to have beaten even Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s record today. Even Bruce Springsteen poked fun on Gov. Christie by singing a parody song on Jimmy Fallon’s show.
Well if you ask me, whenever I’m stuck in a traffic jam these days, I start thinking and discussing Governor Chris Christie.
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