Jersey Scout confronts Governor Christie over Hurricane Sandy rebuilding delays

[RememberSchiff]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/0...n_6902060.html

 

The question going into the 2016 Republican presidential primary is whether the prospective contender is strong enough to withstand the persistent criticism over his handling of the state's recovery (following Hurricane Sandy). Protesters recently followed the governor to Iowa, and on Tuesday, a Boy Scout confronted Christie at a town hall meeting in Freehold, New Jersey.

 

The 12-year-old, Zachary Seemar, has been living in a trailer for the past two and a half years with his parents and older brother. According to news accounts, the boy asked Christie why the permit process to allow his family to rebuild its destroyed home was taking so long. After Seemar read from his prepared text, Christie praised him: "That's a lot of pressure. You did very well."

 

Christie went on to explain that each town has its own regulations and process to return residents to their homes. He had Seemar write down his address and promised to have a staffer follow up with him.

 

The governor hasn't always been so kind to those challenging the pace of the recovery. Some 15,000 residents, like Seemar and his family, remain displaced. At a recent event in Iowa, Christie made fun of a protester who is still displaced by the storm and had flown to the event.

 

"My people follow me everywhere ... It's fabulous," the governor joked to the audience. "I'm magnetic. They can't stay away from me."

 

 

More likely that Christie and his ego are so big that he is hard to avoid. Well done scout Zach, keep asking your questions.

[packsaddle]

Yes, that was a plucky thing to do. I give him a tremendous amount of credit. 12 Years old and making Christie dance, nice. Now if only the permitting process could see its way....

[RememberSchiff]

A more detailed write-up here

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf..._den_moth.html

 

The above write-up concludes from the family's perspective

 

"There's not a lot of space (in camper) to do homework," Zachary said, adding that while he doesn't miss the things that were lost to Sandy, he is tired of "things getting ruined from mold, because the walls are kinda wet."

 

Kathleen, who with her husband Andrew Seemar, Sr. runs a commercial bait fish business, says that she's been shoveling snow off their camper's roof all winter, and is keenly looking forward to the day when she doesn't have to haul propane tanks around to stay warm.

 

"After two and half years," she said, "I'm kinda done."

 

And all this family is asking for is a building permit?

 

Below From http://www.app.com/story/news/politi...very/24962755/

(Photo: Mark R. Sullivan/Staff Photograp)

[NJCubScouter]

More likely that Christie and his ego are so big that he is hard to avoid. Well done scout Zach' date=' keep asking your questions.[/quote']

 

First of all, I agree, well done by the Scout.

 

Second of all, Christie's ego is certainly big, but I think that is fairly common among politicians, especially one who has risen to the level of governor and presidential candidate. (Although I think he is all but finished with the latter, at least for 2016. He has not really "caught on" with many of the other leaders in the Republican Party nationally, and the big contributors. Jeb Bush seems to have captured a lot of the money that Christie was depending on. For Christie to really have a shot at the Republican nomination, he needed to be anointed as the undisputed "establishment candidate", as John McCain and Mitt Romney were, and that hasn't happened. And by the way, that is how Christie became governor.)

 

But you also seem to be making a comment about his physical size, i.e. his weight problem. And here I have to defend the guy a little. (Which it somewhat pains me to do, considering that I am not a fan of his politically, and have never voted for him.) He has lost a LOT of weight. He is not saying how much, but it looks like he has probably lost close to 100 pounds. He had to have weight-loss surgery to do it, but that is not a decision to be taken lightly. So I think the time for the weight comments (if there ever was a time) is past.

 

On the issues raised by the Scout, obviously it should not take two and a half years to get a building permit. (If it were my house, a court would already be dealing with the issue.) Maybe there is something we aren't hearing about here, or maybe there isn't. Gov. Christie is correct that building permits are generally controlled on the local level, but at the same time he has a political problem on the Hurricane Sandy issue, and it is a problem of his own making. After the storm hit, he made himself (and his wife) the "public face" of the recovery, and he took a lot of credit for it. He was re-elected in a major landslide, one year and one week after the storm, largely because of his efforts in the recovery. But since that time it has become clear that some of the state and federal money did not get to where it was supposed to go, and that there has been some "politics" in the distribution of funds (which shouldn't surprise anyone.) So part of his problem now - and the one facing him in a Scout uniform the other day - is that you can't be Mr. Recovery but then when someone wants to know why his family is still living in squalor, try to point the finger at some other level of government.

[JasonG172]

I applaud the young man getting up there to read something his parents wrote! I don't agree with using this young scout to pull a emotional heart string. I am no Crispy Creme Christie Fan..

[RememberSchiff]

There might be a smart ad campaign for the BSA here around us building the next generation of better leaders. Take photos of scouts asking questions to candidates. No face shot of the candidate, maybe a subtle clues - pant suit must be Hillary, large and in charge must be Christie...