Early in the interview, Cooper did put forward a fresh document, an April 23 letter that was not among the documents published by MSNBC in which Mayor Zimmer writes, to Gov. Christie, that “the solution to Hoboken’s flooding challenges cannot be dependent on future development.”
Earlier in the same paragraph, Zimmer wrote that support for Hoboken’s Sandy relief “is absolutely essential both as a matter of fundamental fairness and because it will not be possible to proceed with a variety of development projects that burden Hoboken’s infrastructure until the flood problem has been adequately addressed.”
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The balance of the interview was mostly variations on things we’ve heard before, but toward the end, Cooper asked an intriguing question: “What do you think should happen to Christie? Or to the lieutenant governor?”
This is a governor whom Mayo Zimmer has accused of sending his top executive to extort a political favor from her, using relief funds from the worst disaster ever to hit the state as leverage, a storm that left 80% of her town underwater, and stranded tens of thousands of people for days. Zimmer’s response was stunning:
“Support my Rebuild by Design competition?”
Given the seriousness of Zimmer’s accusations, this is a bit like politely wondering if Hannibal Lecter would consider pairing your liver with a mid-priced Chablis. One of the questions Mayor Zimmer has faced is how she could continue to praise Christie publicly after her encounters with Guadagno and Community Affairs Commissioner Richard Constable. In her interview with Cooper, Zimmer responded to that question by saying that Christie “has done very good things for Hoboken,” that he has “done terrific things for the state overall,
If things don’t work out for Zimmer in Hoboken, perhaps she should consider a run for mayor of Stockholm, New Jersey.