FILE – In this Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009 file photograph, Hoboken Mayor, Dawn Zimmer speaks to the media as she stands near the Hudson River in Hoboken, N.J. Zimmer, mayor of a New Jersey city that sustained severe flooding from Hurricane Sandy claims the Christie administration withheld millions of dollars in recovery grants because she refused to sign off on a politically connected development. MSNBC first reported her comments Saturday. (AP Photo/Mel Evans,file)
FILE – In this Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009 file photograph, Hoboken Mayor, Dawn Zimmer speaks to the media as she stands near the Hudson River in Hoboken, N.J. Zimmer, mayor of a New Jersey city that sustained severe flooding from Hurricane Sandy claims the Christie administration withheld millions of dollars in recovery grants because she refused to sign off on a politically connected development. MSNBC first reported her comments Saturday. (AP Photo/Mel Evans,file)
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TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The mayor of a New Jersey city that sustained severe flooding from Hurricane Sandy claims the Christie administration withheld millions of dollars in recovery grants because she refused to sign off on a politically connected development.
Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer tells The Associated Press that Gov. Chris Christie’s lieutenant governor and a top community development official said recovery funds would flow to her city if the commercial development went forward. MSNBC first reported her comments Saturday.
Zimmer says Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno (gwah-DON-yo) pulled her aside at a May event and told her unless the project is approved “we are not going to be able to help you.”
Christie is embroiled in another scandal involving traffic jams apparently manufactured to settle a political score.
Christie’s office did not return messages from the AP. Spokesman Michael Drewniak called Zimmer’s claims “outlandishly false” in a statement to MSNBC.
Mayor: Christie aides tied Sandy funds to project
