A pair of bully-boy Gov. Chris Christie's top lieutenants delivered a 'Sopranos'-style shakedown message to the mayor of Hoboken, MSNBC reported Saturday.
Mayor Dawn Zimmer, in an exclusive interview with the cable channel, said Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno told her that Hurricane Sandy relief funds for Hoboken were tied to the approval of a city redevelopment plan.
In true Jersey fashion, the conversation occurred last May 13 in the parking lot of a Hoboken ShopRite, according to Zimmer.
Guadagno 'pulled me aside ... And she said, 'I know it's not right, I know these things should not be connected, but they are. And if you tell anyone, I'll deny it,'' Zimmer said in a Saturday interview.
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'I mean, the bottom line is it's not fair for the governor to hold Sandy funds hostage for the City of Hoboken because he wants me to give back to one private developer.'
A second administration official delivered a similar message four days later. Zimmer made it clear that she believed Christie was behind both meetings.
'What they want me to do, what the governor is pressuring me to do, I can't do that,' she said.
Zimmer said the city, which was seriously flooded by the 2012 hurricane, requested $127 million in Sandy funds - and received a total of $342,000.
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The developer was the Rockefeller Group, a New York business with ties to the Christie administration. Former Christie cabinet officer Lori Grifa is now a lobbyist for the company.
And the Rockefeller Group's law firm is Wolff & Samson - the home of Port Authority Chairman David Samson, who was hand-picked for the position by Christie.
Samson was among the members of the Christie inner circle issued subpoenas this week by a state Assembly panel probing the Bridgegate scandal.
While that investigation focused on the George Washington Bridge, this one involved the city near the mouth of the Holland Tunnel.
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In addition to the Guadagno meeting last May 13, Zimmer said she received a similar warning four days later from Christie's community affairs commissioner Richard Constabile.
The two were together for a public television program on Sandy recovery when Constabile linked her support of the Rockefeller Group to recovery funds.
'The buzz is that you are against (redevelopment),' she quoted Constabile as telling her. 'If you move that forward, the money would start flowing to you.'
Constabile, Christie and the Rockefeller Group all issued statements denying the allegations.
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'Mayor Zimmer has been effusive in her public praise of the governor's office and the assistance we've provided in terms of economic development and Sandy aid,' said Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak.
'What or who is driving her now to say such outlandishly false things is anyone's guess.'
Zimmer, in her MSNBC appearance, cited her diary entries made at the time of the two messages.
'I'd be more than willing to testify under oath, and answer any questions and provide any documents, take a lie detector test,' she said.
'And you know, my question back to all of them is, 'Would all of you?''
lmcshane@nydailynews.com
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