Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer came forward on Saturday and said two members from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's administration said they would release funds needed in Sandy relief efforts only after she would agree to back a redevelopment plan for Hoboken Christie favored, Reuters reported.
Zimmer spoke to MSNBC and said the city of Hoboken only received a small portion of the $127 million that was requested to aid relief programs needed to help the city recover from the superstorm, according to Reuters.
The city requested $127 million but only received $142,000 to help pay for partial costs of a generator and $200,000 in recovery grants, Reuters reported.
The two Christie officials were Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno and Richard Constable, Christie's community affairs commissioner, according to Zimmer, Reuters reported. Zimmer also said both Guadagno and Constable told her in May of 2013 the funds would start "flowing" if she backed the project.
Zimmer, who says she has always been a Christie supporter, asked for a "professional study of the plan," which Christie was backing himself, according to Reuters.
According to a diary entry given to MSNBC by Zimmer, Constable said: "If you move that forward, the money would start flowing to you," Reuters reported.
Zimmer also said Guadagno pulled her aside in a parking lot and told her: "I know it's not right. I know these things should not be connected but they are," according to Reuters.
"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," Zimmer told MSNBC's "UP w/ Steve Kornacki," Reuters reported.
A legislative panel opened an investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closures this week and have subpoenaed 17 people and three organizations so far, according to Reuters.
Christie has denied any involvement in the lane closures since documents submerged showing top Christie appointed officials and members of his staff were involved in the closures because of a personal vendetta against the Fort Lee mayor, Reuters reported.
Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak told MSNBC that "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," and added that "what or who is driving her only now to say such outlandishly false things is anyone's guess."
Constable also released a statement on MSNBC saying Zimmer's comments were "categorically false."
After coming forward with the allegations against the two Christie aides she also said she she could have reported it when it happened , and that she has to "act in the best interests of Hoboken," and states the city is "still at risk" of not getting Sandy funding, according to Reuters.
The redevelopment program, if passed, would allow the Rockefeller Group to redevelop an area of Hoboken and would have qualified for tax incentives and allowed them to build and ask for millions of dollars in subsidies, Reuters reported.
The Rockefeller Group said it has no knowledge of these requests and the redevelopment plan is only in the initial stages of planning, according to Reuters
.
"We have no knowledge of any information pertaining to these allegations. Our Hoboken project is in the preliminary stages of planning and we have not filed any development applications for review or approval," a Rockefeller Group spokesman said.
Christie could not be reached for comment because he is in Florida fundraising for Republican Governor Rick Scott, according to Reuters.
