Prosecutor Claims He Was Fired in
'Mafia-Like' Way for Indicting Christie Allies
by Frances Martel 15 Jan 2014, 1:39 PM PDT
A county prosecutor who says he was
abruptly fired by New Jersey Governor
Chris Christie's staff for investigating
Christie allies says the Bridgegate scandal looks a lot like the case he tried
to bring to court. Bennett Barlyn spoke with the Daily Mail and said his ouster
from the prosecutor's office was "mafia-esque."
Barlyn served as prosecutor in Hunterdon County for 18 years until he attempted
to prosecute Deborah Trout, a county sheriff with ties to Christie. The Mail
lists the accusations as "hiring staff without vetting them, supplying a
Christie donor with a false law enforcement ID and forcing underlings to sign
loyalty oaths."
She and many in her office were indicted
through Barlyn's office until Barlyn was "fired without explanation and
other people were intimidated in the office to remain silent... it was
mafia-esque," Barlyn recounted.
The firing occurred on the day the
indictments were unsealed. He says he was told that he "was not entitled
to an explanation." Early on in the case, one indicted member of Trout's
staff is alleged to have said that "Christie will 'have this whole thing
thrown out.'" When it was thrown out, members of the Grand Jury
anonymously told the Star-Ledger that the case was "persuasive" and
they were "angry" that it was being ignored.
Barlyn first went public with his case in
October, when it appeared in The New York Times and Barlyn first sued the state
for wrongful termination. The Times notes that, not only were those working in
Barlyn's office abruptly fired, but the indictments were dismissed and the
evidence moved to Trenton
into the hands of the state Attorney General.
Back then, Christie spokesman Michael
Drewniak called Barlyn's case "truly... some of the most wild-eyed
conspiracy theories I’ve heard in a long time." Drewniak is now famous for
his profane and dismissive takes on the New Jersey
press in emails released by the New Jersey Legislature last week regarding the
closing of lanes on the George
Washington Bridge.
Just as Drewniak's reputation has taken a
hit in the wake of the bridge scandal, so too Barlyn hopes that these
accusations expose a pattern of corruption now made clearer by more evidence.
"It's the governor's office again using a state agency in an improper way
for political purposes," Barlyn tells the Daily Mail from Pennsylvania, where he
now lives and works as a schoolteacher.
The case is set to roll on, with Barlyn
waiting on the court's decision to release transcripts from the Grand Jury
testimony in the original case. Since this evidence is what caused the Grand
Jury to indict Trout and others in the first place, Barlyn hopes that exposing
it will prove that he was not behaving improperly in pursuing the case.
"That's the smoking gun," he tells the Mail.
The case was delayed in October, much to
Barlyn's dismay, but with the national spotlight on Christie precisely for a
corruption scandal, new documents that might prove yet more impropriety could
magnify the impact of these documents on the national political coverage of
Christie's tenure.
Chris Christie
Christopher
J. Christie is the New Jersey state
government governor, a member of the Advisory
Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, and married to Mary Pat Christie.
Note: James P. Hoffa is
a member of the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and
Negotiations, the president of the International
Brotherhood of Teamsters, and a leadership council member for the Change to Win.
Hoffa On Tea Party: ‘Let’s Take
These Sons Of Bitches Out!’
Joseph
T. Hansen is a member of the Advisory Committee for
Trade Policy and Negotiations, the chairman for the Change to Win, and a director at the Economic
Policy Institute.
Mary Kay
Henry is a leadership council member for the Change to
Win, and a director at the Economic Policy Institute.
Anna Burger
was the chair for Change to Win,
and a director at the Economic Policy Institute.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Economic
Policy Institute, and the Robin Hood Foundation.
George Soros
is the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open
Society.
Robin
Hood Foundation raised money for the Hurricane Sandy
relief.
Hurricane
Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund is a relief organization for Hurricane Sandy.
Mary
Pat Christie is the chair for the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey
Relief Fund, and married to Christopher J. Christie.
Steven
A. and Alexandra M. Cohen Foundation was a funder for the Robin Hood Foundation, and the Hurricane
Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund.
Christopher
J. Christie is married to Mary Pat Christie, a member of the Advisory
Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, and the
New Jersey state government governor.
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