Governor Christie’s Guantanamo Diary Redactions

Redactions of Pinelands Commission Emails Suggest Coverup of Retaliation Scheme

This is the first and introductory post for a larger story about a scandal involving Gov. Christie’s Office, the Attorney General’s Office, and the Pinelands Commission.

For some reason, the media has ignored the story about a trove of emails obtained by an Open Public Records Act lawsuit filed against the Pinelands Commission by the Pinelands Preservation Alliance.

These emails reveal shockingly inappropriate activity, including direct involvement by the Governor’s Office.

So, we begin, because apparently no one else will write the story.

Let me start with an an analogy.

The recently released amazing book  “Guantanamo Diary” has skyrocketed to the best sellers list.

Significant parts of the book were redacted by US national security agencies before it could be published.

It took years to get the book declassified by US national security agencies.

According to NPR. there were over 2,500 redactions.

Obviously, the attempt to block public release of the information, followed by the redactions, raises questions about what the national security agencies were hiding.

Let me be clear before I even make my point: I am not trying to equate Guantanamo Bay war crimes with the Christie Administration’s attacks on the Pinelands Commission.

I am, however, equating their motivations – i.e. similar efforts to block the public release and redact information are similarly suspect.

So let’s take a look at the redactions.

The emails above and below are between Pinelands Commission managers and Gov. Christie’s Office.

The Pinelands Preservation Alliance filed OPRA requests for these documents. Their OPRA requests were denied. They were forced to file a lawsuit in Superior Court to obtain these documents. After obtaining them they were heavily redacted.

I will explain the context and significance in future posts –