joining us now is reporter matt katz who covers new jersey for wnyc radio. thanks for being with us. nice to have you here. >> sure, rh. >> strong denials from the governor on this radio interview tonight. it's his first time answering live questions from a live human really on this matter since january 9th. what did he say tonight that we didn't necessarily know before? >> yeah, there were three things i picked up. first, he was more curious about why this happened or presented himself as being more curious about what happened here than he seemed to me at that press conference a few weeks ago. we're going to do an investigation, i want to know asap what my investigators find out, and i want to know what caused it. he sort of dismissed those questions at the press conference. i thought that was interesting. also, his tone was totally different from the e-mails that we've been getting and seeing from christie's people and supporters. they've been, you know, attacking wildstein personally, as you talked about. there was another dossier on "the new york times"

and matt katz is a report were wnyc radio up in new york. mr. kelly maybe i'm slow on this case, to finally get sort of an old polaroid view of what actually happened. you're going to be really late, you can sense. and a guy asks you to roll down your window and says are you frustrated? it's a police officer that is there to protect you and get you through traffic safely. and he says are you frustrated? well, if you are, you should go and make a phone call to the ft. lee mayor and blame it on him, because he made a decision recently that is causing this. and then apparently dozens and dozens of calls like this went to the ft. lee mayor. message delivered, i'm out to screw you. what is the return address on that letter? that's the great question. mike? >> that is a great question, chris. yeah, this has been one of the mysteries as i said that has been lingering around this controversy almost since the day it broke. and that is if this in fact is political retribution, how did the message on political retribution get delivered to the mayor of ft.

. >> now, a new analysis by wnyc of one of sandy's grant programs found, quote, multiple irregularitiesre distributed. an analysis showed hoboken has been awarded the same amount as two much smaller towns, neither of which experienced much damage from sandy or previous storm. which the reporter said could lend credence to mayor zimmer's claim that hoboken was shortchanged. now the governor's office says the grant process is ongoing, but what does this say to you? >> well, it says to me that they're going to have to do some more digging before they find the smoking gun that we're always talking about. because on the surface they can say this fit all the regulations. and until you get into the minutia and the dotting of the i's and the crossing of the t's, it's just he said-she said kind of stuff. >> they also reported at wnyc that last year the sandy contractors gave $300,000, more than $300,000 to the republican governor's association, and the governor's association, the republican governor's association gave governor christie $1.7 million for his reelection campaign. you've been coveri

first, telling wnyc it had to do with an endorsement then breaking the story with the allegations of our own steve kornacki on air on msnbc it was in fact she alleges because the christie administration wanted her to expedite a development. it's very weird. you have both these mayors in the same place in this lunch. they both kind of change their story, it seems, about why christie was targeting. i just keep feeling, bob, there's still so much we don't know. i want to be, like, come on, guys, you know, let's fess up here. >> so much and it's going to come out drip by drip by drip. these are the kind of stories that come out of my home state of new jersey where i grew up. but, you know, looking at sokolich's comments over time, he hasn't contradicted himself. it's almost as though it's a reinterpretation -- >> yes. >> -- of events that occurred to him. so he hasn't said, none of the events are conflict with anything that he said in the past, but he seemed pretty, to say, pretty vehemently early on that he didn't recall being wooed for his vote and now it seems that the accumulating ev

but certainly, the andem community residents we collaborate, for example, we just did something with wnyctin luther king's birthday. we did something around the last election where we had a panel discussion and talked about the issues that were at stake, and , with their with bt get out the vote and vote like your life depends on it initiatives. .hings like that i'm really proud of them. >> i want you to focus on the concept of having physicians and entertainers, performance artists that may not be mainstream yet. it is a challenge for them. we know that the internet exists and that you can transfer music all over the world. having said that, performing in front of a live audience can be very difficult for an act that does not have popular appeal. do you find that you are, in a sense, fertile ground for up-and-coming musical entertainment? >> absolutely. if you look at the apollo legacy, it started with amateur night, which dated back to the when the doors opened in 1934. amateur night still runs at 7:30 p.m. every wednesday night and it is an opportunity for amateur artists to get up on

they, the harlem community residents and we collaborate we collaboe, weboe, just did somet just dh wnycrtin uther king'sr king r nghday r r r we did s hing a dund the last dunst where we had a wnele haha discussion and talked about thed abou issues that were at stake, and we parered with bt, with theirbt, e e e if depends on itt in gs like that.gs l.gs l.gs i'gsre ly proud of them.th >> i want you to focus on you toyou of having siciof having siciof having si eng si , enormance nce artists that may not bethat may not bot ot yet. it is a challenge for them. we know that the internet at the and that you can transfe you canrans all over the orld. having , performing inng i front of a live audience canive very difficult for an act thatthat does not hav does nappeal. do you find thatdoou are, in a, in, in sense, fertile ground forund nd-coming musical nment?nment? absely. you look at t you look atou look legacy, started with amateur night, w nighac w the t t the doors t the 1934. the 193 amatnight still runs at 7:30 p.m. every wednesdm. every wednem. eve it is an oppor it i for amateururur a

this is reporting from wnyc, the radio station.the lobbying income of david samson's law firm over the years. you can see it here for 2007, 2008, 2009. governor christie ran to become governor and was elected in 2009. he resumed office in 2010. and yeah, look, wolff does a lot better once chris christie takes over the state government. and then he appoints samson. and then look, wow, oh, wow, hey. samson is doing really, really well once he gets that gig. these are the numbers for 2012 as well. david samson has been chairman of the port authority, the port authority has repeatedly taken pakss have financially benefited mr. samson's clients at his private law firm. so for example, his law firm had a client that wanted to make more money on its commuter parking lot that it had in new jersey. a lot of people commute from new jersey into new york. they park their cars and then take some sort of transit into the city. one of those computer lots was owned by the port authority. the port authority toned lot and this other agency operated

and joining us is a senior editor of wnyc. so brian, it all is coming down to david wildstein these days. of course, there's bridget anne kelly which no one has heard from including her voice pleading the fifth amendment. but the christie camp actually using elements of this 2-year-old article to attack david wildstein, an article in which the same players in the christie camp actually were defending david wildstein against these kinds of accusations is just an amazing thing to see tonight. >> so you weren't convinced by this? you didn't find this to be a really smart press move? >> i'm kind of in the makeup your mind position on this. it's so -- it's just a riot to see drewniak and the governor saying everything nice they possibly could right up until friday when wildstein's lawyer writes this report that says evidence exists that christie knew. and then it's attack mode on david wildstein. oi'm not con finsed that michael drewniak saw this before it went out. or if the professional communications staff did see this, i can't

reason we know they were fired is because six weeks after the memo terminating the contract was issued, wnyc reporter matt katz got a tip and discovered it in an obscure corner. confirmed the contract was terminated but gave no explanation. hgi told katz it couldn't say anything, "under the terms of the contract i'm not authorized to make a statement." since then nobody has given a clear answer to the basic question, why was hgi fired? during a phone call with marc ferzan, yesterday reporters pressed him about hgi and got nothing. >> so you're saying hgi services were no longer needed? >> hey, marion, that's a question for dca. >> but you're not answering it. that's the problem. >> yes, the answer is services for hgi specifically for not needed. >> we reached out to hgi a few times. they haven't gotten back to us so we're left with no clear explanation for why hgi, the biggest single sandy contractor was fired. why it got $10.5 million and why its firing wasn't publicized for six weeks. on top of that, the state unveiled its plan yesterday for spending the next $1.4 billion in federal aid an

to try to sort this out is andrea bernstein, she's senior editor and investigative journalist for wnyc radio. sher last name is actually pronounced bernstein. didn't i promise you because i was practicing it, i'd get it wrong? i didn't do that to be funny. i'm just a failure. why do you think the tunnel stuff is in this round of subpoenas that otherwise seems to be about the bridge lane closures and the effort to cover up the bridge lane closures? >> well, there's a link and i think that the bridge-gate scandal has been very gripping because it's traffic, it's what you were just describing. it's people, perhaps, not getting emergency services. it's people not being able to get to work. but what we are learning increasingly is that this scheme was part of an effort by governor christie to use the port authority of new york and new jersey, a giant bistate agency, really as an additional arm of this government and a political wing to solve his political problems. so what happened during the tunnel, and we've learned some of this since bridge-gate is the same individuals, david wildstein,

and tonight we have late breaking news from wnyc, the administration has parted ways with a second sandy contractor, one that had been supervising the rebuilding of sandy survivors' homes. more on that shortly. >>> the dramatic scene in new jersey last night when sandy victims came face to face with the officials deciding their fate. >> my pledge to you tonight is i will govern with the spirit of sandy. >> the george washington bridge lane closures didn't just mean headaches for commuters and fallout for chris christie and members of his administration. it also has brought unwanted national attention to the officials tied to the other big scandal in new jersey. the one hiding in plain sight. the distribution of billions of dollars in federal hurricane sandy recovery money. those officials made a rare public appearance last night in newark at a hearing on how to distribute the next round of sandy aid. nearly $1.5 billion. >> obviously we want to hear what everyone has to say. >> that's richard constable, the head of the new jersey department of community affairs. he's the guy overseeing t