Chris Christie, White House Ambitions and the Abuse of Power

WNYC led the national media in uncovering a series of scandals casting Chris Christie’s presidential ambitions into doubt. In addition to following the New York-New Jersey “Bridgegate” scandal as it was breaking and uncovering increasingly damning details, WNYC’s newsroom was able to outline a larger pattern of abuse and cronyism. Along with the New Jersey governor’s administration shutting down the George Washington Bridge, the reporters began looking at how Christie’s camp was using Port Authority-related projects for the financial benefit of his administration and its allies. Despite Christie famously positioning himself above partisanship in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, WNYC exposed the governor withholding federal recovery funds from Hoboken in an attempt to bully its mayor. Relatively limited resources compared to large newspaper budgets did not stop WYNC from changing the national narrative around a major political figure, clearing the way for state and federal investigations into the Port Authority and forcing the resignation of one of the Port Authority’s top administrators. For tenacious and thorough reporting that affected reform in New York and New Jersey and possibly changed the 2016 presidential campaign landscape, Chris Christie, White House Ambitions and the Abuse of Power receives a Peabody Award.