to the [climate] changes that are taking place." He also said that NJT used weather reports showing there was a 10 to 20 percent chance of flooding in the yards. The newspaper The Record conducted an investigation in collaboration with WNYC/New Jersey Public Radio which concluded that the agency had misread meteorological information available to them. Approximately a year after the storm, Christie spoke with editorial board of the newspaper and said that responsibility lay with a low-level civil service employee whom he could not fire. According to The Record, who reviewed emails obtained through a public records request, at least fifteen agency executives and managers were aware of fleet movements into low-lying areas in the days before the storm. A report released in December 2013 by Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service said that NJT ignored flood warnings and did not follow its own damage mitigation plans. In January 2014, the New Jersey Senate decided to conduct an investigation with State Senator Robert M. Gordon saying that the governor's explanation has been "unsatisfactory." Stronger than the Storm On August 8, 2013, Frank Pallone the Democratic U.S. Representative for and a vocal Christie critic wrote a letter to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requesting an inquiry into the potential misuse of disaster aid for political gain with regard to the Stronger than the Storm media campaign. Christie and his family appeared in television commercials produced for the campaign, paid for by HUD, which were broadcast in the run-up to the 2013 gubernatorial election. Pallone called for investigation to dispel any appearance of impropriety, also drawing attention $2.2 million difference for fees between the accepted bid and the next most expensive which included no plans to include the governor in the ads. On January 14, 2014, HUD announced that it would review the expenditure. A press release stated that it is "an audit and not an investigation of the procurement process." The audit is based on irregularities with billing and adherence to the contract pricing as determined by the federal government. MWW, which produced the campaign, stated that it welcome the review and that it had not presented the idea of Christie appearing in ads until after contract was awarded and that it was confident that it had followed correct billing procedures. The Asbury Park Press reported that a MWW executive had earlier said the Christie's appearance was part