Scandal Accusations Involving Chris Christie and Abuse of Power Just Got a Lot More Serious
Recent rumors alleging that Gov.
Chris Christie (R-N.J.) was involved in a plot to punish a local
Democratic mayor became much more serious Wednesday after emails that
may tie his staff to the scheme were uncovered.
“Time for some traffic problems in Fort
Lee,” Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie’s deputy chief of staff, wrote in an
Aug. 13 email to former Port Authority Director of Interstate Capital
Projects David Wildstein.
What followed next was days of crippling lane closure-related traffic jams near the George Washington Bridge, the “world’s busiest motor vehicle bridge.”
And there does seem to be a
certain level of coordination between the governor’s office and
Wildstein, an important Christie ally, over the lane closures, according
to documents obtained by the Wall Street Journal.
Here are the communications between Christie’s office and the Port Authority:
It’s believed Christie’s office may
have ordered the Fort Lee lockup to punish the borough’s Mayor Mark
Sokolich, a Democrat, for refusing to endorse the governor in his
re-election bid against Democrat Barbara Buono.
Sokolich’s decision was unique in that it made him one of the few Democratic municipal officials in the state to not endorse the popular Republican governor.
And based on the Journal documents, it appears the lane closures
that caused so much trouble may have been politically motivated and not
part of any “traffic study.”
“I feel badly about the kids. I guess,”
an unidentified author wrote in an email to Wildstein, referring to the
Sokolich’s task of trying to figure out how to get students to and from
school.
“They are the children of Buono voters,” Wildstein replied, referring to the governor’s re-election opponent.
Wildstein was forced to turn the
communications over to a New Jersey State Assembly committee in
compliance with a subpoena, the Bergen Record reported.
“Christie has previously said that no
one on his legislative or campaign staff was involved in the lane
closures. He also brushed off questions in December on the topic by
joking that he moved the cones himself,” Business Insider noted.
However, the recently uncovered emails
show that Kelly “was involved in the planning and received updates
during the week of the traffic jams,” the Bergen Record report added.
Further, according to the same report,
Kelly reportedly knew Christie’s allies at the Port Authority were
intentionally “ignoring the Fort Lee mayor’s desperate attempts to get a
reason for the sudden unannounced closures.”
Now, it could be that the language in
the recently unearthed communications between Christie’s office and the
Port Authority has been misinterpreted and that there was no scheme to
destroy Fort Lee with traffic.
But based on the scarcity of denials
from Christie’s allies and the fact that the governor’s office abruptly
cancelled all scheduled events Wednesday after the emails were
published, the abuse of power rumors could be much more serious than
originally thought.
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