Documents show scramble over N.J. bridge flap
By ELIZABETH TITUS | 1/10/14 3:05 PM EST Updated: 1/10/14 11:55 PM EST
Politico.com
TRENTON, N.J. — State lawmakers released an avalanche of new documents Friday on the bridge scandal plaguing Chris Christie’s administration, including some that show how the governor’s appointees and others tried to contain the fallout as controversy grew.
The documents also provided glimpses of commuters’ frustrations during the turmoil caused by September’s sudden shutdowns of two lanes to the bridge, an act that a top official who ordered the lanes reopened wrote may have violated federal law. And they included material portraying the closures as being part of a traffic study, a study that same top official said had not been properly authorized.
The debacle has damaged the reputation of Christie, the New Jersey governor who had been considered a potential GOP frontrunner in the 2016 presidential race.
For months he had downplayed the four-day traffic mess and insisted his staff had nothing to do with it. But earlier this week, emails and texts emerged suggesting that some of his aides and allies apparently engineered the closing of the lanes. The messages also bolstered Democrats’ claims that the lanes were closed to exact political vengeance against the mayor of Fort Lee, N.J., the town most affected by the traffic jams. The mayor is a Democrat who, unlike many in his party, had not endorsed Christie for reelection.
(More here.)
Politico.com
TRENTON, N.J. — State lawmakers released an avalanche of new documents Friday on the bridge scandal plaguing Chris Christie’s administration, including some that show how the governor’s appointees and others tried to contain the fallout as controversy grew.
The documents also provided glimpses of commuters’ frustrations during the turmoil caused by September’s sudden shutdowns of two lanes to the bridge, an act that a top official who ordered the lanes reopened wrote may have violated federal law. And they included material portraying the closures as being part of a traffic study, a study that same top official said had not been properly authorized.
The debacle has damaged the reputation of Christie, the New Jersey governor who had been considered a potential GOP frontrunner in the 2016 presidential race.
For months he had downplayed the four-day traffic mess and insisted his staff had nothing to do with it. But earlier this week, emails and texts emerged suggesting that some of his aides and allies apparently engineered the closing of the lanes. The messages also bolstered Democrats’ claims that the lanes were closed to exact political vengeance against the mayor of Fort Lee, N.J., the town most affected by the traffic jams. The mayor is a Democrat who, unlike many in his party, had not endorsed Christie for reelection.
(More here.)
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