A Deliberate and Illegal Scheme' in New Jersey

David Wildstein, a former senior appointee by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in the George Washington Bridge scandal.  

Andrew Kelly / Reuters

THE ATLANTIC

David Wildstein, who served as one of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's appointees to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, pleaded guilty to two conspiracy charges stemming from Bridgegate, the infamous 2013 lane-closure incident on the Fort Lee side of the George Washington Bridge in New Jersey.

The scandal, which dominated national headlines, was hawked as the politics of retribution at its most vindictive. On Friday, a 16-month federal investigation concluded that the closures were politically motivated as an act of revenge against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich who opted not to endorse Christie during his 2013 reelection bid.

The governor's office initially argued that the lanes had been reduced for "a traffic study," even as Christie himself claimed that he had nothing to do with it. An investigation eventually wended its way to the governor’s office, revealing an email from Christie’s deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, to Wildstein advising him that it was “time for traffic problems in Fort Lee.” Kelly was indicted on Friday, along with Bill Baroni, another high-level Port Authority appointee, for nine conspiracy and fraud charges.

Bridget Anne Kelly, who has proclaimed her innocence, suggested that sarcastic comments she made amid the George Washington Bridge lane closings had been taken too seriously. Credit Kirsten Luce for The New York Times

In announcing Wildstein's plea and the two indictments at a press conference on Friday afternoon, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Paul Fishman characterized the lane reductions as "a deliberate and illegal scheme."

"Local officials reported that first responders were delayed in reaching those in need," said Fishman. He added that the lane reductions were initially ordered in August, but intentionally took place on the first day of school in September to maximize their impact.

As The New York Times reported, Alan Zegas, Wildman's lawyer, "reiterated on Friday his client’s contention that 'evidence exists' that Mr. Christie knew about the closings as they occurred."

In Friday's press conference, Fishman said that no other people have been implicated in the scandal so far. This includes, for the time being, Governor Chris Christie. Nevertheless, the indictments will be a considerable setback for Christie's presidential ambitions at a moment when the governor already seemed to be fading from view.

Once a target of leading donors who sought to draft Christie to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, his poll numbers and approval ratings have steadily declined from a meteoric high after Hurricane Sandy to single digits in the wake of last year's Bridgegate scandal. Those numbers have never recovered both in New Jersey and beyond.

Bill Baroni was appointed by Mr. Christie to the Port Authority.CreditChris Pedota/The Record, via Associated Press

NY TIMES

U.S. Indictment Details Plotting in New Jersey Bridge Scandal.

Bill Baroni, Bridget Anne Kelly and David Wildstein waited for the first day of school.

They held off on telling people so their secret would not get out.

They steered cars to a cash lane, to make drivers sweat even more.


For 16 months, only the basic contours of the George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal have been known: an email called for “some traffic problems in Fort Lee”; a month later, gridlock and an angry mayor.

But an indictment released by federal prosecutors in New Jersey on Friday fills out in more detail the specifics of how and why, presenting the lengths three accused conspirators, aides and an ally of Gov. Chris Christie, went to, and the delight they took, in concocting their scheme and the sham story to cover it up. Two of the three, Mr. Baroni and Ms. Kelly, were indicted, while the third, Mr. Wildstein, pleaded guilty.

The fine-grained intricacies laid out in the legal papers show the three plotting like petulant and juvenile pranksters, using government resources, time and personnel to punish a public official whose sole offense was failing to endorse their political patron. The three were in constant contact, brazenly using government emails, their tone sometimes almost giddy. They even gave the increasingly desperate mayor of Fort Lee their own version of the silent treatment.

The charges reveal the step-by-step, carefully coordinated attention paid by the three associates of the governor to create the perfect traffic jam, a veritable town-size parking lot. Closing down lanes to the world’s busiest bridge would complicated, expensive, and in the end may have stymied Mr. Christie’s presidential ambitions.

Mr. Baroni and Ms. Kelly have proclaimed their innocence, saying that Mr. Wildstein, who is cooperating with the authorities, fabricated stories about their actions to help his case.

SCOTLAND VOTES: LET'S STAY TOGETHER/ CHRISTIE ESCAPES BLAME (SO FAR)

Read it at BBC

Scottish voters turned out in record numbers to decide whether to sever their 307-year-old union with England, and in the end decided in a close vote to stay in the United Kingdom. Turnout for the referendum was as high as 91 percent in some constituencies as the no vote prevailed 55 percent to 45 percent.

Early results consistently gave the no vote a lead of between a few thousand and as many as 15,000 votes, although a few important cities, such as Dundee, voted yes. early. At one point the nationwide margin was a razor-thin 50.9 no, 49.1 yes. By the time the counting reached the halfway point, 16 of 32 constituencies, the margin stood at 56-44 in favor of staying. Results from the biggest cities, Edinburgh and Glasgow, did not come in until about 5 a.m. local time. As far as Scotland's biggest cities, 53 percent of Glasgwegians voted to quit the union, while 61 percent of Edinburgh residents voted no. 

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Read it at NBC New York

After nine months of investigating Chris Christie’s role in the “Bridgegate” scandal, the Justice Department has so far found no information that the New Jersey governor knew in advance or directed the closing of traffic lanes on the George Washington Bridge, NBC 4 New York reports in a story quoting federal officials.

The officials said the probe is continuing and that no final determination has been made. Christie has maintained that he did not direct underlings to close lanes on the bridge in September 2013. A Christie staff member and Christie political appointees worked together to create traffic jams in Fort Lee, New Jersey. They allegedly did so to punish Fort Lee’s mayor for not endorsing Christie in last year’s gubernatorial election.

CHRISTIE'S POLL TUMBLE

Chris Christie’s poll tumble — and why it matters

A longstanding cornerstone of New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie's popularity (and why national GOP strategists are drawn to him) has been his cross-party appeal. But a major traffic scandal has diminished Christie's luster in the eyes of Democrats -- and fast.
Christie's favorability has plunged 19 percentage points since last November, according to a new Rutgers-Eagleton poll of New Jersey voters. Among Democratic voters, it's down 26.  His job approval rating has dipped a whopping 22 points among Democrats, driving the overall drop from 68 percent to 53 percent.
Other recent polls have also shown the bridge scandal, in which aides to Christie snarled traffic from Fort Lee to the George Washington Bridge in an apparent act of political retribution, has whittled Christie's once robust Democratic support, which held up throughout most of 2013. Christie's approval rating among New Jersey Democrats dipped from 47 percent to 38 percent in a Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press poll. Just 36 percent of New Jersey Democratic voters said they approved of the job Christie was doing in a recent Quinnipiac University poll, compared to 55 percent who said they disapproved. That's roughly a 180 degree turnaround from his numbers in early 2013.
Nationally, the news isn't much better. Christie's unfavorable rating rose sharply among independents (+18) and even quicker among Democrats (+25), according to a Pew Research Center-USA Today poll released this week.
Here's why this is such a big deal: Christie has carefully cultivated a reputation as a no-nonsense problem solver who's committed to getting things done -- party affiliation be damned. (Who can forget the images of him touring storm damage with President Obama in the wake of Hurricane Sandy? Or his willingness to lash congressional Republicans for not approving Sandy recovery money quickly enough?)
Working with the other side to get stuff done was a big part of Christie's ticket to a second term. And it's a major part of the lane he occupies leading up to the 2016 presidential election. An appeal beyond Republicans' historically small base in the Garden State is what made Christie such a promising candidate nationally. But after the bridge scandal, that core advantage (or at least the perception of that core advantage) appears to be slipping.
The good news for the governor is that his support among Republicans and independents has held steadier. His approval rating is 83 percent among New Jersey Republicans according to the Rutgers poll. A majority of independents in the state say they approve of the job he's doing. His favorable ratings among Republicans and independents in the Pew poll are unchanged from a year ago. (A Fox News national poll shows troubling signs for Christie among Republicans, but it speaks more about predictions for him than their own ratings of the governor.)
In one way, this could be good for Christie. There's been considerable skepticism about his bipartisan maneuverings among the GOP's conservative base. But if he's no longer viewed as a darling of Democrats, it could boost his cred on the right. (And that explains why his team has been trying to turn the bridge scandal into a partisan scrum.)
The bottom line, though, is that if Christie's appeal to Democrats is diminished, he becomes less of a general election threat in the eyes of Democratic strategists.
There are no other Republicans in the prospective 2016 field who have the demonstrated ability to connect with the other party that Christie does -- with the possible exception of former Florida governor Jeb Bush. If Christie's forfeits that position of strength -- it's too early now to conclude that he has or hasn't -- the lane he occupies probably goes unfilled.
For Democratic operatives with an eye on keeping the White House in 2016, that would be welcome news.