By VICTORIA HONE
The Bridgegate trial has left a scandalous mark on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s career. After about three years of complaints and investigations about the George Washington Bridge lane closures, Christie and the infamous delays in Fort Lee saga took center stage in court Sept 19.
According to NorthJersey.com, jurors heard ongoing word that the traffic jams in Fort Lee were the worst seen since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Prosecutors testified that Christie was aware of the road closures while they were happening. The New Jersey governor had long denied that he had any knowledge of the traffic jam plot.
As the Bridgegate trial began, average New Jersey voters began to voice their opinions about how this scandal is affecting their every day lives.
“I do not believe in the slightest bit that he was unaware of the lane closures. I’ve never been a fan of Christie, it’s very hard to trust someone who comes off so self-centered and I just don’t think he knows what he’s doing most of the time, if not all the time,” said Laura Fullam, 24, of New Milford, NJ.
“It still baffles me that he was even allowed to run for president. As a resident of Bergen County, I feel for the people who have to go through this commuting nightmare every day in Fort Lee. It isn’t fair,” Fullam added.
The Bridgegate trial stems from text messages that were supposedly sent between Christie’s former deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly and former Port Authority official David Wildstein just 3 months before Christie’s re-election to his second term in November 2013.
In September 2013, Port Authority officials unexpectedly shut down lanes on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge leaving commuters full of questions and anger. As reported by Max Blau of CNN, federal prosecutors said Kelly and Wildstein’s messages offered evidence that the closures were an act of political vengeance because Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich did not endorse Christie’s re-election.
Kelly’s text to Wildstein allegedly read, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.” Meanwhile, Wildstein replied “Got it.”
Following the leak of the text messages, Christie fired Kelly saying he felt humiliated by her actions and she since then has been indicted on numerous fraud and conspiracy charges. By avoiding trial, Wildstein pleaded guilty to one chargeone civil rights violation and conspiracy to commit fraud on federally funded property, as stated by Blau.
Former senator Bill Baroni is also being accused of knowing about the lane closures and is facing charges as well. Patrick Foye, executive director of Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said that even after he ordered the lanes to re-open on the fifth day of closure, Baroni tried to have them shut down again as reported by Berger and Racioppi.
According to Blau, Christie has denied all involvement in this controversy and has not faced any charges yet. However, prosecutors claim on Monday during their opening statement that Christie was well aware of the September 2013 lane closures, according to CNN‘s Tal Kopan.
“It’s really hard to believe that Christie had no knowledge of the lane closures beforehand when prosecutors seem extremely eager to show the evidence that he did,” said Jen Badrow, 22, of Wantage, NJ.
The trial is expected to last 6 weeks.
Very well done story about the Bridgegate scandal, was not really familar with the story until I read the article. I would like to learn about how people were being effected in their travels from New Jersey to New York. Meaning did they take routes? or leaves a few minutes extra.
Great article, it is crazy to think the incident was second worst to the traffic that took place on 9/11/2001. That’s as bad as it gets. All parties involved in the causing of this deserve to face charges.