The Fort Lee lane closure scandal, better known as Bridgegate, was a political scandal in the U.S. state of New Jersey in 2013 and 2014. It involved a staff member and political appointees of then-governor Chris Christie colluding to create traffic jams in Fort Lee, New Jersey, by closing lanes at the main toll plaza for the upper level of the George Washington Bridge.
On September 9, 2013, two of three toll lanes for a local street entrance were closed during morning rush hour. Local officials, emergency services, and the public were not notified of the lane closures, which Fort Lee declared a threat to public safety. The resulting gridlock ended when the two lanes were reopened on September 13 by an order from Port Authority Executive Director and Democrat from New York, Patrick Foye. He said that the "hasty and ill-informed decision" could have endangered lives and violated federal and state laws.
It has been suggested that the lanes had been closed to cause the massive traffic problem for political reasons, and especially theorized that they were a retributive attack against Mayor of Fort Lee Mark Sokolich, a Democrat who had not supported Christie as a candidate in the 2013 New Jersey gubernatorial election. The ensuing investigations centered on several of Christie's appointees and staff, including David Wildstein, who ordered the lanes closed, and Bill Baroni, who had told the New Jersey Assembly Transportation Committee that the closures were for a traffic study.
An investigation led by U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman resulted in a nine-count indictment against the deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, along with Baroni and Wildstein.Seidman, Andrew. "Paul Fishman, U.S. attorney for New Jersey, offers no wider opinion on Bridgegate", The Philadelphia Inquirer (May 19, 2015). Wildstein entered a guilty plea and testified against Baroni and Kelly, who were found guilty on all counts in November 2016. David Samson pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy in July 2016, for acts unrelated to the lane closures but unearthed by the federal Bridgegate investigation.
At the time of the scandal, Christie was a leading contender for the 2016 Republican nomination for President.(Poll conducted February 4–9, 2014)(Poll conducted January 31 to February 2, 2014) The scandal was widely cited as a major factor in the early demise of Christie's 2016 presidential ambitions, and he dropped out of the race after a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary. "Christie's stature within the party has dipped in his second term as governor, particularly since the "Bridgegate" scandal." "the damage from "Bridgegate" had many wondering whether his campaign was dead from the start." "for a guy who rose to political prominence as a corruption-busting truth-teller, the scandal was anti-brand, damaging his image beyond repair." "Chris Christie's name has tumbled off the list of top-tier presidential candidates. ... For Mr. Christie, the lane closures on the George Washington Bridge are a weight tethering his political ambitions to the ground." Christie described the scandal as "a factor" in why he was bypassed by Donald Trump as the vice presidential nominee. Both the prosecution and the defense in the trial of two of Christie's former aides argued that Christie knew of his close associates' involvement in a plan to shut down lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge as it was happening, and that the closings were to punish Sokolich for declining to support Christie's reelection bid. This was the first time Christie had been officially accused of contemporaneous knowledge of the plot.
The defendants in the case appealed their convictions, and in 2019, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari and heard the case (known as Kelly v. United States) in 2020. One defendant, Bill Baroni, having already begun serving his federal prison term, asked for immediate release. In May 2020 the Supreme Court unanimously overturned the convictions, judging that the defendants could not have violated the fraud statutes they were charged under since they had not obtained "money or property".U.S. Supreme Court throws out Bridgegate convictions, 6 years after an epic traffic jam NJ.com May 7, 2020
Background
The George Washington Bridge, a double-decker toll bridge, is the busiest motor-vehicle bridge in the world, with a toll charge for traffic from New Jersey to New York. At the time, there were 29 operating toll lanes spread among three toll plazas. At the main toll plaza for the upper level, there were twelve toll lanes and a Fort Lee entrance at Martha Washington Way (also called Park Avenue). During rush hours, for at least the previous 30 years, the three lanes located furthest to the right (the south end of the toll plaza) were ordinarily reserved for local traffic entering from Fort Lee and the surrounding communities. This local traffic was segregated by movable traffic cones from the heavier traffic of the major highways. There were other Fort Lee street entrances, which did not have dedicated toll lanes, to the lower and upper levels of the bridge.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ or simply the PA), the owner of the bridge, was overseen by a Board of Commissioners. Under an informal power-sharing agreement, the governor of New Jersey chose the chairman of the board and the deputy executive director, while the governor of New York chose the vice-chairman and executive director.
Chris Christie, a Republican, was first elected Governor of New Jersey in November 2009 and re-elected in November 2013. During his first term, he appointed Bill Baroni as deputy executive director of the PA. David Wildstein, a local politician and political blogger who had known Christie during high school, was hired by Baroni based on Christie's referral and recommendation in May 2010. As director of interstate capital projects, Wildstein was New Jersey's second highest executive at the Port Authority, and often substituted for Baroni at major meetings.
Events During the week of August 4, 2013, Christie met with David Samson, Christie's appointed chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority. John Wisniewski, then the deputy speaker of the New Jersey Assembly and chair of the Assembly Transportation Committee, alleged that David Wildstein, the Christie appointee who ordered the closures, must have believed the meeting was related to the lane closures based on an investigation into the closures undertaken by the committee, which Wisniewski led. A reference to the meeting had been included in the subpoenaed documents Wildstein submitted in which all information not pertaining to the Fort Lee lane closures had been redacted.
On August 13, Bridget Anne Kelly, deputy chief of staff in Christie's office, sent an eight-word e-mail to David Wildstein that read, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." Wildstein responded to Kelly's e-mail: "Got it."
On September 6, Wildstein instructed George Washington Bridge manager Robert Durando not to tell anyone in Fort Lee about the upcoming closure, not even the police. When Durando questioned the order, which he thought was "odd" since he had never been instructed in his 35-year career not to tell host town officials about an event that would disrupt traffic, Wildstein told him "it would impact the study" if people knew and Wildstein "wanted to see what would naturally happen".
Wildstein sent an e-mail the same day to Kelly informing her that Christie had approved $60,000 to fund a traffic study for Springfield in Union County. The Democratic mayor, David Amlen, did not endorse Christie for re-election and was not informed of the approval of their requested traffic study until after Christie won re-election.
Closure On Monday, September 9, 2013, prior to the morning rush hour on the first day of the school year, two of the three dedicated toll lanes at one of the Fort Lee entrances to the upper level of the GW Bridge were closed to local use, and were reallocated to the main highway traffic, on orders from Wildstein without notification to Fort Lee government and police officials. In an area that normally experiences a great deal of traffic, the lane closings caused a significant increase in traffic congestion. This led to major delays for school transportation and police and emergency responses within Fort Lee, both during and after the peak hours of travel. Includes composite aerial images with illustrated versions of GW Bridge traffic flow around the upper-level toll plaza with one and three dedicated local toll lanes.
According to the Fort Lee emergency medical services coordinator, traffic jams delayed paramedic response times, including a 9-1-1 call for Florence Genova, who subsequently died of cardiac arrest. In January 2014, her daughter told The New York Times that she "wants to stay out of it. It's not political". She noted her mother's advanced age (91) and opined that "it was just her time".
In at least one instance, emergency medical workers were forced to leave their ambulance and respond on foot because traffic congestion was so heavy. Emergency responders were delayed nearly one hour in rendering assistance to a man experiencing chest pains.
Within hours of the closure, various Port Authority officials were being told that the traffic delays posed a threat to public safety. At 9:29 a.m., Matthew Bell, a special assistant to Bill Baroni, e-mailed Baroni regarding "urgent matter of public safety in Fort Lee". Fort Lee Borough Administrator Peggy Thomas e-mailed the PA's director of government and community relations, Tina Lado, with her concerns, noting that police and emergency departments received no advance notice of the closures. At 11:24 a.m., Lado e-mailed both Wildstein and Baroni informing them that due to the closures, police and ambulances were having difficulty responding to emergencies. That e-mail noted two specific incidents: a missing child (later found) and a cardiac arrest. These safety warnings were reportedly ignored.
At the federal trial of Baroni and Kelly, Fort Lee Police Chief Keith Bendul testified that he had reached Durando on that Monday, who asked for a meeting not at the PA office, but in a nearby municipal parking lot. "I thought it was cloak and dagger." Durando spoke of the traffic study, and Bendul demanded its ending, citing the various safety problems. "I told [Durando] bluntly that if anybody dies, I'm going to tell those people to sue him and everybody at the Port Authority." A nervous Durando told Bendul that Sokolich should contact Baroni, and added that "if anybody asked if this meeting occurred, he [Durando] would deny it", Bendul testified.
Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Kelly e-mailed Wildstein and asked about his response, if any, to Fort Lee mayor Mark Sokolich. Wildstein responded: "Radio silence. His name comes right after Mayor [Steven] Fulop [of Jersey City]."
PAPD Lieutenant Thomas "Chip" Michaels, a childhood friend of Christie's, ordered his subordinates not to touch the cones, and chauffeured Wildstein around the Fort Lee area on an observation tour, and updated Wildstein on traffic conditions throughout the week, via text messages.
On Tuesday, September 10, Sokolich texted Baroni: "Presently we have four very busy traffic lanes merging into only one toll booth ... bigger problem is getting kids to school. Help please. It's maddening." Kelly's text message exchange with Wildstein referred to the mayor's message. Kelly asked, "Is it wrong that I am smiling?" Wildstein replied, "No." Kelly then wrote, "I feel badly about the kids. I guess." Wildstein responded, "They are the children of Buono voters", referring to Barbara Buono, Christie's Democratic opponent in the November election.