The New Jersey General Assembly and Senate plan to hold separate meetings on Monday to vote on whether to create a special joint committee to investigate the bridge scandal and potentially other allegations that have hit Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) administration.
Assembly Democrats issued a statement Thursday announcing the vote in their chamber and saying the committee would be “focused on questions surrounding the decision to close access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee and concerns about abuse of government power.”
State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D) also confirmed to TPM that the Senate would also meet on Monday.
The Assembly and Senate announced their plans to establish the joint committee on Tuesday.
Previously, the two houses of the legislature each had separate committees dedicated to investigating the allegations that Christie’s allies ordered lane closures on the George Washington Bridge to retaliate against a local mayor who declined to endorse him.
On Saturday, the mayor of Hoboken, N.J., Dawn Zimmer, alleged the Christie administration threatened to withhold Hurricane Sandy aid from her city unless she approved a real estate project.
The chairs of both the Senate and Assembly committees indicated they were monitoring Zimmer’s claims.
The joint committee would be co-chaired by the heads of the two initial committees: Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D) and Senator Loretta Weinberg (D).
