The New Jersey legislature’s investigation into lane closures on the George Washington Bridge that caused days of gridlock in Fort Lee, N.J. will continue into next year.
Some Democrats have alleged the lanes were closed because a local mayor did not endorse Gov. Chris Christie (R) for re-election. Assemblyman John Wisnieswki, a Democrat and the chairman of the committee that has issued subpoenas in conjunction with the investigation, said Monday that responses to the subpoenas have begun coming in and the documents he has reviewed thus far “continue to raise questions” about the behavior of officials at Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees the bridge.
“It’s too early to make any pronouncements other than saying the review of the documents received so far continues to raise questions about the accountability of the Port Authority, the culture that exists that allows these types of things to happen, and how we’re going to go about making sure that it doesn’t happen again,” Wisnieswki told TPM.
The Assembly Transportation Committee issued subpoenas to seven officials involved in the incident demanding any correspondence between members of the Christie administration and Port Authority officials.
Wisnieswki’s committee was given subpoena authority over the Port Authority through the end of the current legislative session as part of an inquiry into toll price hikes. He told TPM he will ask the Assembly to re-authorize his subpoena power over the agency beyond the current session, which ends next month, to allow the investigation into the lane closures to continue.
“It is not possible or feasible that the work the committee has to do will be concluded on or before Jan. 14,” Wisnieswki said.
