NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The sentencing of two former aides to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for creating traffic jams at the busiest bridge in the U.S. for political revenge may not prevent the scandal from hanging over the Republican’s final year in office.
“I will not allow myself to be the scapegoat in this case,” Bridget Kelly told reporters after the sentencing Wednesday, where her attorney pointed out that testimony that she told Christie about the traffic jams while they were happening was never contradicted.
Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Bill Baroni, Christie’s appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, was sentenced to two years. Both are appealing their convictions. They were charged with conspiracy, wire fraud and other offenses for causing the gridlock near the George Washington Bridge in September 2013 to punish a Democratic mayor who didn’t endorse Christie’s re-election.
A spokesman for Christie, who was not charged, responded after Kelly’s testimony in October that he had “no knowledge prior to or during” the lane realignment. She testified that he authorized what she claimed was a traffic study.
The scandal sank Christie’s White House bid and likely cost him the chance to be President Donald Trump’s running mate. Christie has since turned his attention in his final year in office to addressing the state’s opioid epidemic, and on Wednesday he was at the White House, where he was selected to lead a drug addiction task force. While his press office hyped up the White House event, it did not comment on Wednesday’s sentencing.
Christie, who is term-limited, has seen his approval ratings hover around 20 percent recently. His future after politics is unclear, although he has said he plans to make money in private life after nearly two decades in the public spotlight. He was U.S. attorney for New Jersey before running for governor in 2009.
U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton said Wednesday it was clear there never was a legitimate traffic study, as Baroni and Kelly claimed during the trial, and said the defendants sought to mislead the jury with their testimony.
Wigenton also blamed the political culture in Trenton, the state capital. Trial testimony described angry tirades by Christie and detailed his subordinates using the Port Authority as a source of political favors for politicians whose endorsements they sought.
“It’s very clear the culture in Trenton was ‘you’re either with us or you’re not,'” Wigenton said, telling the 44-year-old Kelly that she “got caught up in a culture and an environment that lost its way.”
Kelly and Baroni were sentenced the same month that another Christie ally, former Port Authority chairman David Samson, was sentenced to probation and a year of home confinement for using his position to pressure United Airlines to reinstate a money-losing flight route to give him easier access to his weekend home.
“I’m not surprised by anything,” said Democratic state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, who co-chaired Legislature’s inquiry into the political payback scheme. “The whole situation was sad. It was sad for New Jersey, and it gave us a real bird’s eye view of the Christie administration that’s also sad.”
Kelly and Baroni were convicted in November of all counts against them. The government’s star witness, David Wildstein, said he conceived the plot to retaliate against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, but that Kelly and Baroni were willing participants. Texts and emails produced at trial showed Sokolich’s increasingly desperate pleas for help being ignored.
Kelly, who sent the infamous “time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” email, wiped her eyes with a tissue and apologized during sentencing, saying she never intended to cause harm.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna called Kelly “the impetus behind the crime.”
“If it was David Wildstein’s idea, it was Ms. Kelly who greenlighted the idea,” he said. “Without her instructions — ‘Time for traffic problems in Fort Lee’ — the lane reduction would never have taken place.”
Baroni also apologized before sentencing, saying he accepted responsibility and made “the wrong choice.”
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