Press secretary: Christie had no involvement in bridge scheme

TRENTON - Gov. Christie's chief spokesman told lawmakers Tuesday that he was certain the Republican governor and aides close to him had no involvement in the George Washington Bridge scandal, which he described as "strange, unnecessary, and idiotic."

Press secretary Michael Drewniak also denied personal involvement in the lane closures or in any cover-up. Drewniak said former Port Authority official David Wildstein told him the closures were his idea.

"I, too, would like to know from those who hatched and carried out this scheme, just what it was they hoped to accomplish and - very simply - why?" Drewniak said under oath before the legislative committee investigating the traffic jams.

Drewniak's daylong testimony hewed closely to the report completed by the law firm hired by Christie's office to investigate the lane closures, which absolved the governor and his current staff of any responsibility.

The firm, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher L.L.P., said in its report that the lane closures were carried out by Wildstein, a former Christie appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Anne Kelly, the governor's former deputy chief of staff. Wildstein resigned; Kelly was fired.

An Aug. 13 e-mail subpoenaed by legislators shows Kelly wrote, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," to which Wildstein responded, "Got it."

The U.S. Attorney's Office is conducting a criminal investigation into the September lane closures, which snarled traffic for four days at the bridge and in Fort Lee, Bergen County.

Appearing on NJ 101.5 radio's Ask the Governor call-in program Tuesday evening, Christie said Drewniak's testimony had done nothing more than affirm the findings of the Gibson Dunn report.

"I'm not going to sit here and go over this stuff over and over again," Christie said of questions about when he learned what. Of the legislative hearings, he said, "Absolutely nothing new has come out of this."

Drewniak previously testified before a grand jury about the lane closures.

On Tuesday, Drewniak said that he had considered Wildstein a friend but now knew "how badly, regrettably, even naively, I misplaced" trust in him.

He described Wildstein, who was an anonymous political blogger before taking a job at the Port Authority in 2010, as an "extremely hands-on, involved person" who insisted that the lane closures were part of a traffic study.

Much of the committee's questioning focused on Christie's response to the scandal.

"This became damage control," said Assembly Majority Leader Louis D. Greenwald (D., Camden).

Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski (D., Middlesex), a committee cochair, said Drewniak's testimony suggested that Christie's chief counsel, Charlie McKenna, appeared to have had more knowledge about the lane closures than was previously disclosed.

Drewniak's testimony "calls into question the timeline that was enunciated in the past about what the governor's office knew and when they knew it," Wisniewski told reporters.

Documents subpoenaed by legislators show Wildstein had relayed information to Drewniak about the lane closures. At first, though, Drewniak said he thought nothing of the matter.

"It seemed at the moment like a bottom of the barrel issue," he said. That changed, Drewniak said, when the Wall Street Journal inquired in early October about allegations that the lane closures might have been politically motivated.

He approached Kelly about the issue, but she brushed it off, Drewniak said. Wildstein told him: "This is about a traffic study. No big deal," according to Drewniak.

"It sounded like a legitimate answer," Drewniak said.

He said he remained skeptical of any ulterior motive for the lane closures, for a number of reasons, including that he considered the top legislators crying foul - Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D., Bergen) and Wisniewski - as "two of the most partisan members of the Legislature on the other side of the aisle."

On Dec. 4, Drewniak had a 90-minute steak dinner with Wildstein, at which point Wildstein told him that Kelly and Bill Stepien, the governor's campaign manager, had knowledge of the traffic jams. Wildstein also told Drewniak that he had told Christie of the lane closures during a public event on Sept. 11.

At the end of the dinner, Wildstein even produced the purported traffic study, Drewniak said.

Drewniak said he relayed that information to his superiors, including Christie. According to Drewniak, Christie responded: "What, he tells me something about a traffic study and I'm supposed to know what he's talking about?"

Drewniak said McKenna, dismissed speculation about retaliation as politics in the heat of the governor's reelection campaign and "bad blood" with the New York side of the Port Authority.

By that time, Drewniak said, it had become clear that Wildstein would have to resign.

Only on Jan. 8 - when e-mails emerged implicating Kelly and Wildstein - did Drewniak realize the "true, abusive nature" of what occurred in September, he said.

"I do not know what to believe about David Wildstein or Bridget Kelly," Drewniak said. "This is one of the strangest things I've ever witnessed. . . . This is so bizarre. It made no sense. It had no value. I don't know who to believe and why they would do such a thing. It's a mystery to me to this day."

Tuesday marked the Legislature's second round of testimony on the lane closures. Last week, it heard from former Christie aide Christina Renna, who worked with Kelly.

Before Tuesday's hearing, Republicans said the Legislature should let prosecutors handle the investigation into the lane closures. The Legislature's legal bill for the investigation has topped $750,000, while the tab for the governor's office's review is more than $1 million, according to invoices.

Assemblywoman Amy Handlin (R., Monmouth) said the committee should focus on reforming the Port Authority.

The committee is scheduled to take testimony next week from Matt Mowers, a former staffer for Christie's campaign.