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Documents reveal political intrigue by Christie allies behind port authority deal

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was furious. In May 2012, top officials at the bistate agency lashed out at a processor of imported vehicles that operated at Port Newark and owed $2.8 million in rent and fees.

Steve Fulop, Democratic mayor of Jersey City, ultimately did not endorse Christie.
Steve Fulop, Democratic mayor of Jersey City, ultimately did not endorse Christie.Read moreAVI STEINHARDT

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was furious.

In May 2012, top officials at the bistate agency lashed out at a processor of imported vehicles that operated at Port Newark and owed $2.8 million in rent and fees.

The agency warned Foreign Auto Preparation Service (FAPS) that if it did not take remedial action quickly, it would be in violation of its lease.

"For years, FAPS has failed to meet its financial responsibilities as a tenant at our port, and this practice stops today," then-Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni said.

By November, the company had met its obligations and entered into a lease supplement with the Port Authority. All was resolved.

Now, emails made public in court filings late Tuesday as part of the George Washington Bridge lane-closure case - in which Baroni and a former aide to Gov. Christie await trial - suggest the accord was reached as part of a political calculation.

Behind the scenes, the emails indicate, Christie's allies were trying to link a favorable outcome for FAPS to extracting an endorsement of the Republican governor's reelection from Steve Fulop, a Democratic Jersey City councilman, now mayor, who was negotiating on FAPS's behalf.

Also working for FAPS were Michael DeCotiis, a lawyer and top Fulop donor, and former U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli, also a Democrat.

Ultimately, Fulop would not endorse Christie. Fulop, who became mayor in 2013, is widely expected to run for governor in 2017.

"Good meeting with Fulop today, very open about his intent to endorse - although clearly that's what I wanted to hear from him," David Wildstein, a former Port Authority official, wrote in a Nov. 28, 2012, email to Bill Stepien, a top Christie aide, two weeks after the Port Authority board entered the supplemental lease.

Stepien, who soon would go on to manage Christie's campaign, responded: "Good to hear. I give him less of a chance than most of our other targets . . . quite the snake. We'll see . . . you can't say we haven't tried!"

In a statement, a spokeswoman for Fulop said Wednesday he had worked in the company's finance department.

"He is proud of his work at FAPS, taking a lead role to save a 50-year-old company and hundreds of union jobs," the statement said. "The documents released today via Bill Baroni's attorney are nothing short of disturbing with regard to their comments on FAPS. Mayor Fulop has been subpoenaed as a prosecution witness [in the Baroni trial] and will answer all questions at that time."

FAPS offers inspections and other services for an array of clients, such as Ford, General Motors, and Fiat Chrysler.

In an interview, Torricelli said the company had fallen behind on rent in part because the 2011 Japanese tsunami hurt business.

Torricelli said Baroni and Wildstein frequently negotiated on the agency's behalf. Formal meetings, Torricelli said, were chaired by Pat Foye, then the agency's executive director and an appointee of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

"During the extensive negotiations with the Port Authority, the political relationship between Steve Fulop and Chris Christie was never raised in the formal discussions," Torricelli said, adding he would not have been privy to internal deliberations.

"It was always a matter of business," he said.

A Port Authority spokesman declined to comment on the emails. DeCotiis couldn't be reached, and FAPS did not respond to a request for comment.

Wildstein has pleaded guilty in the bridge case and is cooperating with the government.

Christie's office did not respond to a request for comment.

Stepien's lawyer said Wednesday it was "categorically false and irresponsible" to implicate his client in the bridge affair.

The court documents were filed by an attorney for Baroni, a former top Christie appointee at the Port Authority. Baroni's attorney wants the Jersey City evidence excluded from trial, which is to begin next month.

Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff to Christie, are charged with jamming traffic at the bridge in September 2013 as part of a plan to punish a local mayor who didn't endorse Christie's reelection.

The court documents just released also shed new light on an enduring mystery associated with the bridge case.

The indictment, handed up by a federal grand jury in April 2015, says Baroni suggested to Wildstein in September 2013 that they could schedule a meeting with Fort Lee's outraged mayor, then "pull a faps."

This referred to Baroni and Wildstein's "strategy of scheduling a meeting that they intended all along to cancel, as they did with FAPS Inc.," to punish Fulop, according to the indictment.

It isn't clear when the meeting with FAPS was canceled.

The court filings suggest that Christie's allies wanted to impress on Fulop that the governor was interested in a favorable outcome for the councilman's client.

In a Sept. 25, 2012, email to Wildstein with the subject line "Fwd: FAPs," Fulop wrote: "FYI. I think things are set on our side. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help close from your side."

About an hour later, Stepien wrote back to Wildstein: "Continue throwing the Gov/my name around when discussing this with him (assuming it's going to end well, of course) - it's important he associate a successful conclusion to this with us."

Yet relations with Fulop, who was elected mayor in May 2013, would sour.

A few months later, Christie would cancel meetings with Fulop, according to court documents, because the governor didn't want to damage his political relationship with Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester), who is expected to compete against Fulop in 2017.

aseidman@phillynews.com

856-779-3846 @AndrewSeidman