Christie: Never expected Fulop endorsement

TRENTON - Gov. Christie said Tuesday that he had not expected to win the endorsement of a high-profile Democrat for his 2013 reelection campaign, a week after court filings showed that two of the governor's former allies had sought to use a business deal with Steve Fulop to gain his support.

"I never had any sense - my campaign may have been more optimistic, but I never had any sense that I'd ever get Steve Fulop's endorsement, because it seemed pretty clear to me that Steve Fulop was intent on running for governor after I left," Christie, a Republican, said at a Statehouse news conference.

Fulop, the mayor of Jersey City, was a councilman in 2012 when he was working for Foreign Auto Preparation Service (FAPS), a processor of imported vehicles at Port Newark.

In May of that year, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey warned FAPS that it owed nearly $3 million in rent and fees, and was in danger of violating its lease.

Fulop helped negotiate on the company's behalf. After the Port Authority and FAPS reached an agreement in November 2012, two Christie allies exchanged emails about a possible endorsement.

"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 who later managed the governor's reelection campaign.

"Good to hear," Stepien responded, according to the court documents. "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!"

Christie on Tuesday said he was not involved in the Port Authority negotiations with FAPS.

"I don't even know what FAPS is," the governor said. "As of today, I still don't know what FAPS is."

Fulop, who is expected to seek the Democratic nomination for governor next year, was elected mayor in May 2013 and ultimately did not endorse Christie.

Just a few weeks before the election, Fulop said he would support "the whole Democratic ticket," without mentioning the name of his party's beleaguered nominee, then-State Sen. Barbara Buono.

Fulop's office released a statement last week calling the court documents "disturbing." The statement said the mayor had been called as a witness in the bridge trial, which is to begin next month, and would "answer all questions at that time."

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

Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a former top Christie appointee at the Port Authority, have been charged in the September 2013 alleged scheme to jam traffic at the George Washington Bridge to punish a local mayor who did not endorse the governor's reelection.

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