Friday, May 1, 2015

DAVID WILDSTEIN, A FORMER OFFICIAL AT THE PORT AUTHORITY OF NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY AT THE TIME OF THE TIE-UPS, PLEADED GUILTY TO TWO COUNTS OF CONSPIRACY IN NEW JERSEY’S INFAMOUS TRAFFIC JAM CASE




MAY 1, 2015

NEWARK, N.J. (AP)

Welcome to the state of the few, the proud, the corrupt:  New Jersey.

A former ally of Gov. Chris Christie pleaded guilty Friday to helping to engineer traffic jams at the George Washington Bridge in 2013 and concocting a cover-up along with two other officials with close ties to Christie.

David Wildstein did not implicate Christie in the scheme that has cast a long shadow over the Republican governor's White House prospects in 2016.
Wildstein, an official at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey at the time of the tie-ups, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy.

He said that he came up with the plans along with Bridget Kelly, who was Christie's deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, who was Christie's top appointee at the Port Authority.

He said they orchestrated the scheme to punish the Democratic mayor of the town of Fort Lee, at the foot of the bridge, for not endorsing Christie's re-election bid. He said they also agreed to cover it up by claiming the lane closings were part of a traffic study.

Before Wildstein appeared in court, Christie declined to comment Friday as he left a hotel in McLean, Virginia. Christie has insisted all along that he knew nothing about the scheme.

We are certain he will face significant civil liability, as well, as many people suffered damages as a result of this cruel scheme.  Get the real thug off the streets.

Now that Wildstein has pleaded guilty, it is worth remembering that what Christie has wanted all along is for Wildstein to take the fall.

In March 2014, Christie’s lawyers held an absurd press conference wherein they released the findings of their internal review of Bridgegate. They found, shockingly, that Christie had done nothing wrong—but that Wildstein had. 

They went as far as to paint Wildstein as frantic and unhinged—someone with “50 crazy ideas a week.” The report claimed, “Wildstein first approached [a Christie aide] about his idea to realign the Fort Lee toll lanes.”

After Bridgegate broke, Wildstein publicly requested immunity. A few weeks later, Wildstein’s attorney released a letter that claimed “evidence exists as well tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures, during the period when the lanes were closed, contrary to what the Governor stated publicly in a two-hour press conference he gave…Mr. Wildstein contents the accuracy of various statements that the Governor made about him and he can prove the inaccuracy of some.”

Last April, the legal website Main Justice reported that Wildstein had been cooperating with prosecutors, and implied that they have struck a deal.
Christie has maintained that he did not know about the plot to close the lanes, or the closures themselves. He went as far as to mock reporter Matt Katz in December 2013 when he asked about it: “I worked the cones actually,” he joked.

An admission of guilt from Wildstein does not necessarily put Christie in the clear. What matters is whether or not he revealed anything about Christie in his dealings with the Feds, and if his version of events suggests Christie did know of the lane closures or did, in fact, work those cones himself.
Sources: ap.com/thedailybeats.com