It's hard not to conclude that the problems Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie faces over the (George Washington) Bridgegate scandal are self-inflicted. This is about a scandal that simmered from September 9, when two of three lanes of the world's busiest bridge were coned off during rush hour from Fort Lee, New Jersey into New York City, until last week when emails between top Christie staffers surfaced. The emails show them to have orchestrated the lane closures and ergo the massive traffic tieups that resulted, apparently for political payback. The widely speculated target of the revenge has been Democratic Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, though the name of New Jersey Democrat and State Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg has also been speculated about as the target.
The e-mails show Christie Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Kelly telling Port Authority Director David Wildstein, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." Wildstein, a Christie appointee the Governor has known since high school, emailed back, "Got it." The traffic problems ensued, resulting in thousands of people missing time from work, thousands of students being late to the first day of school, thousands of companies suffering shipment delays and some emergency vehicles taking up to three times as long to complete urgent trips. According to another email, this was not a problem because those being inconvenienced were mostly (Christie election opponent State Sen. Barbara) "Buono voters."
Wildstein resigned earlier in the scandal. Friday he exercised his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination by refusing to answer any question in sworn testimony before a New Jersey legislative committee. The morning of the press conference Christie fired Kelly and his two-time campaign director Bill Stepien. Thus far, no evidence has emerged to implicate Stepien in the planning or implementation of the closure, but subsequent emails had him on the distribution list, so he knew about it and did not report it. He also entered the email conversation, at one point interjecting, "Sokolich is an idiot."
On Thursday January 9, Christie delivered repeated apologies at a nearly two-hour press conference in which he took general "responsibility" but no blame. The Governor spoke as though he seemed to think he was the primary victim in the episode, not the citizens who were impacted by the transportation interruption. His attempt at introspection was, "What did I do to have these folks think it was OK to lie to me?" A bigger issue should have been, even if he had no direct knowledge of the plot, what did he do to create a culture in his office that it was OK to punish average citizens for political infighting between politicians?
In the news conference, in response to questions about his gruff persona, Christie said that "politics is not beanbag," but that his style was just "direct and honest." He summed up by saying, " I am who I am, but I am not a bully," His explanation is unsatisfying. I was struck watching ex-Republican congressman Joe Scarborough on Friday morning lauding Christie's performance at the press conference but still intimating that something had to be badly wrong for close intimates to operate in such a fashion. "No one in my office would ever have dared do such a thing. They would have known it was wrong, that we don't operate that way and that I wouldn't stand for it," Scarborough said. I couldn't agree more. Instead of treating questions about the problem with respect and getting to the bottom of things, for weeks Christie denied and mocked those who raised questions. Indeed, his whole persona is fraught with incidents of calling citizen questioners "idiots" and "assholes." Speaking of 78-year old Loretta Weinberg, he once wished that somebody would "take the bat out on her." That's not the kind of language a responsible human being uses in these days of murder rampages. It's the language of, well, a bully.
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