No way out of this jam
Bridgegate duo sentenced to prison
Two cronies of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were sentenced to prison Wednesday for the Bridgegate scheme that stranded countless commuters in a series of politically orchestrated traffic jams.
In lowering the boom on former Port Authority exec Bill Baroni and tearful ex-Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly, the judge also got in some none-too-veiled shots at the governor, whose presidential ambitions were scuttled in part due to the scandal.
“Mr. Baroni, I do believe you lost your focus,” Newark federal Judge Susan Wigenton told him before sentencing him to two years in the slammer.
“You allowed the vision of others you perceived as more powerful than you to cloud your judgment.”
Wigenton later slapped Kelly with 18 months, saying she “got caught up in a culture and an environment that lost its way,” and adding that “the environment in Trenton created a culture of ‘You are either with us or you are against us.’
“Undoubtedly, others may be sidestepping their role in this scandal,” Wigenton said.
Baroni and Kelly were convicted last year of plotting to repeatedly close approach lanes to the George Washington Bridge in September 2013 as revenge for Democratic Fort Lee Mayor Marc Sokolich’s refusal to endorse the Republican governor’s re-election bid that year.
It was first exposed through an e-mail in which Kelly infamously wrote: “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”
Prosecutor Lee Cortes called the scheme “almost unfathomable” and profoundly un-American.
“The use of government power at a publicly owned bridge to create traffic in town just to mess with one person — those are the actions out of the playbook of some dictator of a banana republic,” Cortes said.
“It is incomprehensible that such actions could take place here, in the United States.”
During his sentencing, Baroni — a former Garden State pol whom Christie named the No. 2 official at the Port Authority — pointed to the role of unindicted co-conspirators.
“I regret more than anything that I allowed myself to get caught up in this,” he said.
“No one else is responsible for my choice . . . though a number of people outside this courtroom were involved in what happened in Fort Lee that day — some charged and some not.”
Kelly maintained her innocence, even as she admitted sending “insensitive and disrespectful” e-mails and texts about the traffic tie-ups — including one that described her “smiling” about kids having trouble getting to school.
“I never intended to harm anyone,” she insisted.
“This is far from over,” she vowed outside of the courthouse. “I will not allow myself to be a scapegoat in this case.”
Wigenton allowed both Baroni and Kelly to remain free pending appeal, but also slapped them with fines, restitution and community service, and barred them from public service while on supervised release from prison.
Key evidence in the case came from cooperating witness David Wildstein, another Christie PA appointee, who admitted conspiring with Baroni and Kelly to “punish” the Fort Lee mayor.
Wildstein also testified that Christie laughed while discussing the snarled traffic with him and Baroni during a Sept. 11 memorial ceremony at Ground Zero.
Under terms of his plea deal, Wildstein agreed to spend up to 27 months in prison. His sentencing hasn’t been scheduled.