Catering to 1 guy – Chris
GOV. CHRIS Christie transformed the Port Authority — which runs major bridge, tunnels and airports in the New York area — into a political operation dedicated to his reelection in 2013, a key witness in the Bridgegate trial testified Friday.
“My job was to advance the Gov. Christie agenda,” said exPA official David Wildstein, referring to his old friend as his “constituency of one.”
Wildstein, who has already pleaded guilty to orchestrating the lane closures to the George Washington Bridge in September 2013, said Christie and his senior staff ordered him to use the agency to curry favor with elected officials who would endorse the governor.
“The Port Authority was asked to play a role in helping the governor’s office secure certain endorsements,” Wildstein said, recalling orders he received from Christie’s former campaign manager, Bill Stepien, and Christie himself.
He noted the agency “had the ability to do things for Democratic officials that would potentially put the governor in a more favorable position.”
Wildstein said authority favors were doled out through Christie aide Bridget Kelly. Wildstein’s boss at the authority, Bill Baroni, was supportive of the arrangement, Wildstein said.
Kelly and Baroni face nine counts related to the lane closures, which prosecutors say was an act of political revenge against the mayor of Fort Lee for refusing to endorse Christie.
In 2010, the year Baroni started at the PA, he started coming up with ways to use the authority’s $36 billion in assets to Christie’s political advantage.
In a May 2011 email with Kelly, Wildstein referred to
My job was to advance the Gov. Christie agenda. DaVID wILDSTEIN
“The Port Authority’s goody bag.” “I like goody bags,” Kelly replied.
Many of those goodies were connected to the hallowed ground at the World Trade Center, including 100 flags flown at the site on Sept. 11, 2011. Wildstein pitched the idea of packaging the flags with a certificate of authenticity, which were then shipped to Christie’s office. The governor’s office distributed them as it saw fit.
Kelly approved who got treated to tours of the World Trade Center site, Wildstein said. She also approved which towns received surplus Port Authority vehicles, grants — or even steel from the World Trade Center.
The governor always got the credit, Wildstein said.
“That was the system that had been established. All use of Port Authority resources had to be approved by the governor’s office,” Wildstein said.