USA TODAY International Edition
2 get prison in Bridgegate scandal
The former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was sentenced to two years in prison Wednesday, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s former deputy chief of staff received 18 months in prison for roles in a conspiracy to close down access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in September 2013.
Bill Baroni, 45, formerly one of the top officials at the Port Authority, and Bridget Anne Kelly, 44, previously a top Christie aide, were found guilty in November of deliberately causing gridlock in Fort Lee, N. J., in a scheme to punish the town’s mayor for refusing to endorse Christie’s 2013 re- election. The Port Authority owns and operates the bridge, the world’s busiest.
“I was wrong,” Baroni told U. S. District Judge Susan Wigenton. “I’ve waited three years to say that.”
The pair were found guilty on seven counts of conspiracy, fraud and civil- rights violations. Prosecutors had asked Wigenton to impose a prison term of about three years for each defendant for what they called “a stunningly brazen and vindictive abuse of power.”
“The use of government power at a publicly owned bridge to create traffic in town just to mess with one person,” Assistant U. S. Attorney Lee Cortes said. “Those are the actions out of the playbook of some dictator of a banana republic.”
Kelly’s and Baroni’s lawyers requested probation and community service. Kelly, a single mother of three minors and a 20- year- old, also suggested a period of home confinement.
“Your biographical information will always have this senseless taint,” Wigenton said as she handed down Baroni’s sentence. Later, she said it could be argued that Baroni was more culpable than Kelly because he had power over the lane closures.
U. S. Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick called the sentences fair and reasonable in a mid- afternoon news conference.
Both Baroni and Kelly are expected to appeal their convictions.
The scandal also led to an investigation that brought down the governor’s friend and mentor. David Samson was a former New Jersey attorney general sentenced in the same courthouse earlier in March.