Governor Christie's former aides aren't making it easy for him to escape Bridgegate. New documents released by ex-Port Authority executive David Wildstein—he's the one who executed the George Washington Bridge lane closures that plagued Fort Lee for a week—show that he and one of Christie's top deputies joked about causing a traffic jam for a rabbi. Because traffic jams are hilarious!
The NY Times reports that Bridget Anne Kelly, a deputy chief of staff to the governor, wrote to Wildstein about a rabbi, "We cannot cause traffic problems in front of his house, can we?" to which Wildstein replied, "Flights to Tel Aviv all mysteriously delayed." The Times says that Kelly and Wildstein's exchange seemed to be in jest; of course, keep in mind that Kelly had sent the email to Wildstein, "Time for traffic problems in Fort Lee." Which was not a joke.
The exchange began with a picture of the rabbi, who was identified as Mendy Carlebach of South Brunswick Township, posing with a man who appears to be the House speaker, John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio.
“I think this qualifies as some sort of stalking,” Ms. Kelly wrote. “You are too much.”
“He is Jewish Cid Wilson,” Mr. Wildstein replied, in a reference to a past candidate for a State Assembly seat. (Mr. Wilson’s Twitter page features many photographs with prominent officials.)
Mr. Wildstein added that Rabbi Carlebach “has officially pissed me off.”
Seven minutes later, Ms. Kelly raised the prospect of creating traffic problems at the rabbi’s home.
David Wildstein, invoking the 5th earlier this year (Getty Images)
Carlebach told the NY Times that "he was unsure why he might have drawn the officials’ ire. 'I am clueless,' he said, adding that he has not had any 'bad interactions' with Mr. Christie or any of his aides." And he called himself a Christie supporter, though pointed out, "I never came out publicly and endorsed. I am a clergyman. As a policy I don’t endorse, but I support the governor."
One hypothesis about why the Fort Lee lane closures were ordered is that the Christie re-election campaign was upset that Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, didn't endorse Christie. Sokolich met with federal prosecutors about the matter earlier this week.
