Fort Lee, NJ – The former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey official at the center of a controversy about George Washington Bridge lane closures will be called to testify under oath.
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A subpoena was issued Tuesday to David Wildstein ordering him to appear before an Assembly panel on Jan. 9, Assemblyman John Wisniewski announced Tuesday.
Wildstein, who had been Christie’s No. 2 man at the bistate agency, ordered two approach lanes for local traffic diverted without notice in September. They remained that way for four days, causing gridlock.
Democrats have suggested the lanes were shut as political retribution after Fort Lee’s mayor, a Democrat, refused to endorse Christie for re-election. The Republican governor has repeatedly denied it, and one of his appointees has said the lane closures were part of a traffic study.
The latest subpoena comes as Wisniewski and his staff review as many as 5,000 documents and emails delivered in recent days to comply with prior subpoenas.
Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye and two other officials previously were subpoenaed to testify. Gov. Chris Christie’s top deputy at the agency, former state Sen. Bill Baroni, appeared before the committee voluntarily. He and Wildstein have since resigned.
“The time has come to hear directly from Mr. Wildstein,” said Wisniewski, a Democrat. “The public deserves answers as to how this decision was made, who was involved and its true purpose.”
Wildstein’s lawyer Alan Zegas did not return a phone message left with his office for comment.
A former political blogger and friend of the governor since high school, Wildstein resigned his $150,000-per-year job as of Jan. 1, but was forced to leave sooner as the investigation widened.
The governor said he believes Baroni’s explanation that the lanes were closed to conduct a traffic study. No study has been produced. Foye, an appointee of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, testified that he was unaware of any such study.
The Port Authority’s inspector general is looking into the closings, as is a U.S. senator from West Virginia. Wisniewski is leading the state legislative probe.
Christie collected endorsements from more than 50 elected Democrats on his way to a 22-point re-election victory.
Christie’s office did not respond to an email request for comment.
Estimates say that 75,000 people were each robbed of 10 hours of their lives because of this horrible crime. That’s 750,000 hours stolen. If there were five thieves involved in this conspiracy, then they should each serve 150,000 hours imprisonment, or 17.1 years. Maybe then they would come to appreciate how precious each hour is, that they robbed from people, keeping people from work, from school, from their loved ones.
Could we have a more recent picture of him. He has lost some serious weight over the last few months – I think its fair to use a more recent picture. He needs all the good publicity he can get….
As sombodey sitting daily in GW bridge trafic I suport this invastegation
Who ever did this should get locked up for years
Could we have a more recent picture of him. He has lost some serious weight over the last few months – I think its fair to use a more recent picture. He needs all the good publicity he can get….