Prosecutors say the two defendants on trial – Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, both close allies of Christie, a Republican – used the governor’s office and the Port Authority of NY and New Jersey, which runs the bridge, as arms of Christie’s re-election campaign, to reward mayors who endorsed him and punish those who did not.
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Lawyers for Kelly, once a deputy chief of staff and loyal soldier and friend to Christie, will try to separate her from him, and to persuade the jury that it was improbable that she had the power or the inclination to carry out any kind of political retribution, or to engage the Port Authority’s vast resources to cover it up.
An attorney for Bill Baroni wrote in a court filing this week that prosecutors now claim his motive was to curry favor with Christie by causing traffic jams to punish a mayor who didn’t endorse Christie’s 2013 re-election.
Governor Chris Christie directed the Office of the Attorney General to file a historic legal action with the state Supreme Court Sept. 15, 2016 to clear statutory and contractual impediments that have interfered with New Jersey’s maintenance of a “thorough and efficient system of free public schools”, as required under the state constitution.
A former political blogger and high school friend of Christie’s who also worked for the Port Authority, David Wildstein, has pleaded guilty and will testify for the government.
Christie has not been charged in the scandal and the governor told Williams the upcoming trial will confirm his innocence.
New Jersey has spent almost $100 billion on those 31 districts since 1985, Christie’s statement said, even as students in the districts “have lower graduation rates, and many of their graduates require costly remedial courses before attending college”. The bridge, one of the busiest in the world, links Fort Lee and New York City.
The Christie administration said New Jersey has spent almost $100 billion in tax revenue on the 31 targeted districts since 1985, yet the students in those school districts continue to perform far below state education standards and the other districts in the rest of the state. He dismissed five counts including racketeering and consumer fraud.
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The most serious charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
