Businessweek said in a report that New Jersey lawmakers requested a state court to order two former aides to Governor Chris Christie to produce the documents required for their review on the state's intentional traffic jams at the George Washington Bridge. Christie's former campaign manager William Stepien and ex-deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly had both refused to turn over the documents, which consist of e-mails, text messages and others and said that the turnover of such violates their constitutional rights against unreasonable searches and self-incrimination.
The news agency said a special panel made up of members of the Assembly and the Senate are investigation the reason why allies of the New Jersey governor issued an order to close access lanes to the bridge from September 9 to 12. The closure of the access lanes resorted to a massive gridlock in Fort Lee. Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich believed that the closure was a tactic to punish him for not endorsing Christie's bid for re-election.
Assemblyman John Wisniewski and Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg said in a joint statement yesterday, "Today's court filings are an unfortunate but necessary step to further the committee's work. The committee remains confident in its legal position. We will now let the judicial process play out."
Weinberg and Wisniewski both are chairmen of the committee in charge of the bridge investigation.
Meanwhile a separate committee was formed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to improve governance in the agency. Christie appointee Port chairman David Samson has already apologized regarding the access roads shutdown.
Christie has since denied that he was involved in any way with the access roads closures. On January 9, he revealed that he had severed both ties with Kelly and Stepien, Businessweek said.
Kelly's attorney, Michael Critchley, said of the lawsuit to turn over the documents his client had in her possession, said, "The position we asserted previously is correct. From a brief review of the committee's memorandum of law, I see nothing that causes me to change my position. I look forward to litigating the issues in court."
Stepien's attorney, Kevin Marino, said, "We will review the committee's filing and respond appropriately."
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