An old political scandal’s resurfaced. The Record reports it’s obtained exchanges among Port Authority police about the lane closures on the George Washington Bridge a year ago that indicate the police were in on it. When an officer radioed the traffic was causing hazardous conditions and lanes had to be re-opened, his supervisor allegedly told him to “shut up” and then instructed him not to discuss the apparently secret operation on an open channel. An attorney representing the police has given records of the conversations to lawmakers investigating the bridge scandal. Assemblyman John Wisniewski told NJTV News Anchor Mary Alice Williams that the report is troubling.
Wisniewski said that he was aware of the conversations and they are troubling in light of all of the testimony the select committee investigating the GWB lane closures has already received.
“Clearly there was an effort to keep this whole caper secret. We know that from the beginning with the testimony of Bill Baroni that was refuted by Patrick Foye. We heard Bob Durando and Cedrick Fulton both testify that they were afraid to talk about this for fear of losing their jobs,” said Wisniewski. “Now we see yet again another example of superiors at the Port Authority telling their subordinates to shut up and not say anything about this. With an agency as large as Port Authority, they have budgets bigger than 26 U.S. states. This is indeed very troubling.”
Police Lt. Thomas “Chip” Michaels was in charge and was the supervisor Wisniewski was referring to. Michaels grew up with Gov. Chris Christie in Livingston. Michaels was the one who gave the order and later that morning officers said they saw Michaels driving David Wildstein, the Port Authority executive who ordered the closures in the first place as far as anyone knows. When asked if that was accurate, Wisniewski said sarcastically, “I’m sure that it was a coincidence that Wildstein who was appointed by Christie was driving around with Michaels who was Christie’s personal friend and superiors in the police department, just by coincidence, were telling subordinates to shut up about this.”