By David Cruz
Correspondent
Bridget Kelly strode into federal court this morning with a confident gait. The woman who famously wrote that “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” email may hold the key to how this case unfolds. On Friday, the day David Wildstein pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges, Kelly was defiant, a far car from the weepy, scorned woman she says she was made out to be.
This morning, Kelly had nothing to say, but her attorney, Michael Critchley reiterated their position.
“If the government does not call many of the people who are Bridget Kelly’s former colleagues, you can rest assured that we will be subpoenaing them because we do want one thing to occur in this case. We do not want to have a closed, quick version of the facts. We want a full airing of the fact involving everyone that was involved,” Critchley said.
Right now, the only other person charged with involvement is former state senator and number two man at the Port Authority Bill Baroni, who broke his long silence today. The man who testified to the Assembly Transportation Committee that this was all just a badly-executed traffic study, asserted today: “I am an innocent man. And that is why I turned over thousands and thousands of pages of my own documents to both the prosecutors and the Legislature. And that is why I will testify on my own behalf as soon as the trial begins, and I will spend every day working to clear my name and get my reputation back.”
According to U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, Wildstein, Baroni and Kelly concocted the idea to block access lanes to the GWB as political payback against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Gov. Chris Christie’s reelection bid, then covering it up by creating the traffic study story. Wildstein promises to be the state’s star witness but, according to Critchley, he will prove to be quite flawed.
“Obviously when they came up with their indictment you have to understand this, the government was relying on just David Wildstein. Whatever Mr. Fishman said that day or any of his representatives, they do not have first-person knowledge of anything in this case. They’re relying on that one narrator and that one narrator is David Wildstein,” Critchley said.
As for the governor, who Critchley hinted he might call as a witness, if necessary, his camp is claiming vindication. The governor says his own internal report, as well as that of a joint legislative committee and now a federal prosecutor all concur.
“I don’t think that has anything much to do with me,” Christie said.
So, the three key players in this drama have all made their initial court appearances. A judge has set a July 7 trial date, but, of course, the trial in the court of public opinion has already begun, and just what impact all of this will have on the potential presidential candidacy of one New Jersey governor? That remains to be see in the weeks and months ahead.