The self-described architect of Bridgegate, an operative the defense describes as an evil mastermind, took the stand. NJTV News Correspondent David Cruz was in the courtroom with the state’s star witness. He spoke with Anchor Mary Alice Williams about it.
Williams: So what happened, David?
Cruz: So, Mary Alice, this is what everyone has been waiting for. It was a bit dry to begin with, with a lot of information contained in there. Wildstein has already pleaded guilty. So the judge first instructed the jury not to infer anything about his guilty plea as it regards the other defendants. So the judge kept reminding him to speak into the mike. This is the guy who the defense called vicious and a bully and maniacal. And so he looked pretty meek on the stand. But he didn’t dispute those descriptions of him when he was asked what he did at the Port Authority. In fact, David Wildstein said that his main job was to “Make sure things got done. [Be] very aggressive. Being the bad guy. My expectation was to get things done. My job was to advance Gov. Christie’s agenda … and to be very aggressive. Mr. Baroni [that is, Bill Baroni] didn’t like being the bad cop. He liked being the good cop.” Prosecutor Lee Cortes says, “That wasn’t a problem for you?” Wildstein says, “It was not.” So, you know, he was hired by Baroni at the PA in 2010. He called him “one of the closest friends I’ve ever had” and from the start there was this thing that they called the “one constituent rule”. Asked what that meant, Wildstein said, “If it was good for Chris Christie it was good for us. The only person we needed to make happy was Chris Christie.”
Williams: Now what about the other defendant, Bridget Kelly?
Cruz: So at this point, she was running Intergovernmental Affairs, which is the office in the governor’s office was the liaison to other mayors and other stakeholders. Asked what their working relationship was, Wildstein said, “I viewed Ms. Kelly as my boss. We viewed the governor’s office as our boss. … Our job was to follow her instructions.” He talked about a PA, that is Port Authority, goody bag which included World Trade Center items like flags, steel from the World Trade Center, tours of the World Trade Center site. Also in that goody bag were patronage jobs, even grants and vehicles and other types of equipment. He called the PA a very valuable resource.
Williams: Now Sen. Loretta Weinberg, Senate Committee on Investigations, was there.
Cruz: Yeah, she was. It was her second visit. She was there for opening arguments. She said she knew the atmosphere existed at the Port Authority, but…
Weinberg: Hearing it translated into phrases like a constituency of one, it’s very depressing. It’s depressing to think that even Newark Airport was — as far as they were concerned — wasn’t the hundreds of thousands of people who went in and out of there. It was the governor. And anything and everything they did was for the constituency of one. And I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but I still am.
Cruz: This is just the beginning for David Wildstein. The prosecution will continue with him on Monday and then the defense gets a crack at him.
Williams: Now Wildstein wasn’t the only witness today right?
Cruz: No, he was not. The prosecution spent a lot of time establishing the inner workings of the IGA. Their job was to get endorsements and so on. Sokolich did not endorse Gov. Christie.
Williams: The mayor of Fort Lee.
Cruz: Right. Michael Critchley who represents Bridget Kelly who’s supposedly the one who said, “Time for some traffic problems,” he asked, “There was no anger at Sokolich, was there?” [Matt] Mowers says, “No.” “Was there an uproar?” “No.” “Was he rather insignificant?” The prosecution objected to that so Critchley moved on. He said, “Did anyone from the governor’s office order you to retaliate?” And Mowers says, “No.” The point here from Critchley is that he wanted to set the stage to give this indication that there wasn’t an atmosphere of retaliation at that point.
Williams: All right, David Cruz, thank you.
Cruz: All right Mary Alice.