New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday admitted making “mistakes” in the widening “Bridgegate” scandal — then urged Garden State residents to stop rubber-necking and focus on reducing taxes and improving education.
In his “state of the state” speech, the recently re-elected Republican acknowledged the toll taken by last week’s revelations that a since-fired aide engineered massive traffic jams by ordering the closure of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge over four days in September.
“The last week has certainly tested this administration,” Christie said at the start of his address to the legislature in Trenton.
“Mistakes were clearly made. And as a result, we let down the people we are entrusted to serve. I know our citizens deserve better. Much better.”
Christie, a leading presidential prospect, also declared: “I am the governor and I am ultimately responsible for all that happens on my watch — both good and bad.
“Without a doubt we will cooperate with all appropriate inquiries to ensure that this breach of trust does not happen again,” he added.
“What has occurred does not define us or this state.”
Christie has been embroiled in controversy since emails surfaced showing that then-Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly in August told a Port Authority official: “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”
Christie held a marathon news conference Thursday at which he apologized for the scheme and said he had fired Kelly for lying about what she did.
He also forced two-time campaign manager Bill Stepien to cancel plans to be named the next New Jersey state Republican chairman over his role in the fiasco.
The US Attorney’s Office in New Jersey is investigating the lane closures, and the New Jersey legislature has formed two special committees to look into the role that politics played and exactly who in the Christie administration was aware of the plan.
In Washington, DC, US Sen. Jay Rockefeller — who has questioned Christie’s claim that he was kept in the dark — on Tuesday said he might hold Congressional hearings, “depending on how things go.”
“I’m ready to pounce,” said Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) who chairs the powerful Transportation Committee.
Leading congressional investigator Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) also said: “You have to not have a nose if you don’t smell something.”
“The question is, is there something more serious than has already been described?” Levin added.
Meanwhile, a new photograph emerged Tuesday showing since-resigned Port Authority official David Wildstein — who helped create the traffic mess — talking to Christie during last year’s Sept. 11 commemoration at Ground Zero, on the third day of the tie-ups.
Christie last week claimed he’d “had no contact with David Wildstein in a long time, a long time, well before the (Nov. 5) election.”
Christie spokesman Colin Reed downplayed the photo, obtained by the Wall Street Journal, saying Christie “had numerous interactions with public officials that morning, including representatives of the Port Authority.”