New Jersey Assemblyman John Wisniewski, who is leading the effort to get to the bottom of Bridgegate, appeared on Face the Nation this morning. He reiterated his earlier statement that Bridgegate was a crime--and added that he doesn't buy for a minute that Chris Christie was completely in the dark about it. In so many words, he all but called Christie a baldfaced liar on national television. Watch here.
Wisniewski said that as of now, no direct communication has come to light that indicates Christie knew about the affair. However, based on what's been released, there were simply too many gubernatorial staffers exchanging emails during and immediately after the closures for Christie not to have known about it. His chief counsel, his deputy chief of staff, and his incoming chief of staff were all emailing back and forth while this was going on. To Wisniewski's mind, it "strains credibility" that nobody thought to tell Christie what was going on. He pointed out that this went down two months before the election. Given the timing, he said, there's no way in the world that Christie didn't know--after all, he would have needed to know how to spin it in case a question came up. Later, he pointed out that after Bridget Kelly gave the order to close the lanes, she accompanied Christie when the governor went to monitor a fire on the Seaside Heights boardwalk--and spent the rest of the day with him. "This senior aide, who was with him that day, who sent the order, never once communicated with him?" Wisniewski asked. "It's unbelievable."
Wisniewski thinks that even if Christie wasn't in on the scheme or the cover-up, a crime was definitely committed. "When you use the George Washington Bridge for what the emails show to be a political payback," he said, "that amounts to using public property for a private purpose or a political purpose, and that's not legal." While the investigation is very much in the early stages, if it is indeed proven that Christie was involved, Wisniewski indicated that it would definitely be an impeachable offense.
Wisniewski could not be more right that Christie had to have known about this venal and criminal act. One thing he could have pointed out, though, was that if Christie is telling the truth, he is admitting that he doesn't have any control over his own people. And if that's the case, even if he's completely innocent in this, he is unfit to be governor--or president.
As I said yesterday, I really like what I'm seeing from Wisniewski, and hope he gives some thought to running for higher office in the future. If and when Frank Pallone retires, for instance, Wisniewski would be a solid candidate to succeed him. Wisniewski represents Perth Amboy and Sayreville in the legislature, and his district is entirely within Pallone's congressional district.