Well here we go again. It is my recollection that Governor Christie claimed he didn't even have Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich on his radar. I guess that is true if Fort Lee being number 47 out of the top 100 cities they were monitoring means it wasn't on their radar.
Yesterday Christie aid Matt Mowers testified about their efforts to obtain the endorsement of the mayor. Better yet they kept notes of the number of meetings and phone calls they made in an effort to document their "progress on various 'metrics'" as well as any "conditions of endorsement ".
The mayor decided not to endorse Christy. In the run up to the bridge decision, Mowers testified that Bridget Anne Kelly phoned him to ask if the
"mayor's endorsement was definitely out of the question. He confirmed that it was. The next day, Ms. Kelly sent the email to a Port Authority officially saying, 'Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee'".
Once again I believe that even if Christie was not aware, prior to the lane closings, of the activities of his aids he set a tone causing them to believe that this type of retribution was acceptable.
You can read the NYT's take on his testimony here
http://www.nytimes.com/...
7:58 AM PT: Cezanne notes this motive previously reported http://www.nj.com/...