So much has happened since the scandal of bridgegate, when some of the people who worked for Chris Christie decided to punish a section of New Jersey that did not endorse him during his campaign. They did that by making it difficult to access a bridge to New York City, causing terrible traffic jams, making it impossible for everyone, including schoolchildren and emergency vehicles, to get to where they needed to go.
Well, one of the architects of that plan, Bill Baroni, has now been sentenced to 18 months in prison.
In a wavering voice Tuesday before he was sentenced to 18 months in prison, Bill Baroni apologized for his actions and said he allowed his desire to be on Christie's "team" to cloud his judgment.
"I wanted to be on the team, I wanted to please him, but I chose to get sucked into his cult and culture," he said. "So by the time of this idea, to use the lanes of the George Washington Bridge to help his campaign, I no longer had that line of right and wrong to say no or to stop it. So I didn't."
Christie wasn't charged, but the massive gridlock over four days and part of a fifth in September 2013 mushroomed into a scandal dubbed "Bridgegate" that dragged down his presidential aspirations. Christie later conceded it played a role in then-Republican nominee Donald Trump's decision not to name him as his running mate.
Others also got in trouble. David Wildstein pleaded guilty and got probation. Bridget Kelly received 18 months and is appealing. The higher players, such as Samson and Christie, were not charged, and the investigation is not particularly satisfactory. Still, maybe the fact that two are going to prison is enough to deter some Republican criminals in the future. I think more would have been done if the media had kept up the focus.
A few days of gridlock is nothing compared to a 35-day shutdown of the government.