Bridget Kelly's lawyer responds to internal Christie report | NJ.com

The lawyer for Bridget Anne Kelly fired back today against allegations that largely blamed her for the George Washington Bridge lane closings, blasting the report commissioned by Gov. Chris Christie's office as containing "venomous, gratuitous, and inappropriate sexist remarks."

In a statement, Michael Critchley, Kelly's defense lawyer, said, "The report's venomous, gratuitous, and inappropriate sexist remarks concerning Ms. Kelly have no place in what is alleged to be a professional and independent report."

Critchley was making an apparent reference to revelations in the report of a failed romance that Kelly had with Bill Stepien, a former two-time campaign manager for Christie. The report indicated that the failed relationship took an emotional toll on Kelly and that might have played a role in her actions tied to the bridge.

Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff to Christie, who was fired in January after emails emerged tying her to the now infamous lane closings at the bridge, is considered a central figure in the scandal that has attracted a federal inquiry, a state legislative investigation, and $1 million, taxpayer funded internal report put out yesterday by the attorney for Christie office, Randy Mastro.

Her email, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," is considered a piece of smoking-gun evidence that allegedly shows the lane-closings were orchestrated by Kelly and others as an act of political retribution aimed Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat who declined to endorse Christie, a Republican, for re-election last year.

Critchley also said the Mastro report was based on incomplete evidence, despite its 360-page length.

"Having reviewed the report of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, as well as listened to the comments of Randy Mastro, Esq., we note that by Mr. Mastro's own admission, he did not have access to all information," Critchley said. "Of course, without reviewing all pertinent evidence, any conclusions that are to be drawn are by definition incomplete."

Critchley also pointed out that the information possessed by Kelly could be crucial to unraveling the full story of what happened in the bridge scandal – and therefore, he said, it might be in the governor's office's interest to discredit her in the Mastro report.

He said the Mastro report's version of events, which cleared Christie of any knowledge of the lane closings or personal wrongdoing, differs from allegations made by David Wildstein, a former high-ranking official at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Wildstein has indicated that Christie had knowledge of the lane closings as they occurred.

And Kelly, her lawyer wrote, may be the person with information that will show who is right.

"There appear to be two distinct versions of the George Washington Bridge lane closings," Critchley said. "On the one hand, Mr. Wildstein, through his counsel, has taken one clear position. On the other hand, Mr. Mastro has staked a different view. Thus, Ms. Kelly's evidence could be critical to verifying either of the two competing versions of events.

"A preemptive strike to isolate Ms. Kelly and impugn her credibility is not surprising," Critchley said. "Despite Mr. Mastro's editorialized comments to the contrary, Ms. Kelly is not a liar. She is a single mother of four children who was deeply devoted and committed to her job at the Office of the Governor. She worked tirelessly to pursue the goals of the Office during her tenure."

RELATED COVERAGE

• Bridge scandal internal report says Bridget Kelly was only Christie staffer to close lanes

• Timeline of Port Authority's George Washington Bridge controversy

• Complete coverage of bridge scandal





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