Politics & Government

Bridget Kelly, Former Ramsey GOP Head, Fired as Christie's Deputy Chief of Staff

Kelly's 'time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee' email and other messages exchanged before lane closures surfaced Wednesday.

Bridget Anne Kelly, the former Ramsey Republican Party leader, was fired Thursday morning as Gov. Chris Christie's deputy chief of staff.

Kelly's email and message saying it was "time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee" surfaced Wednesday and became the center of an alleged revenge plot against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich who did not endorse Christie in November's election.

David Wildstein, a Port Authority director who resigned last month, replied to Kelly's email, "got it."

Christie said at a Thursday morning press conference in Trenton that he "knew nothing" of the emails.

The lane closures caused a week's worth of traffic nightmares on the bridge and on surrounding roads in Fort Lee.

Kelly was described as a pleasant, non-aggressive woman who had a meteoric rise from the Ramsey GOP chief when her vote-getting efforts in Bergen County helped elect Christie to the governorship, according to a NorthJersey.com report.

Congressman Bill Pascrell, a Democrat from Paterson, said he knew Kelly from her days as an aide to Republican state Assemblyman Dave Russo, and he didn't believe Kelly was capable of such antics.

"She didn't wake up one morning and decide, let's screw up the traffic in Fort Lee," Pascrell told NorthJersey.com. 

In the press conference, Christie said that none of the emails "were brought to [his] attention until [Wednesday]."

"I delegate enormous authority to my staff," Christie said. "There is no way anybody would think I know about what's going on in every agency of government."

"I had no knowledge about this, the planning or execution of it."


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