Emails show Christie aides canceled meetings
JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- Five high-ranking New Jersey officials and one from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey canceled meetings with a city's new mayor last year and offered no explanation, documents released by town officials show.
Steve Fulop, the Democratic mayor of Jersey City, says he believes the commissioners decided not to meet with him in July because he declined to endorse Republican Gov. Chris Christie's re-election bid.
He has been talking about the events since last week, when documents were released that showed that Christie aides and appointees were involved in the decision to close access lanes to the George Washington Bridge, a move that caused massive traffic jams in the nearby community of Fort Lee. The mayor there said he believes the lanes were closed to punish him for not endorsing Christie.
Jersey City released emails and text messages about setting up and then canceling meetings in response to open records requests from The Associated Press and other news organizations.
The emails back up the assertions Fulop made last week about the meetings being canceled abruptly in July, but they do not offer any insight into why the officials backed out.
In one, Fulop tells Port Authority Deputy Director Bill Baroni, "I am not sure if it is a coincidence that your office canceled a meeting several weeks back that seemed to be simultaneous to other political conversations."
Baroni, a Christie appointee, has since resigned in the unfolding scandal over the Fort Lee closings.
Fulop eventually publicly said he was supporting Democrat Barbara Buono for governor.
Christie spokesmen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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