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Committees Investigating Christie Administration, George Washington Bridge Lane Closures Merge

TRENTON, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- New Jersey lawmakers have merged the committees investigating the George Washington Bridge lane closures.

A bipartisan committee will be made up of eight Democrats and four Republicans.

"We need to move forward in a unified way to get to the bottom of these issues that are seemingly growing by the minute," said New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-West Deptford.

Emails revealed that high-ranking officials in Gov. Chris Christie's administration appeared to engineer lane closures at the bridge in September as political retribution against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Christie's re-election bid.

Meanwhile, Hoboken Cty Councilwoman Beth Mason wants to hear from Mayor Dawn Zimmer, who has accused Lt. Gov. Kim Guardagno of trying to strong-arm her by threatening to withhold superstorm Sandy money unless she approved a development project by the Rockefeller Group.

"So the question is who knew, when did they know it," the Democrat said. "The residents of Hoboken deserve the right to know what happened here."

The Rockefeller Group released a statement saying: "We have no knowledge of any information pertaining to this allegation. If it turns out to be true, it would be deplorable."

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