Gov. Chris Christie questioned at Town Hall in Flemington, March 20, 2014. (credit: Levon Putney/WCBS 880)Gov. Chris Christie questioned at Town Hall in Flemington, March 20, 2014. (credit: Levon Putney/WCBS 880)
FLEMINGTON, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) – Gov. Chris Christie has been questioned at a town hall meeting for the first time on the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal.
As WCBS 880’s Levon Putney reported, 11 people at the town hall in Flemington wore white t-shirts with letters spelling out “B-R-I-D-G-E-G-A-T-E-?”
Gov. Christie didn’t call on them, but did take a question from Fred Canter of Mountain Lakes, Putney reported.
Canter asked Christie why he said he fired former top aide Bridget Anne Kelly for lying about whether she knew about the lane closures, instead of for engaging in what Canter said was a potentially illegal act.
“What I said the day afterwards was that I can’t have somebody work for me who lies to me,” Christie replied.
“If she’d told me the truth, she would have got fired too because of what she did,” said Christie. “The offense, first and foremost, is not being honest with the person you’re working for. The secondary offense was if she had be honest and told me, yeah she would’ve been fired anyway.”
Kelly was fired in January after emails revealed she set a traffic jam plot in motion with an email message, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”
Canter on Thursday told the governor he should have fired Kelly for tying up traffic that delayed school buses and emergency vehicles.
It’s the first time the governor has been asked by a citizen at a town hall about the plot to block traffic near the George Washington Bridge.
Christie says he’s looking forward to finding out the truth about the event.
