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Bridget Anne Kelly, The 'Always Professional' Mother Of Four Who 'Betrayed' Christie
By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 10, 2014
Modified Jan 11, 2014
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NJ Governor's Office
By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 10, 2014
Modified Jan 11, 2014
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Yesterday, NJ Governor Chris Christie took responsibility for the political hijinks that resulted in Fort Lee roads near the George Washington Bridge being gridlocked for days—but also claimed total ignorance and said that his deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly was to blame, "She lied to me...There's no justification for that behavior. There's no justification for ever lying to a governor or a person in authority in this government. And as a result, I've terminated Bridget's employment immediately this morning." But this depiction of the 41-year-old divorced mother of four contrasts with what others say about her.
Christie has claimed that Kelly's actions were that of a lone wolf and that no one else in his administration was involved. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D) called her a "person of character" (video) when he knew her back when she worked for NJ State Senator David Russo. Pascrell says the accusations that she acted alone in demanding "some traffic problems for Fort Lee" "ludicrous."
Another Democrat, State Senator Loretta Weinberg—you know, the one that Christie told the media to "take a bat to"—said, "She was always professional." Another source told the Wall Street Journal, "She was viewed as someone in the front office you could have a conversation with."
Jeff Tittel, of the NJ Sierra Club, said to the Daily News, "The administration doing this doesn’t surprise me. Bridget Kelly — that does surprise me... I don’t believe she would do this on her own. I just don’t see her having this kind of side to her." And Salon's Steve Kornacki, who knows her from covering NJ politics, said, "Having known her for years, I have a hard time believing Bridget Kelly ordered this by herself."
Bergen Record columnist Mike Kelly (no relation) wrote that "friends and co-workers" call her "a hard-working, conscientious and diligent political staffer, who balanced the needs of four children with a long commute to Trenton and the pressures of working for a governor who was being talked about as a Republican presidential candidate."
In 2005, she wrote a letter to the editor of The Record about her son, Conor, then 5 years old, who was born with a heart defect.
“I want parents to have hope for children with heart disease,” she noted in her letter, published July 15, 2005. “It is not automatically a death sentence, and although it is extremely difficult to maintain a positive attitude during such tribulation, it is imperative for the children that parents remain hopeful and optimistic that we have access to the best medical care in the country.”
Mark Kelly also points out that Christie never spoke to Kelly before he fired her, and says, "I’m, quite frankly, not interested in the explanation at the moment."
The Post is on Christie's side, calling Kelly "conniving" while noting she's "described by neighbors as a “typical suburban mom” who sends her four kids, ages 17, 14, 10 and 7, to Catholic schools."
Christie said Thursday he was “embarrassed and humiliated” by Kelly’s actions — and he isn’t the first man blindsided by the cutthroat blonde, sources said.
Her husband, Joe — a golf pro at the Mendham Golf & Tennis Club, where Christie and wife Mary Pat are members — was stunned when his wife of 16 years came home in 2011 and announced she wanted a divorce.
“The guy was a wreck. It was completely out of the blue,” a source said.
Also getting blamed/taking the fall was Christie's campaign manager Bill Stepien. The 36-year-old who helped Christie win his first gubernatorial bid in 2009 and led Christie to his resounding 2013 reelection victory was called the mayor of Fort Lee an "idiot" in an email with former Port Authority executive David Wildstein (Wildstein closed the lanes).
Former NJ Governor Tom Kean said, "My feeling is (the governor) doesn’t have anybody who tells him he’s wrong, but a Bill Stepien is as close as you get to that. He certainly was an implementer. When the governor needed something done on political side, he went to Bill Stepien."
Stepien was tapped to chair the NJ Republican party, but after the emails went public, Christie cut ties to him and asked him to withdraw his application for party chair and his consulting work for the Republican Governors Association, which Christie leads. The governor said, "I was disturbed by the tone and the behavior and attitude, the callous indifference that was displayed in the emails ... And reading that it made me lose my confidence in Bill’s judgment and you cannot have someone at the top of your political operation that you do not have confidence in."
Tagged
Bill Stepien
bridgegate
bridget anne kelly
Chris Christie
fort lee
George Washington Bridge
governor christie
nj
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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