Christie's GWB counsel fights to shield toll files re. 2011 toll hikes
The law firm representing the Christie administration in several investigations into the George Washington Bridge lane closures is aggressively trying to keep communications between the governor’s office and the Port Authority private in an unrelated court case about the unprecedented Hudson River toll hikes approved in 2011, records show.
That strategy, employed by former federal prosecutor Randy Mastro and the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, could provide clues as to how a flurry of legislative subpoenas delivered to the governor’s office on Friday will be handled. Christie has said he will cooperate with all “appropriate inquiries” into whether his office had any involvement in the September lane closures, seen as an act of political retribution, but it’s still unclear whether he will try to block the release of some internal communications.
Mastro is representing the Port Authority in a lawsuit filed by the automobile club AAA over massive toll hikes, but progress in that case has been slow, with accusations of stonewalling keeping it in its early stages. It is getting renewed attention this week as the lane-closure scandal unfolds.
The two seemingly unrelated issues were linked on Friday for another reason: the Port Authority raised concerns that Mastro’s firm had a potential conflict of interest because it was also chosen by the Christie administration this week to handle document requests from twin probes of the lane closures being conducted by the Legislature. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is also reviewing the closures.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/state/Christies_GWB_counsel_fights_to_shield_toll_files.html#sthash.8grAqpIA.dpuf
