New Jersey judge rules Gov. Christie pals can keep Bridgegate documents private

The New Jersey legislature's probe of Bridgegate got stuck Wednesday in legal traffic.

A state judge ruled that two top allies of embattled Gov. Chris Christie do not have to turn over documents related to the George Washington Bridge lane closings.

Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Stepien had been fighting subpoenas issued by the legislative panel ordering them to turn over emails and text messages tied to the traffic-stopping scandal last September.

Stepien, who is Christie's former campaign manager, and Kelly, Christie's ex-deputy chief of staff, cited their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to satisfy the subpoenas.

Tim Larsen/AP

Judge Mary Jacobson agreed with them.

'The fact that the committee has the power to enforce its own subpoenas through orders to compel and grant immunity in return, and the lack of a clear jurisdictional basis for this court to intrude upon that power, raises serious questions concerning the exercise of judicial power,' the judge wrote in the 98-page opinion.

Assemblyman John Wisniewski, the investigative committee's Democratic co-chair, said he and his colleagues are plotting their next move.

Richard Drew/AP

'There's more than one method to gather information in an investigation, and we will consider alternatives,' Wisniewski said Wednesday. 'We will continue exploring every avenue to find out what happened with this threat to public safety and abuse of government power.'

The panel is trying to determine whether the Republican governor knew in advance that his underlings were planning to tie-up traffic as payback for the mayor of Ft Lee's refusal to endorse Christie's reelection.

Stepien's lawyer, Kevin Marino, called Jacobson's ruling 'a complete vindication.'

But Stepien is not completely out of the woods. Federal prosecutors are also investigating the scandal.

Christie has denied any prior knowledge of the lane closures and fired Kelly after learning in January that she set the lane closings in motion with the message, 'time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.'

Stepien also got the heave-ho from his boss.

Mel Evans/AP

Last month, Christie trumpeted a taxpayer-financed $1 million report generated by his hand-picked lawyer, Randy Mastro, which exonerated him.

Among other things, it mentioned that Kelly and Stepien has a 'personal relationship' last summer.

But Mastro's report was widely jeered as a whitewash and failed to wipe away strong suspicions that the Republican powerhouse governor played some role in the scandal.

There was no immediate reaction from Team Christie to the Jacobson ruling.

csiemaszko@nydailynews.com

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