Scott Walker said his support for Chris Christie is steadfast. | AP Photos Walker: I believe Christie

MADISON, Wis.— Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday that Chris Christie should remain chairman of the Republican Governors Association, despite calls from some quarters for the New Jersey governor to step aside in light of the traffic scandal dogging him back home.

Walker said he and Christie spoke the same day last month that Christie held his marathon press conference declaring his innocence in the scheme to slow traffic on the George Washington Bridge in an apparent act of political retribution. Walker said he believed Christie’s explanation then – that wayward aides executed the traffic jam without his knowledge – and has had no reason to doubt the New Jersey governor since.


“He told me the same thing in private that he did to the press in New Jersey, and I have every reason to believe that the information he said is consistent with the truth, and so I still support him in his role as governor and his role in the RGA,” Walker said at an economic conference here.

( QUIZ: How well do you know Scott Walker?)

An editorial in the Newark Star-Ledger this week called on Christie to step aside as RGA chairman, calling his duties for the group “a major distriction.” With much of his top staff “ensnared in the Bridgegate scandals,” the newspaper wrote, “who is minding the store?” Failed GOP Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli earlier called on Christie to step aside as RGA chairman.

Walker said his support for Christie is steadfast, but he added that if something came out linking Christie to the scandal personally, “I’d have to reassess that.”

POLITICO reported last week that some Republicans believe Christie’s troubles could be a boon to Walker’s national prospects. Both are viewed as likely candidates for the White House.

( QUIZ: How well do you know Chris Christie?)

Walker, however, said Wednesday he’s not looking that far ahead at this point.

“I even say to fellow Republicans: Any Republican who’s focused on anything other than 2014 is doing a disservice to themselves, to their party and to their country,” Walker said. “There’s a lot at stake in the 2014 election, not only in my case as governor but in the U.S. Senate is very much in play and the question of holding the House or not.”