TRENTON — A former staff member in Gov. Chris Christie's office said in sworn testimony today that she feared the governor's team would fire her if she reported suspicious activity by her boss in the wake of the George Washington Bridge controversy.

Christina Genovese Renna, who was a top aide to then-Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly when New Jersey toll lanes were closed on the world’s busiest bridge, said she "had no knowledge or involvement" in the plan.

In more than five hours of questioning from state lawmakers investigating the scandal, Renna described Kelly as erratic and unstable, saying she was "enormously overwhelmed and enormously stressed with day-to-day life."

VIDEO RECAP:

Bridge scandal hearing

Kelly wrote the famous email announcing "traffic problems in Fort Lee" weeks before the toll lanes were shut, causing a massive traffic holdup for days that has spawned not only state inquiries but also a federal criminal investigation into Christie’s administration.

But while Renna replied to nearly every question she was asked today, the two biggest ones in the scandal — who ordered the traffic jam and why? — remain unanswered.

Renna said it was hard to picture Kelly as the "architect" of the traffic jam, but added that "she was instrumental in the process."

Growing emotional at one point, and testy at others, Renna gave an inside look into the workings of Christie’s administration. She said staffers routinely used personal email accounts to handle government business; it was hard to get clear orders or explanations from Kelly; and one member of the staff, Evan Ridley, could not be trusted when he said he was meeting mayors.

When she began to suspect wrongdoing last year, Renna testified, she kept quiet because she feared she would lose her job if she spoke up.

In December, Kelly asked Renna to delete an email related to Fort Lee and the traffic jam — what Renna called a "strange" and "inappropriate" request. But she said she declined to report the incident to Christie’s chief counsel or other staff members.

"I thought I would lose my job," Renna testified. "I was fearful of getting (Kelly) caught up in something that I didn’t know if she was involved in or not. … She was my boss. She was senior staff."

Afterward, Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, a co-chair of the panel, said Renna’s testimony shed new light on the culture of Christie’s office. Renna should have felt comfortable reporting Kelly to the higher-ups, she said.

"We’re talking about an atmosphere, an environment, that does lead to the execution of an abuse of power," said Weinberg (D-Bergen).

Kelly has refused to answer inquiries from the Democrat-led committee and won a court battle to quash a subpoena seeking documents about the lane closures. Her attorney, Michael Critchley, sharply criticized Renna’s testimony.

"Ms. Renna’s attempt to pile on and portray Ms. Kelly as insecure, erratic, and paranoid is completely at odds with Ms. Kelly’s 20-year record serving in state government," Critchley said in a statement. "Anyone who thinks they are going to rewrite history and make Ms. Kelly a scapegoat is gravely mistaken."

GOVERNOR'S REPORT

Christie fired Kelly in January. A report released by a law firm hired by the governor's office also concluded that Kelly helped plan the scheme with David Wildstein, a former official at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the bridge.

Renna disputed parts of that report today. In a summary of an interview with Renna, the law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher reported that there were "mandatory directives" not to return phone calls to some New Jersey mayors who were out of favor in the governor’s office.

The issue is key because many contend that he controversial closing of lanes on the bridge for several days in September was ordered to punish Fort Lee’s Democratic mayor, Mark Sokolich, because he did not endorse Christie’s re-election last year.

"It’s aggressive language," Renna said, denying there were mandatory directives to freeze out some mayors. "It’s not language I would use."

Instead, she said, there was an understanding in the office that Renna and her team should not reach out to certain mayors "proactively."

"We would not pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey Mayor, how are you doing?’âÂÂÂÂ" Renna said. "But if that mayor called up and said, ‘Hey, I have a pothole,’ we would figure it out."

Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), the other co-chair, asked how Renna how she knew which mayors were to be left alone and which ones she should feel free to call up.

Renna said, "Bridget would tell me … or sometimes she would communicate to me that there was a problem." But Kelly would not usually say what the problem was, Renna added.

"Isn’t that a difficult way to do your job?" Wisniewski asked.

"It was," Renna said. She resigned from the administration earlier this year, after the scandal broke.

DEFENDING IGA

Kelly was in charge of Christie’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, which handled requests and complaints from local officials and state lawmakers. Renna had told the Gibson Dunn attorneys that Christie’s staff was tuned in closely to state politics and was aware of which mayors were on board with the administration’s agenda.

"I had no knowledge or involvement in the bridge lane closures, but I do know IGA," Renna said in an opening statement, describing the office as "amazingly nonpartisan," helping constituents and Hurricane Sandy victims in "proactive, consistent, inventive" ways.

Renna declined to offer theories on who might have ordered the lane closures. Another member of her office, Richard Rebisz, told the Gibson Dunn attorneys that Kelly would run some decisions by "Bridgewater" — a code name for Christie’s re-election campaign, run by Bill Stepien. The Gibson Dunn report noted that Kelly and Stepien were romantically involved at one point.

"I am quite certain that they were not coordinating activities," Renna said. "I know because Bridget told me that she was not on speaking terms with Bill Stepien."

Assemblyman Paul Moriarty (D-Gloucester) asked whether Wildstein was behind the closures. "I believe he would have the ability, yes, but I’m not positive," Renna said.

PHOTOS : Christina Renna testifies before New Jersey Legislative Select Committee on Investigation - 5.6.2014 33 Gallery: PHOTOS : Christina Renna testifies before New Jersey Legislative Select Committee on Investigation - 5.6.2014

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