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Bill Baroni, the Deputy Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, testifies before a state Assembly panel last month.

(Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger)

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie's top appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey resigned Friday amid questions over whether he ordered a traffic jam at the world's busiest bridge as political payback.

The Republican governor accepted the resignation of Bill Baroni, the agency’s deputy executive director, effective immediately, and praised the former state senator’s four-year stint at the bi-state agency.

"Bill Baroni is a friend of mine, has been an outstanding public servant both in his time in the Legislature and his time at the Port Authority and I have no reason not to believe him," Christie said at a Statehouse news conference, noting their 20-year relationship dating back to the governor’s days as a Morris County freeholder.

Late last month, Baroni testified before a state Assembly committee that three lanes to the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee were closed Sept. 9 to 13 to conduct a traffic study.

"I’ve never said that a mistake wasn’t made, but what I’ve said is all of the other politics swirling around it was created, was manufactured," said Christie, who took questions for nearly an hour.

State and national Democrats believe officials loyal to Christie ordered the lane closures to punish the town’s Democratic mayor for failing to endorse Christie’s re-election bid. The controversy led to two public hearings and the subpoena of documents and correspondence from seven agency officials.

"Mr. Baroni’s resignation was overdue and a good thing for New Jersey," said Assembly transportation committee Chairman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), whose panel is investigating the issue. "His inability to be clear, professional and honest meant he was no longer going to be effective in his role, if he ever was effective."

The Democratic National Committee on Friday put out a web video attacking Christie over the issue and again questioned the governor's judgment after the news conference.

"After an hourlong performance, with a lot of his customary swagger, Christie’s not answering and the people of New Jersey still deserve answers," said DNC spokesman Michael Czin, who is from Bergen County.

The governor flat-out denied that he, anyone on his staff or anyone on his campaign had anything to do with the lanes closures. Christie added he doesn’t wonder why Baroni did not follow the proper protocols for ordering a traffic study.

"Believe me I’ve heard more about this than I ever wanted to. If you think my curiosity isn’t satiated, my curiosity is more than satiated," Christie said.

Baroni did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

The governor said Baroni approved the traffic study, which has yet to surface, at the request of David Wildstein, the agency’s director of interstate capital projects, who has been called Christie’s eyes and ears inside the agency.

Wildstein announced his resignation last week, saying he expedited his plans to leave the agency because the bridge issue had become "a distraction."

The Wall Street Journal on Friday reported that Baroni was apparently involved in the effort to keep the lane closures quiet, citing e-mails the newspaper reviewed.

When Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye told spokeswoman Lisa MacSpadden that he planned to "get word out" about the reopening of the lanes, it prompted a quick response from Baroni, who wrote: "Pat we need to discuss prior to any communications." According to the newspaper, Foye then responded: "Bill we are going to fix this fiasco," to which Baroni said: "I am on way to office to discuss," and "There can be no public discourse."

MacSpadden, director of the Port Authority’s office of media relations and an appointee of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, is also leaving the agency. She accepted a job in the private sector last month and said her plan to leave has nothing to do with the bridge flap.

State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), whose district includes Fort Lee, said the issue isn’t settled.

"The resignations of the two highest-ranking New Jersey officials at the Port Authority is clearly an admission of guilt, but it doesn’t put an end to this story," she said. "We still don’t have a full accounting of what happened, why it was allowed to occur, everyone who was involved and what their motivations were."

Christie denied a Wall Street Journal account that he contacted Cuomo to complain that Foye was too aggressive in his pursuit of the truth. "That story is categorically wrong. I did not have that conversation with Gov. Cuomo in any way, shape or form, and he did not have that conversation with me," Christie said.

The governor added that his pick for chairman of the agency’s board, David Samson, is not leaving. He will work closely with Deborah Gramiccioni, Christie’s replacement for Baroni.

Gramiccioni was already a federal prosecutor when Christie took over as U.S. attorney in 2002. After a stint working for the attorney general under Gov. Jon Corzine, she later became part of Christie’s senior staff when he took office.

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