TRENTON — Records released today by a legislative panel investigating the George Washington Bridge lane closings link Gov. Chris Christie's chief political strategist to discussions about fallout from the scandal, and show that Christie's campaign manager was more in the loop than previously known.

The emails and text messages were disclosed in a court filing by the committee in response to objections raised by the attorney for the campaign manager, Bill Stepien, who contended at a hearing last week that the committee had no evidence showing his client was involved in the closings.

The attorney, Kevin Marino, said that without that basis for its subpoena, or without being able to describe the specific records sought, the committee was essentially asking Stepien to help it make its case.

Marino insisted that would violate his client’s Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, particularly since the U.S. attorney for New Jersey is also investigating the September incident.

The committee contends the latest batch of communications show Stepien and Christie’s re-election campaign were more deeply involved in discussions about the lane closings after they occurred, and, on at least one occasion, coordinated a response with the governor’s office.

"What has been crystallized seems to be a political overtone in how the responses to the media were handled," said Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), a co-chairman of the committee. "Clearly, when they are sending communications to the governor’s primary campaign person, it at least indicates there is some political considerations on how this is handled."

No documents released so far have shown Stepien had a role in the decision to close the lanes, and Marino said the new records "thoroughly discredit the committee’s desperate attempt to paint Mr. Stepien as a central figure in the lane closure controversy."

"Stated simply, those documents do not contain a shard of support for the committee’s position, which we are confident will be roundly rejected," he said, adding that the records "do not in any way suggest that he was involved either in the decision to close the lanes or in any attempt to conceal the motive."

The roughly 100 emails and text messages released today don’t shed any new light on who orchestrated the lane closings, which tied up traffic leading to the world’s busiest bridge from Sept. 9-13, and much of the information had already been disclosed by the committee.

NEW INFORMATION

But several new shreds of information did emerge.

On Sept. 12, David Wildstein, a Christie ally and former director of interstate capital projects at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, sent Stepien an e-mail with a letter attached from Mayor Mark Sokolich of Fort Lee in which Sokolich said he was exasperated by the traffic gridlock.

Minutes later, Bill Baroni, the deputy executive director of the Port Authority, followed up with an email to Stepien on the same issue.

"Thanks," Stepien replied.

On Oct. 1, Kevin Roberts, Christie campaign spokesman at the time, wrote to Stepien about coordinating a response to questions from a Wall Street Journal reporter with Michael Drewniak, the governor’s press secretary.

"Coordinated with Drewniak on this, but heads up," Roberts wrote to Stepien. "I’ll let you know when I hear back from him on the conversations on his side of things."

"Awesome," Stepien replied.

On Nov. 26, a day after Baroni testified before the Legislature that the lane closings were part of a traffic study, Stepien texted him: "Hey, great job yesterday. I know it’s not a fun topic, and not nearly as fun as beating up on Frank Lautenberg, but you did great, and I wanted to thank you."

"Thanks William," Baroni wrote back, noting that Democrats leading the investigation "will keep up their nonsense but at least we have explained the counter narrative."

The existence of a traffic study has been largely discredited by a lack of evidence, by the testimony of other Port Authority officials — including the agency’s executive director, Patrick Foye — and by the disclosure that a deputy chief of staff in the governor’s office, Bridget Anne Kelly, was involved in the decision to close the lanes.

DECEMBER EMAIL

On Dec. 11, Matt Mowers, a former Christie campaign staffer, wrote to Stepien and Mike DuHaime, Christie’s political strategist, saying he had been contacted by the same Wall Street Journal reporter about the lane closings.

"Not sure how you are handling or wanted handled," Mowers wrote. "I don’t plan to return his call on this unless you want me to."

Mowers was named executive director of the Republican Party in New Hampshire in November.

An attorney representing DuHaime and his firm, Mercury Public Affairs, said in a statement today that neither have been subpoenaed.

"Mike had no knowledge of, or involvement in, the decision to close the bridge in September 2013," the lawyer, Marc Mukasey, said.

"Nonetheless, he stands ready, willing and able to cooperate with anybody and everybody."

Star-Ledger staff writers Matt Friedman, Susan K. Livio, and Jenna Portnoy contributed to this report.

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