TRENTON — The legislative panel investigating the George Washington Bridge scandal wants to know how closely Gov. Chris Christie's office and allies at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey coordinated to blame the lane closings on a traffic study, records released today show.

The 18 subpoenas issued this week also cast a far wider net than past rounds, seeking information about the defunct ARC (Access to the Region's Core) tunnel project, any dossiers compiled by Christie and his campaign on Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, and a month and a half of State Police helicopter records.

The majority of the new subpoenas seek records reflecting drafts, comments on, changes or edits to the November testimony of Bill Baroni, a Christie appointee and former deputy executive director at the Port Authority who has since resigned.

Baroni testified before the Legislature that the September closings and resulting traffic jam in Fort Lee were the result of a study to determine whether it was fair to all commuters for the borough to have three local-access lanes to the busy bridge’s toll plaza.

The explanation has since been largely discredited by a lack of evidence, testimony of other Port Authority officials — including Executive Director Patrick Foye — and the revelation last month that a senior aide in the governor’s office, Bridget Anne Kelly, was part of the decision to close the lanes.

Democrats say the claim was a cover-up, noting that the local lanes from Fort Lee are used by far more people than only residents of the borough. They say the closings were retribution against Sokolich, a Democrat, who did not endorse Christie for re-election.

Now, members of the investigative committee want to know who was consulted in the lead up to Baroni’s appearance.

"What has been indicated in all of this is the level of connection," said Brigid Harrison, political science professor at Montclair State University. "There are these dotted lines between all of the players, including those who it can be demonstrated have culpability and people closest with the governor."

Christie has denied having any part in the closings and said earlier this month that he was still unsure whether there was a traffic study.

LATEST SUBPOENAS

Driving the committee’s inquiry into the issue is the disclosure, first reported by the Wall Street Journal earlier this month, that Baroni was prepped for several days by Port Authority lawyer Phillip Kwon, who worked with Christie at the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Subpoenas issued this week target Kwon, Baroni, Christie’s office, his re-election campaign, as well as several people in the governor’s office, including Regina Egea, his incoming chief of staff; Rosemary Iannacone, director of operations; and Barbara Panebianco, executive assistant to Kelly.

The subpoenas also seek similar records from Port Authority officials John Ma, chief of staff to Foye; Matthew Bell, special assistant to Baroni; Gretchen DiMarco, assistant to Baroni; Arielle Schwarz, special assistant to former director of interstate capital projects David Wildstein; Mark Muriello, assistant director of tunnels, bridges & terminals; and Steve Coleman, deputy director of media relations.

KWON'S ROLE

Kwon was the first assistant state attorney general until Christie nominated him to the Supreme Court in 2012. But he was rejected by the Senate Judiciary Committee partly because his family’s business had been accused by federal authorities of making hundreds of illegal bank deposits. The stinging setback for Christie marked the first time in modern state history that the Senate rejected a Supreme Court nominee.

Three months later, Kwon was hired by the Port Authority to replace former state Attorney General Paula Dow, who was sent there by Christie to make room for another ally, Jeffrey Chiesa. Christie nominated Dow to a state Superior Court judgeship, which she currently holds.

Now Kwon again finds himself under the microscope.

Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), a co-chairman of the committee, questioned Kwon’s role.

"If he spent even a day prepping Bill Baroni, it would be a day too much because he was preparing him for something that never happened," said Wisniewski, who called Kwon’s Port Authority job a "consolation prize" from Christie.

"There’s a fraternity of people that are considered important to the governor that get jobs at the Port Authority," Wisniewski said. "These are all people who in some fashion knew about the traffic jam, the order to cause the traffic jam or the efforts to obfuscate the traffic jam."

The Port Authority declined comment on Kwon’s involvement in the bridge matter, and the governor’s office did not respond to a request.

ARC REVISITED

One of the subpoenas, issued to the Port Authority, seeks extensive records about recent toll increases and cost overruns related to the ARC tunnel, which were cited by Christie as part of his controversial 2010 decision to cancel the project.

The governor, who initially expressed support for the project, aborted it because he said the state would be liable for $2.5 billion in cost overruns in addition to the $8.7 billion price tag. Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg said state officials were well aware that costs could grow to as much as $12 billion.

A yearlong investigation by a nonpartisan congressional agency, the Government Accountability Office, said in a 2012 report that cost estimates of roughly $9 billion to $12.4 billion were being used by state and federal transit officials as early as 2008. However, the report also said there was no way to determine who would get the bill for overruns because negotiations among New Jersey, the Port Authority and the federal government never got that far.

The subpoena also seeks names of job candidates sent by Christie’s office to the Port Authority.

Another subpoena, issued to State Police, seeks flight paths, records, logs and pilot names for flights for any New Jersey or Port Authority officials or employees from Aug. 15 to Sept. 30, 2013. Though Christie did fly at the time of the

September lane closings, the State Police said Tuesday he did not go over the bridge or Fort Lee.

A spokesman for the governor’s office, Kevin Roberts, declined to comment on the subpoenas, which are due back Feb. 24.

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