http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/201...ore-state-committee-in-bridge-fiasco#comments
The appointee, David Wildstein, invoked the Fifth Amendment, which offers protection against self-incrimination.
“On the advice of counsel, I assert my right to remain silent,” he said repeatedly at the hearing, convened by the transportation committee of the state Assembly.
Assemblyman John Wisniewski, the Democrat who chairs the committee, disputed that Wildstein had the right under state law to decline to answer questions. The committee voted to hold him in contempt, a misdemeanor.
The chairman asked Wildstein questions anyway — including about an email from Christie’s deputy chief of staff to Wildstein last August that said: “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”
Wildstein declined to answer every time, saying either himself or through his lawyer that he had a constitutional right not to.
Wildstein, who went to high school with Christie, was director of interstate capital projects for the Port Authority, the agency that runs the bridge. He resigned in December, saying that growing questions about the traffic jam had become a distraction.
The mayor of Fort Lee, Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, had declined to endorse
Christie, who is believed to be considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and who has crafted an image of transcending partisan politics.
