海角大神

More than a decade ago, when Gov. Chris Christie was US Attorney for the District of New Jersey, he was already becoming known as the scourge of the 鈥淪oprano state鈥檚鈥� storied political corruption, building a reputation for prosecuting Jersey officeholders who abused their power for personal gain.

That reputation eventually swept him into the governor鈥檚 office and made him a national figure, with a potential path to the White House clearly in view.

But now the former US attorney is himself the officeholder under investigation in this ever-deepening political saga. On Thursday, Governor Christie鈥檚 successor at the New Jersey District office, Paul Fishman, expanded his probe of the toll-lane closures at the George Washington Bridge, issuing subpoenas both to Christie鈥檚 reelection campaign and to the New Jersey Republican State Committee.

These federal subpoenas come days after a special New Jersey legislative committee, also investigating the Fort Lee lane closures, of its own, seeking documents from Christie staff members and appointees, as well as those from the governor鈥檚 office and reelection committee.

US Attorney Fishman, whose office had previously said it was simply reviewing the 鈥渢raffic study鈥� closures to see if any federal laws had been broken, is now in full investigative mode, seeking all documents related to the abuse-of-power scandal that has put a rumble strip in the path of the Christie political juggernaut.

The subpoenas from the state committee, too, require the Christie administration and reelection committee to turn over all documents related to the finances, operations, and management of the Port Authority, including but not limited to the lane-closure scandal, 鈥渁nd any other matter raising concerns about abuse of power," according to the committee鈥檚 subpoena.

鈥淭he campaign and the state party intend to cooperate with the U.S. Attorney's office and the state legislative committee and will respond to the subpoenas accordingly,鈥� said Mark Sheridan, an attorney for Patton Boggs, a powerhouse D.C.-based law firm with offices in Newark, in a statement. The firm is representing both Christie鈥檚 reelection campaign and the state GOP committee.

Last week, Christie also hired the Manhattan lawfirm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, which he said will conduct an internal review of the lane closures and help cooperate with the US attorney. The firm鈥檚 legal team is being led by Randy Mastro, also a former pitbull prosecutor under Rudolph Giuliani when the former New York City mayor was the US district attorney in Manhattan. Mr. Mastro led the office鈥檚 crackdown against the mafia, which launched Mr. Giuliani鈥檚 political career. 听

So now, after the initial jaw-dropping revelation that some of Christie鈥檚 closest aides concocted a 鈥渢ime for a traffic jam in Fort Lee鈥� scheme 鈥� an apparent act of political payback against the borough鈥檚 Democratic mayor, who had not endorsed Christie鈥檚 campaign for reelection last fall 鈥� the saga is becoming a cat-and-mouse game of lawyers, one that could drag out for months, if not longer.

鈥淭his will just be the first round of subpoenas 鈥� it will not be the only round,鈥� says James Cohen, professor at Fordham University鈥檚 School of Law in New York. 鈥淎nd they鈥檙e going to play it very close the vest, not only because that鈥檚 normal in litigation, but because there might be something really going on under here.鈥�

It鈥檚 a game that Christie knows well, of course. At the start of his own six-year tenure as US. attorney, he immediately went after politicians who abused their power, doubling the office鈥檚 anticorruption unit from seven to 14 attorneys. And Christie鈥檚 staff eventually convicted or got guilty pleas from more than 130 elected and appointed officials 鈥� without a single acquittal.

These included six county officeholders, 15 municipal officials, 18 mayors, and five New Jersey legislators, including Garden State icons such as Sharpe James, the听five-term mayor of Newark. Indeed, even during Christie鈥檚 first year, a federal judge once quipped that the court 鈥渉as so many cases that deal with public corruption that we literally can鈥檛 count them anymore.鈥�

鈥淭here is some irony here, but don鈥檛 forget that so far we鈥檙e still looking at two prongs of the investigation,鈥� says Professor Cohen. 鈥淥ne is this 鈥楤ridge-gate,鈥� which doesn鈥檛 appear to have anything to do with money at the moment, and the other is the alleged threats that the lieutenant governor [Kim Guadagno], and maybe others in the administration, made to gather support for a development project. Now that鈥檚 the kind of thing that Christie prosecuted 鈥� he didn鈥檛 prosecute things like Bridge-gate.鈥�

Indeed, many legal experts doubt that, based on the information that is public at the moment, the lane-closure scandal will lead to any criminal charges, since no one appeared to profit personally from the scheme.

Far more dangerous, many say, is Fishman鈥檚 separate probe into allegations by Hoboken鈥檚 current Democratic mayor, Dawn Zimmer, who has publicly said that Lt. Governor Guadagno, a Republican, told her that federal money to fortify Hoboken from future superstorms like Sandy would hinge on her supporting a commercial project in the city by the Rockefeller Group, the commercial real estate developer that built Manhattan's Rockefeller Center.听

And some of the same characters in the Bridge-gate controversy appear here as well. The developer is represented by Wolff & Samson 鈥� whose founding partner, David Samson, was appointed chairman of the Port Authority by Christie. And last spring, the Port Authority paid $75,000 to conduct a study of the proposed development site in Hoboken.

According to Mayor Zimmer, Guadagno told her that Christie had sent her personally because the project was important to the governor. Guadagno denies Zimmer鈥檚 account, calling it false and 鈥渋llogical.鈥�

On Sunday, investigators from Fishman鈥檚 office interviewed Zimmer and some of her staff about the alleged threat of withholding money for the city鈥檚 coastal fortifications.

In the meantime, Christie is surrounding himself with some of the country鈥檚 best trial defense attorneys. 听

鈥淗e had built a reputation in getting at least the low hanging fruit on the money side of his corruption investigations,鈥� says Cohen. 鈥淗e was a political appointee back then, and he decided what his agenda was, which was to go after politicians, among others.鈥�

鈥淪o I鈥檓 sure he learned something from being head of that office for six years,鈥� he says.