Report distancing Christie from Bridgegate: Kelly is scorned, emotional woman

The recent report distancing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie from 'Bridgegate' also described the reported culprit, deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly, as an "emotional" woman. The taxpayer-funded report paints Kelly as a scorned woman whose actions were emotionally charged because her relationship with Bill Stepien, her predecessor, had ended. "Because Stepien was her 'benefactor,' Kelly relied heavily on him during this transition. And at some point after Stepien's departure to run the campaign, Kelly and Stepien became personally involved, although, by early 2013, their relationship had cooled, apparently at Stepien's choice, and they largely stopped speaking. Around that same time, Wildstein started pressing Port Authority engineers to assess the traffic effects resulting from the dedicated Fort Lee toll lanes leading to the George Washington bridge." Christie also announced Friday that Port Authority Chairman David Samson was resigning due to the Bridgegate traffic scandal. The announcement comes at the same time people are denouncing the inclusion of Kelly's relationship troubles as sexist and "slut-shaming." Christie has repeatedly denied any involvement or knowledge of the Bridgegate lane closures. One member of the joint legislative committee, Sen. Loretta Weinburg, D-Teaneck, says this mention of Kelly's relationship makes her angry. "They're talking about 'a personal relationship' and they put in the report that Mr. Stepien was the one who ended it -- how do they know that? How do they know that? And was that done to add to the credence that this was some crazy woman, some woman who is no longer in control of her emotions?" Weinburg told the Daily Beast Thursday. The report mentioned Kelly was "emotional" a total of five times.