the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Hackensack NJ, Bridget Kelly formally announced her candidacy for Bergen County clerk.
If the name sounds familiar Kelly, a Republican, was once a deputy chief of staff for Governor Chris Christie, and was convicted in 2016 along with Bill Baroni, deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, of fraud and civil rights violations for their roles in re-directing access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee in 2013 “creating a massive four-day traffic jam” as retribution against the town’s Democratic mayor for refusing to endorse Christie’s re-election. Known as “Bridgegate” , it preceded the fall from grace of then governor Chris Christie .
Dirty NJ politics yes ,but the hyperbolic media coverage , made it sound like the Christie Administration was willingly murdering seniors in long term care facilities with COVID ..ugh … Anyway pre-covid any commuter would tell you there was a traffic jam everyday on the Gorge Washington Bridge, but Kelly, Baroni took the fall a long with a guy named David Wildstein now Editor in Chief for the New Jersey Globe. The episode makes me wonder about all the traffic jams we have been stuck in in New Jersey and I never once sued for a civil rights violation.
The Supreme Court last May threw out the convictions of two people involved in New Jersey’s “Bridgegate” scandal, including Kelly. The court said in a unanimous decision Thursday that the government “had overreached in prosecuting Kelly and Bill Baroni ”
On Facebook Kelly announced :
“I’m in. I’m running for Bergen County Clerk. Please support my campaign so we can make Bergen County better, together. “
https://www.facebook.com/ElectBridgetKelly
I guess she has nothing else to do all day.
There is simply no way a Republican can win that office.
Politics is too lucrative to stay away from I guess.
Fundraising opportunity?
She has a hell of a lot of nerve to run in Bergen County with the havoc she caused at the GWB. The arrogance and no shame.
If she can stop the auto warranty calls to my phone I would vote for her.
A loser like her former boss. Get outta town. Agree with commenter who said she had a nerve attempting anything in Bergen.
I see everyone has surrendered to their Democrat Overlords.
“If she can stop the auto warranty calls to my phone I would vote for her.” Amen to that.
Maybe her career after politics wasn’t enough for her. New blood, thanks.
Good for her – a strong woman standing up to that blowhard, failure, waste of space of which he takes up way more than his share chris christie. Fact is she refused to take the wrap for him. He has proven without a doubt that he has zero morals or balls, first by kissing Trump’s ass hoping to get a cabinet spot and jumping ship when it all quickly went to shit and then pandering like the directionless fool he is to any media outlet that would take him…remember his miserable stint on radio at WFAN when they had to bleep out 9 of 10 callers who eviscerated him on a daily basis, then to ABC where they laugh at him as he is devoid of an original thought or opinion. He is the definitive spineless loser and she stood up to him…and won in supreme court. For that alone I wish her the best.
I remember well the Duke Lacrosse case a number of years ago where 3 or 4 four boys were accused of a crime and judged by the general public before the ink was dry on their defense documents. “Rich arrogant punks who were likely guilty and got exactly what they deserved”. Well, if you don’t remember how that ended, let me remind you….. The boys were acquitted when it was determined that the accuser was lying, an over zealous prosecutor purposefully withheld exculpatory evidence and the media prejudged the case and then assumed the role of judge, jury and executioner. That, however, is not the moral of this story (and this comment). After the trial, a prestigious Investment Bank hired one of the accused into their exclusive training program. When pressed as to why he would take such a risk, the CEO of the Firm told the team: When someone has gone through what those boys have gone through, having been dragged through the mud over completely unfounded allegations – clinging to what was right, adhering to what they believed in and then trusting the process; then I want them. They no doubt, have an appreciation for justice, the law and the legal process that will never be matched. Bridget NEVER ONCE waivered from what she believed in. In the face of a boss that threw her under the bus, an organization that abandoned her, the legal system that railroaded her, the press that piled on, and the public that shamed her; the United States Supreme Court, found that Bridget Ann Kelly was innocent of the charges filed against her.
Bridget has the perfect skillset and the temperament for the job of county clerk (look up the job description). But more importantly, she has the heart and soul of a lion who will stand up to anything thrown at her. And finally, she and her family, experienced something very few people will ever go through, which has ultimately given her an appreciation for the law, respect for the truth, and love of country. Bridget Ann Kelly is tough as nails and understands what it’s like to live under the microscope of public scrutiny. That is exactly what I want in an elected official.
Work on election integrity