May 11, 2014

To: File

From: Michael W. Khoo

Re: New Jersey Legislative Select Committee on Investigation

Subject: March 25, 2014 Interview of Matt Mowers

On March 25, 2014, Reid J. Schar and Michael W. Khoo interviewed Matt Mowers. Mowers’ counsel— Craig Carpenito and Adam Baker of Alston & Bird LLP—were also present, and the interview was conducted in Alston & Bird’s New York offices. This is not a verbatim transcript of the interviews, nor is it intended to be. Rather, what follows is a summary of the significant topics discussed, arranged by subject matter, not chronologically.

I. BACKGROUND

Mowers’ attended Rutgers University from 2007 until his graduation in 2011. He got his start in New Jersey politics during that period, beginning with the campaign of Republican State Senator Gerry Cardinale. During this period, he also worked with John McCain’s presidential bid and, through that work, became acquainted with Bill Stepien. In 2008, he took a position with the Bergen County GOP and, in 2009, worked on multiple political action committees and campaigns.

In late 2009 into 2010, Mowers worked on the transition team for the then newly elected governor, Chris Christie. That position led to work as an advance aide for Gov. Christie. As an advance aide, Mowers would prepare for events the governor was expected to attend. In that capacity, Mowers frequently worked with the Office of the Governor’s (“OOG”) Intergovernmental Affairs (“IGA”) department, as IGA staff often coordinated with county and municipal officials for the governor’s visits to local communities.

In April 2010, Mowers left OOG to work for Mercer County Republican Tom Goodwin’s State Senate bid. Following the 2010 election, Mowers was recruited by Stepien to join OOG’s IGA department.

II. OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

A. IGA Job Responsibilities

In late 2010, Mowers was hired as regional director within IGA, which involved serving as a liaison and point of contact between OOG and local elected officials. Mowers was responsible for communities in northern and northeastern New Jersey, including Sussex, Morris, Passaic, Essex, Hudson, and Bergen Counties. He was also charged with developing ties with the Korean-American communities in Hudson

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and Bergen Counties. Mowers said that people involved in New Jersey politics tend to know each other and, as a result, there was no formal interview process for joining IGA.

When Mowers began with IGA, he initially reported to Amanda De Palma. However, when De Palma left to join the Republican State Committee in 2011, Mowers began reporting to Bridget Anne Kelly. At some point, Pete Sheridan was appointed to manage the regional directors, including Mowers, and Sheridan then reported up to Kelly. Kelly, in turn, reported to Bill Stepien.

As an IGA regional director, Mowers said, he tried to communicate with elected officials in his geographic region as frequently as he could: at least weekly or bi-weekly by email. He offered information on, for example, state grants, budget proposals, or Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts that might affect counties and municipalities.

B. OOG Staff

1. Bridget Anne Kelly

Mowers said that, initially, he had a friendly relationship with the Director of IGA, Bridget Anne Kelly. He had first met Kelly during his work on the Cardinale campaign, and, he said, due to the small quarters the IGA staff shared, he had “pretty regular contact” with her while working in IGA and tried to “keep her in the loop.”

Mowers also described a period in 2013 when his relationship with Kelly noticeably soured. Mowers said he found Kelly’s management style to be difficult and, more and more, felt she was untrustworthy and liable to “throw people under the bus.” By the end of Gov. Christie’s 2013 re-election campaign— by which point Mowers had left OOG to work directly for the campaign—his relationship with Kelly had “openly fractured.” The last time Mowers spoke to Kelly was on election night in November 2013 when he told her she had caused him the “single worst day of the campaign.” Mowers said Kelly’s only reply was, “I know; I heard.”

2. Christina Renna

Mowers said he had occasional contact with Christina Renna while he was working in IGA. Renna, at that time, was OOG’s liaison with other state government departments.1

3. Michael Drewniak

Mowers said he spoke to press secretary Michael Drewniak on occasion. He characterized their relationship as friendly and casual, but said he had no real role with press relations.

4. Evan Ridley

Evan Ridley was another IGA regional director during Mowers’ time in OOG. When Mowers later left to join the Christie re-election campaign, Ridley assumed responsibility for Mowers’ IGA territory, including

1 Renna would eventually replace Kelly as Director of IGA, but not until Mowers had already left OOG to join the Christie re-election campaign.

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Bergen County and Fort Lee. Mowers said he and Ridley were good friends and that they continued to have occasional contact after Mowers left OOG.

5. Gov. Christie

Mowers said he did not have regular contact with Gov. Christie during his time in IGA. He would occasionally see the governor at events held in Mowers’ area of responsibility, but he had no day-to-day contact.

C. Port Authority Interaction

Mowers said he had occasional interaction with Port Authority staff when preparing for events. In particular, he coordinated with Hunter Pendarvis and Ann Mary O’Rourke. Mowers has met former Port Authority Director of Interstate Capital Projects David Wildstein at a few events, but described only brief interactions with him. Mowers knew former Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni from local New Jersey politics.

D. Personal Email

Mowers said that IGA staff were frequently on the road and that commercial email services, like Gmail or Yahoo!, were easier to access remotely than official OOG accounts. Consequently, IGA staff would resort to using personal accounts to communicate.

Furthermore, Mowers said that if any discussions concerned political topics—such as endorsements or fundraising—staff would be sure to personal accounts to keep such activity separate from official state business.

III. FORT LEE MAYOR MARK SOKOLICH

Mowers recalled that began interacting with Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich shortly after Mowers joined IGA. He said that within the first few months, he helped organize an event in Teaneck in support of Gov. Christie’s plan to reform sick leave payouts for public employees. Mayor Sokolich attended the event in support of the proposed reforms—as did Gov. Christie.2

Mowers said Sokolich may have also attended—along with many other elected officials—events at Drumthwacket. Otherwise, Mowers could not recall specific instances of Sokolich and Gov. Christie interacting.

According to Mowers, he and Sokolich communicated by email or telephone every week or two and met in person every couple of months. Their meetings might be in Sokolich’s office, his home, or at a local bar or restaurant.

2 The event occurred on Dec. 8, 2011. See http://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-state-news/gwb-scandal-fort- lee-mayor-now-says-christie-campaign-courted-him-for-endorsement-1.667541.

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IV. TIMELINE

A. Governor’s 2012 Budget Address

Mowers was shown an email dated January 22, 2012, that he had sent to Pete Sheridan with the subject “Initial Budget Thoughts.”3 The email included two “tiers” of individuals, including Sokolich under Tier 2. Mowers explained that the email contained lists of possible invitees to the governor’s upcoming budget address. The tiers indicated the individuals’ relative priority for receiving an invitation. According to Mowers, a number of factors could influence whether an individual was included on the list and, if so, under what tier. Those who had attended past budget addresses or had attended other recent events with the governor might be moved down in importance, while individuals who had some special connection to issues the governor would be addressing might move up.

In reviewing the list, Mowers noted that Rutherford Republican Joe DeSalvo was listed under Tier 1 on account of his being newly elected, whereas Democrat Paul Tomasko of Alpine was included under Tier 1 in his capacity as president of the Bergen County League of Municipalities. Similarly, Dover Democrat James Dodd was listed as either Tier 1 or 2 in recognition of his early support for Gov. Christie’s proposed sick leave reform.

Mowers explained that Sokolich had also been an early supporter of Gov. Christie’s agenda—including the sick leave reform and “Cap 2.5,” a plan to constitutionally cap property tax increases at 2.5 percent per year.

B. Prudential Center Event

Mowers was shown an email from Sheridan to him dated January 30, 2012.4 The email thread began with a “Fort Lee List”—including Sokolich—that Mowers had sent to Sheridan. Sheridan had subsequently sent the names to Kelly, who approved them. Mowers told us this was a list of invitees to a sporting event at the Prudential Center in Newark. The event, however, conflicted with Super Bowl Sunday and was therefore postponed.

Mowers was shown a later version of this email thread in which Mowers and Sheridan recognized the conflict with Super Bowl Sunday.5 Sheridan advised Mowers he would “talk to bk/bill abt it.” Mowers confirmed that “bk” referred to Bridget Kelly and “bill” referred to Bill Stepien.

Mowers said that on another occasion Sokolich may have attended a football game, courtesy of the governor, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford. Gov. Christie has MetLife tickets, Mowers said, which the governor either uses for himself and his family or gives to friends and associates.

3 Mowers-000468. 4 Mowers-000483. 5 Mowers-000487.

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C. World Trade Center Flags

Mowers was asked about certain flags he delivered to local officials—including Sokolich—in January 2012.6 Mowers said these were American flags that had been flown over the World Trade Center site on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and then were given to local communities as commemoratives.

D. Morning Joe Event

Mowers also explained a March 2012 event on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program. Mowers said the governor wanted to host a town hall meeting highlighting school reforms and chose Fort Lee as the location in recognition of the Fort Lee superintendent’s reform efforts. Sokolich also attended, and, Mowers said, met briefly with Gov. Christie at the conclusion of the vent.

E. Bench Appointments

Mowers reviewed an email he sent to Sheridan on May 14, 2012 with the subject “Bench Appointments.”7 The email contained a list of eleven local officials, including Sokolich. Mowers explained that OOG maintained a list of potential candidates for state advisory boards or commissions. If a local official had expressed an interest in a particular issue, he or she might be added to the list. Mowers told us that Sokolich had said he would like to be “more involved,” hence his inclusion as a possible appointee.

F. Drumthwacket Breakfast

Mowers next reviewed a May 15, 2012 email from Mowers to Sheridan regarding a “Fort Lee Drumthwacket breakfast” which was to include Sokolich and other invitees.8 Mowers said he did not think the event ultimately occurred.

G. May 17, 2012 Meeting with Sokolich

Mowers was shown a May 17, 2012 email from him to Kelly in which he noted a meeting with Sokolich scheduled for later in the day.9 Mowers could not specifically recall this meeting or what he may have discussed with the mayor.

Mowers then reviewed a set of “Recaps” he sent to Sheridan the following day.10 Mowers’ report discusses the Hudson Lights project in Fort Lee and notes that Sokolich has been “so passionate about trying to get it moving.” Mowers said the recaps were his way of keeping the administration informed of his activities and what he was learning through his local contacts. Mowers recalled the Hudson Lights

6 See, e.g., Mowers-000497. 7 Mowers-000554. 8 Mowers-000555. 9 Mowers-000556. 10 Mowers-000560.

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development and the mayor’s advocacy in favor of it, but said the project was not much discussed in OOG as there was no state involvement in it. He could not recall any substantive conversations within OOG regarding Hudson Lights, and he never heard anyone suggest OOG had an in interest in it.

H. Politically Key Mayors

On May 23, 2012 Mowers emailed to Sheridan a list of “Politically Key Mayor/Electeds” that with 19 named individuals, including Sokolich.11 After reviewing the email, Mowers told us he could not remember what had precipitated the list but that it probably was a response to previous conversations he had had with Sheridan. Mowers described the individuals on the list as “people of influence” and noted that not all were supportive of Gov. Christie. Mowers stated Sokolich was included because Fort Lee was a fairly large city for Bergen County, and so its mayor was an important official.

Mowers said the list was not connected to any re-election efforts. Rather, he had identified the individuals as influential in guiding public opinion or shaping policy proposals. The officials on the list were all drawn from Mowers’ northern and northeastern area of responsibility.

I. Top 100 Mayors and Top 1K Leaders

Mowers next reviewed an email he sent Sheridan on June 6, 2012, in which he described his activities for the previous week.12 Among the details was a meeting with Sokolich. Mowers said the various topics—travel and meetings; numbers of telephone calls made; emails sent, etc.—were pre-formatted and he simply filled in his own details as applicable.

One of the topics was “Top 100 Mayors,” and under it Mowers reported the number of call he had attempted, how many calls were completed, and how many messages were left. He was unsure of the origin of the “Top 100” list, but believed it had been created by Stepien or Kelly. Mowers own region covered about one third of the list, and he said this section of his email was a way for IGA to track his efforts and verify his outreach. He described the list as running the gamut of municipalities, but said typically included larger ones.13

The email also referred to a “Top 1k Outreach.” Mowers said this was a list of the top 1,000 community leaders, although he was not sure the list actually had 1,000 names on it. He described these individuals as people who could “get the word out.”

11 Mowers-000561. 12 Mowers-000562. 13 Mowers said he had read a New York Times article referring to “dossiers” kept for these Top 100 towns. See http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/nyregion/for-christie-politics-team-kept-a-focus-on-two-bids.html?hp. However, Mowers said, he was unfamiliar with dossiers as described in the Times story. At most, he said, interns would compile briefing notes on towns, but that these would simply list local civic organizations and institutions along with a few “top line bullet points” for local events.

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J. December 2012 Football Game

Mowers was shown an email he wrote to Sheridan on December 3, 2012, in which he listed 20 local elected officials, including Sokolich and the mayor of Teaneck, Mohammed Hameeduddin.14 In the subject line of the email, Mowers wrote that the Teaneck mayor “ won re-election by massive margins and is supportive/already indicated an openness to supporting the Gov next yr.” Mowers thought the list contained potential invitees to a football game.

According to Mowers, his specific point about Mayor Hameeduddin, a Democrat, was that he was a potential endorser of Gov. Christie’s re-election campaign; however, Mowers said the list overall represented a mix of parties and municipalities and did not necessarily reflect endorsement prospects. He said he added the insight about Mayor Hameedudddin’s potential endorsement as something “recent and relevant” and “as color.” The mayor was someone who worked well with the Christie administration and, Mowers added, “We’re always cognizant of people who work well with the administration.” When asked if the potential for endorsement was a consideration in inviting Mayor Hameeduddin—or any of the others on the list—Mowers said it was something “in the back of the mind” but not a reason on its own to extend an invitation.

Mowers noted that by this time frame—December 2012 into January 2013—some elected officials had already begun to signal a willingness to endorse Gov. Christie’s re-election bid. Mowers said he was not quite sure how to handle such discussions or what channels to use in reporting such overtures. As 2013 went on, endorsement conversations increased in frequency. Mowers explained that, for many local officials, he was their most direct contact with the Christie administration and, therefore, was naturally the person to whom they relayed thoughts on endorsement.

Mowers was shown a December 6, 2012 email thread between himself, Sheridan, and Kelly with the subject “Updated Game List.”15 Sokolich was again included among a total of 10 elected officials. At one point in the thread, Kelly asks about “Tier 2” prospects. According to Mowers, Tier 2 included backups in case any on the original list could not attend. Kelly, he said, was simply being “looped in” on who would be attending the game.

K. Democratic Targets

On January 12, 2013, Mowers sent to Sheridan a “D targ” list of 11 elected officials, including Sokolich.16 After reviewing, Mowers stated that by 2013 New Jersey was in an election year, and more elected officials were reaching out to have political discussions. According to Mowers, most of the officials on the list—if not all—had by this point directly or indirectly signaled an openness to endorsing Gov. Christie.

In particular, Mowers said that Sokolich believed Gov. Christie’s policy positions had been “great” for Fort Lee and had therefore casually discussed the possibility of endorsement. It therefore made sense to continue that discussion with him.

14 Mowers-000644. 15 Mowers-000655. 16 Mowers-000665.

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Later that month, on January 24, 2013, Sheridan emailed to Mowers and other IGA regional directors instructions on “D Target Outreach.”17 Sheridan wrote that they had “a ‘green light’ to begin trying to secure D target endorsements for the campaign.” Sokolich was among the approved targets. Mowers said that, due to the upcoming elections, political topics were arising more frequently in the course of his normal outreach and that, consequently, Stepien, Sheridan, and others sat down to discuss how to handle such conversations. Mowers said the direction and guidance was that political conversations were acceptable so long as they were conducted on “our own time and with our own resources.” Mowers said no one in OOG asked him to seek endorsements but that all such activity was voluntary. He also stated that there was no goal or quota in terms of obtaining endorsements, but that the campaign did want to show broad support across the political spectrum. Endorsements were therefore tracked in order to demonstrate such support.

When asked how the list of “Approved Targets” was generated, Mowers said it was simply a compilation of the various regional directors’ recommendations, including his own. He could not recall any specific discussions regarding Sokolich, although he said he would have gone down the list to explain who each individual was and why he or she had been included.

Sheridan’s email refers to having targets “sign on dotted line,” but Mowers said there was not actual form to sign.

L. Fort Lee Shuttle Bus

On February 1, 2013, an article appeared in the Fort Lee Suburbanite announcing an expansion of shuttle bus service in the borough thanks to the Port Authority’s donation of two $85,000 buses.18 Stepien forwarded the article to Mowers and Kelly, writing, “We approved this mths ago (he just send this out). Hope he remembers.” After reviewing the email chain, Mowers said that Stepien was only pointing out that the article, while mentioning the Port Authority’s role, did not mention Gov. Christie’s support for the donated buses. Stepien’s email, according to Mowers, “was not an issue of endorsement.”

Mowers later replied to Stepien and Kelly, “I’ll be sure to remind him when we speak later.”19 However, Mowers had no recollection of actually doing so.

These email threads reminded Mowers of a related incident in which Sokolich had been speaking with the Port Authority’s then deputy executive director Bill Baroni and had made an off-hand comment about providing free shuttle service across the George Washington Bridge.20 To Sokolich’s surprise, Baroni later agreed to do so. Nevertheless, Sokolich felt that free service across the bridge would be too problematic and so the idea was dropped.

17 Mowers-000666 18 Mowers-000668. 19 Mowers-000670. 20 This conversation is memorialized in Mowers-000566.

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M. Sokolich Endorsement

On February 7, 2013, Mowers emailed to Sheridan a recap of a lunch meeting he had had with Sokolich on February 5.21 In the summary, Mowers wrote:

Mayor Sokolich and I only briefly discuss the topic of endorsement (one he raised after we were talking about Harrison Mayor McDonough’s endorsement). He said that it is likely that the entire Fort Lee Council would be open to endorsing but that he and they would be hesitant because they are also friendly with Bergen Democratic Chairman Lou Stellato and they would not want to “embarrass” him. The topic quickly shifted thereafter, but it did seem that the door was open to re-approach the topic down the road, likely once the primary filing deadlines have passed.

Mowers’ recommended next step was to “[c]ontinue developing the relationship as we have and re- approach at a later date.” After reviewing this email, Mowers recalled meeting Sokolich for lunch in Fort Lee. The two had been discussing current political events, but Mowers could not say who first broached the topic of Harrison Mayor Raymond McDonough’s endorsement of Gov. Christie. Otherwise, Mowers said his conversation with Sokolich transpired as indicated in his email to Sheridan.

Mowers was shown a text message he sent to Sheridan on March 26, 2013, in which he wrote, “Unfortunately, I think Sokolich is going to be a no. It’s a shame too – I really like the guy.”22 Mowers told us that he had met with Sokolich earlier that evening. By this time, a number of Democrats had publicly endorsed Gov. Christie and, Mowers said, he mentioned to Sokolich the mayor’s previous comments regarding his own potential endorsement. Sokolich repeated that he thought the governor was “great,” but that he was too concerned about the political fallout to endorse. According to Mowers, Sokolich was concerned that a public endorsement could negatively affect his private law practice, in which he represented several Democratic towns on zoning and land use issues.

Mowers said that, based on this March meeting, he considered the door shut on any possible Sokolich endorsement but that he did not have the sense that anyone within OOG considered this “a big deal.” Mowers felt like he must have talked to Sheridan about Sokolich’s unwillingness to publicly endorse, but had no specific recollection. Likewise, he may also have discussed the matter with Kelly and Stepien, but did not recall any particular conversation. Nevertheless, Mowers’ impression was that Sokolich’s decision was communicated “up the chain.”

N. Transition to Campaign

In April 2013—shortly after his March conversation with Sokolich—Mowers left IGA to join the governor’s re-election campaign, Chris Christie for Governor, Inc. (“CCFG”). Stepien himself had made a similar move just days or weeks earlier.

As part of his transition, Mowers passed his IGA duties to fellow IGA regional director Evan Ridley. Mowers could not recall what, specifically, he told Ridley. However, he noted he had 120 officials to

21 Mowers-000673. 22 Mowers-000698.

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hand off in the space of a week, so the debriefing was not detailed. Furthermore, Mowers said there was no reason for Ridley to continue endorsement outreach since Mowers, from his new position in CCFG, would be able to continue that work.

As a regional political director for CCFG Mowers continued outreach efforts, which, he said, could have involved requests for endorsements other forms of public support. In that role, he continued to cover much the same territory he had covered within IGA, including Bergen County and Fort Lee.

O. Further Contact with Sokolich

In May 2013, Mowers and Sokolich traded a series of text messages in which Mowers asked the mayor how he had been and Sokolich mentioned Ridley’s assumption of Mowers’ old duties.23 Mowers said he continued to have a cordial relationship with Sokolich during this period and, to his mind, there were no issues with Sokolich’s decision not to publicly endorse the governor.

Mowers was shown an email Ridley had sent him on May 10, 2013, to which was attached a spreadsheet of “Direct Appointment Reccs” and “Unresponsive Mayors.” Sokolich was listed under the potential appointments. Mowers explained again that this was a list of potential nominees to state commissions or boards. The list of unresponsive mayors was, according to Mowers, just that: mayors who did not return IGA’s telephone calls or other outreach.

P. George Washington Bridge Lane Closures

Mowers said that he first learned of the reduction in Fort Lee’s George Washington Bridge access lanes around the time of a Wall Street Journal article in September and that he had no foreknowledge of any potential lane closures: in fact, he did not believe he knew of the closures as they were occurring. Furthermore, he said he never heard any talk of retribution or payback against Sokolich.

In general, Mowers said he had limited interactions within OOG that related to Sokolich. However, he did recall that in the summer of 2013 he received an email from Kelly about the mayors of New Milford and Fort Lee. According to Mowers, Kelly was concerned that Ridley had claimed to have met with these mayors but suspected he may not have actually done so.24

Mowers also recalled that on the evening of August 12, 2013, he was at a coffee shop in Jersey City with Sheridan, waiting for a meeting with city council member Candice Osborne. Around 7:00 p.m. he received a call from Kelly in which Kelly asked whether Sokolich intended to endorse Gov. Christie. Mowers told Kelly he was “pretty sure” Sokolich would not endorse. Kelly then asked if it was “definitely not going to happen,” which Mowers confirmed. The call then ended after only three

23 Mowers-000699 to -700. 24 Ridley claimed to have met with the mayors of New Milford and Fort Lee on August 16, 2013, and provided recaps of these meetings to Renna. Renna subsequently asked Kelly if she believed Ridley had, in fact, conducted the meetings as described. Kelly replied, “Nope,” and Renna suggested reaching out to Mowers to confirm whether the meetings had occurred. See CGR39. We did not have this email chain at the time we interviewed Mowers, although its substance seems to fit with the description he gave in our interview.

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minutes.25 Mowers said he could not remember if he discussed the call with Sheridan, but that Sheridan would not have heard the full conversation.26

Mowers said that, at the time of her call, he had “no clue” why Kelly was asking about Sokolich and that it seemed like a fairly routine inquiry. Mowers could recall other instances in which Kelly had called him directly to check someone’s endorsement status. Nevertheless, he said he spoke to Kelly every couple of week at that time about a mix of professional and personal topics. Mowers said he did not speak to Ridley or Stepien during this time about Sokolich or any potential endorsement.

On September 9, 2013—the first day of the lane closures—Kelly sent Mowers an email: “Have you heard from Sokolich in a while?”27 Mowers replied, “I haven’t.”28 Mowers stated that, at the time, these emails did not strike him as strange.

Q. Press Inquiries

Mowers said that a few nights before the first Wall Street Journal article on the lane closures appeared, he was with campaign spokesman Kevin Roberts when Stepien mentioned there was a “ridiculous story” going around linking the lane closures Sokolich’s failure to endorse Gov. Christie.29

Following the election, Mowers left New Jersey altogether to become the executive director of New Hampshire’s Republican Party. Mowers was shown an email he sent on December 11, 2013, to Stepien and Christie political advisor Michael DuHaime.30 In the email, Mowers relays that Ted Mann of the Wall Street Journal had called had called asking questions about Mowers’ efforts to obtain Sokolich’s endorsement. Mowers wrote, “Not sure how you are handling or want handled. I don’t plan to return his call on this unless you want me to.”

After reviewing this email, Mowers said that it had caught him off guard when he first received it. Because the inquiry was campaign-related, he went back to those who had been responsible for running the campaign: Stepien and DuHaime. Mowers said he did not return Mann’s call.

Mowers was shown a December 13, 2013 email Mowers wrote to Ryan Williams of the New Hampshire GOP in which Mowers noted that a “couple things with the bridge in jersey popped up” on a conference call.31 Mowers said this had just been a passing aside on account of a bridge-related press conference Gov. Christie had given earlier that day.

25 Mowers-000712 shows a three-minute call from Kelly to Mowers at 7:07 p.m. on August 12, 2013. 26 The next day, Kelly sent an email to Wildstein stating, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” although Mowers would not learn of this until January 2014 when the email became public. 27 Mowers-000688. 28 Mowers-000689. 29 The Wall Street Journal’s first story about the lane closures was published online on September 17, 2013. 30 Mowers-000004. 31 Mowers-000005.

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On January 3, 2014, Mann of the Wall Street Journal called Mowers again, which he noted in an email to Stepien.32 Again, Mowers did not return Mann’s call. He could not remember if Stepien called to discuss the matter, but said that if he had, he would only have advised that it did not make sense to call Mann back. Mowers said he may have discussed with Stepien the timeline for seeking Sokolich’s endorsement just to refresh his memory.

On January 6, 2014, Sean Boburg from the Bergen Record called Mowers, which Mowers relayed to Stepien by email.33 As a general matter, Mowers said, he did not speak to the press during his time in New Jersey and so he felt it best to continue that practice and let Stepien and other handle press calls.

R. Public Release of Kelly Email

Mowers said that it was not until after Kelly’s Fort Lee emails were made public on January 8, 2014, that he finally linked to the lane closures her August 12 telephone call and her September 9 email regarding Sokolich to the lane closure. When the emails became public, Mowers said, his initial reaction was to avoid the controversy and not reach out to anyone. Nevertheless, he said was curious to know how others were reacting and did speak to Sheridan and Renna, but only after the governor had severed ties with Kelly and Stepien.

Mowers said he did speak with Stepien following his termination but before the New Jersey Legislative Select Committee on Investigation issued subpoenas in the matter. Stepien had simply called to discuss articles in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal regarding the endorsement process.

Mowers has had no recent communications with Kelly.

Mowers said he has no insight into why the lanes were closed. In his mind, it does not make sense that the closures were linked to Sokolich’s endorsement decision. At the time, he notes, Gov. Christie was up by 20 percent in the polls and simply did not need support from Sokolich. Furthermore, Mowers said that, of all the OOG staff, he had the closest relationship with Sokolich and yet he had not been bothered or upset by the failure to endorse.

When asked if Kelly and Sokolich had a direct relationship, Mowers recalled that he had introduced the two at a League of Municipalities meeting. Otherwise, he was not aware that they two communicated directly. He did not think Stepien had direct communications with Sokolich.

S. Miscellany

Mowers recalled that in 2011 or 2012 Sokolich had contacted OOG seeking help getting his son accepted into Rutgers University. According to Mowers, OOG did not feel that was appropriate, and the governor does not, as a general rule, write letters of recommendation. Mowers said Sokolich understood and was not upset by the lack of assistance.

32 Mowers-000011. 33 Mowers-000012. Mowers explained that Tom Rath, who is mentioned in the email, is a veteran New Hampshire political strategist who has no connection to the George Washington Bridge issues.

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V. JERSEY CITY MAYOR STEVE FULOP

Mowers was asked about allegations from Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop that a series of appointments with Christie administration officials were abruptly cancelled following his decision not to endorse Gov. Christie. Mowers said he had never had a close relationship with Fulop, although he did attend Fulop’s election night victory party.

Nevertheless, Mowers said that his understanding was that Fulop had committed to endorsing Gov. Christie but later changed his mind. According to Mowers, Stepien had later had a conversation with Fulop’s political advisor, Tom Bertoli, who had advised Fulop to endorse the governor. However, Fulop declined to do so in the interest of preserving his own political aspirations within the Democratic Party. In any event, Mowers was by this point already on the campaign side and was not involved with the cancellations.

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