Those eight words would thrust her from a fairly anonymous member of Christie’s inner circle into the middle of a national scandal that would become known as Bridgegate, a saga that ultimately grounded the soaring ambitions of Christie, a Republican governor many thought could be president.
Christie was never charged in the bizarre scheme to close down access lanes to the George Washington Bridge — the world’s busiest crossing — as political payback against a local mayor. And he has managed to remain a sought-after political talking head on major television networks and a close friend of President Donald Trump.
But for Kelly, the scandal unraveled a life shaped in the trenches of New Jersey politics, and Wednesday she faced a sentencing hearing before a federal judge in Newark.
Just before the judge, Susan D. Wigenton, rendered her decision, Kelly spoke through tears as she sought leniency and asked for home confinement.
“Today marks another sad day for my children in a nightmare that has robbed our family of so much,” she said, adding that she apologized to the people of Fort Lee. A sentence of home confinement, she said, “would give us an opportunity to rebuild what we have lost.”
But Wigenton sentenced Kelly to 13 months in prison, saying “the facts haven’t changed, the evidence hasn’t changed.”
Kelly spent nearly 20 years working for an assemblyman before joining Christie’s 2009 campaign in a field office in Bergen County — working the phone banks, often with her four children in tow.
When Christie drew nearly even with New Jersey’s Democratic governor, Jon S. Corzine, in heavily Democratic Bergen County, Kelly was seen as a key reason. After Christie’s victory, Kelly quickly ascended through the ranks of his administration to deputy chief of staff.
She was viewed as a dedicated political soldier, but never a rule-breaker, and her involvement in the Bridgegate scandal shocked many in Trenton. For months, even as Christie portrayed her as a rogue operative, calling her stupid and a liar, Kelly remained loyal to the governor.
But after she was indicted, her message shifted in court, as her lawyers portrayed her as the scapegoat — a “human piñata” — for the Christie administration. She said the lane closings were pitched to her as a policy matter, and that she spoke directly with Christie about it. Her testimony portrayed Christie as temperamental, once throwing a water bottle at her in anger.
While Christie was never called to testify, his presence loomed over Kelly’s trial as witnesses laid bare the governor’s bellicose political style and his frequent desire to settle scores.
The decision to block three lanes for five days in September 2013 set off colossal traffic jams that trapped commuters, emergency vehicles and school buses and was meant, according to federal prosecutors, to punish the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee for declining to endorse Christie for re-election.
A federal investigation into the lane closings ensnared several top associates of Christie, who insisted repeatedly that he knew nothing about the plot until months after it ended, even though testimony at Kelly’s trial revealed that he was told about the lane closings as they were happening and was involved in trying to cover up the scheme.
Besides Kelly, Bill Baroni, who was a top official at the Port Authority, had also been found guilty of civil rights violations, conspiracy and wire fraud. The two had been sentenced to prison in 2017, but partially won an appeal in 2018 when appellate judges on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals tossed the civil rights convictions.
Baroni, who was initially sentenced to two years in prison for his role in the scandal, saw his term reduced to 18 months in February following the appeal. Kelly had originally been sentenced to 18 months in prison, but appealed that term, leading to Wednesday’s new sentencing hearing.
David Wildstein, who was installed as the governor’s enforcer to be a top executive at the Port Authority, pleaded guilty to orchestrating the scheme and became the prosecution’s chief witness. The investigation also ensnared David Samson, a former New Jersey attorney general whom Christie appointed as chairman of the authority, who pleaded guilty in a separate case to using his influence to get United Airlines to establish a new flight to an airport near a home he had in South Carolina.
Kelly is also appealing her conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the court has offered no indication whether it will hear the case.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.