Wildstein testifies at Bridgegate trial: I was the 'bad cop' at P.A.

The former Port Authority executive, now the key prosecution witness in the Bridgegate case, pled guilty to federal charges last year in connection to the shutdown of lanes at the George Washington Bridge. Watch video

NEWARK - David Wildstein, the admitted architect of the Bridgegate scandal, spoke publicly for the first time Friday, telling a jury how the governor's office used Port Authority resources with abandon to reward -- and punish --elected officials, in an effort to secure endorsements for Gov. Chris Christie's 2013 re-election campaign.

Taking the stand at the Bridgegate trial in the federal courthouse in Newark, Wildstein said his focus while serving as a top political appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was to serve the governor.

"My job was to advance Governor Christie's agenda. My expectation is that I would be tough," Wildstein said.

He said he had a "one-constituent" rule: "The only person that mattered was Governor Christie," he explained. "We used that as the barometer by which a decision would be made at the Port Authority."

And much of the focus was on the re-election campaign, in which he said there was a deliberate strategy as far back as 2010 to court as many Democrats as possible seeking endorsements for a governor who had national aspirations.

Tours of the World Trade Center? Ceremonial flags flown over Ground Zero? Surplus Port Authority trucks and millions in grants and other aid? All it was put into play, he testified, while admitting his own guilt in the 2013 scheme to close toll lanes at the George Washington Bridge.

"The Port Authority was asked to play a role in securing those endorsements," Wildstein said, when prosecutors asked him about Christie's re-election bid. Former Christie campaign manager and top aide, Bill Stepien, gave that order, he testified.

Wildstein, 55, is the government's key witness at the center of the high-profile corruption case that weighed down Christie's ill-fated presidential run and may ultimately have doomed it.

A Bridgegate timeline

On trial are Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority, and Bridget Anne Kelly, once a top aide to Christie.

The U.S. Attorney's Office has charged that the two, in a plot authorities say was orchestrated by Wildstein, conspired to shut down several local access toll lanes at the bridge to wreak traffic havoc in Fort Lee, in retribution for Mayor Mark Sokolich's refusal to back the Republican governor in his re-election campaign.

Stepien, who had once been Kelly's boss, has not been charged with any wrongdoing in the case.

Christie has steadfastly denied he knew about the lane closures and the plot to punish Sokolich.

Speaking firmly and confidently, often turning directly to the jury, Wildstein talked of his plea deal and cooperation agreement with the government.

"My hope is that I will not be sent to prison," he said.

In making his long-awaited appearance in the trial, Wildstein described himself as a "bad cop" at the Port Authority.

A one-time political blogger who grew up in Livingston and went to high school with Christie, Wildstein himself was a high-level patronage appointee to the Port Authority in a $150,020-a-year position with no job title.

He said the Port Authority had the ability to do things for elected officials and provide free things -- goody bags, they would be called -- that would potentially put the governor in a favorable position. He was the guy who would say "no" to officials who were not in the governor's favor.

Earlier in the day, former Christie aide Matt Mowers also testified about targeting Democrats for endorsement.

Wildstein, who will return to the stand on Monday, has not yet directly addressed his role in the Bridgegate conspiracy. Federal prosecutors say he was the one who came up with the idea to use the toll lanes at the George Washington Bridge to hurt the mayor -- whose frantic calls about the gridlock that had gripped his town over four days in September 2013 were allegedly ignored by Baroni.

Prosecutors said Kelly instructed Wildstein to take that action in an email a month earlier, telling him it was "time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," and that Baroni blessed the plan.

"The three of them together worked hand-in-hand to punish Mayor Sokolich because he didn't endorse the governor," Assistant U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna told the jury.

Long before his arrival in the courtroom, though, attorneys for Baroni and Kelly were painting a picture of him as "master manipulator" and "dirty trickster" who was rude to those who knew him, vengeful to those who crossed him, and untrustworthy to those who employed him.

"He was known for intimidating and lying to people. He has a twisted mind. He's maniacal," attorney Michael Baldassare, who represents Baroni, told the jury. "David Wildstein is a habitual liar. And the evidence is going to show not just any lies, but unnecessary lies. Lies that simply aren't needed."

On the stand, Wildstein, who was watched intently by Baroni and Kelly, as well as his own attorney, Alan Zegas -- who took notes on a yellow legal pad --recalled Baroni offering him the job at the Port Authority in a position to act as his chief of staff.

"Initially I said no. I had no interest in doing that," he explained. "I said no because I didn't think that working within the government would be good for me."

He spoke of his long friendship with Baroni.

"He was one of the closest friends I ever had," he said.

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL.