January 9, 2014 - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie apologized today for the September 2013 lane closures on the the George Washington Bridge after his aide is linked through text and emails to the scandal which has become know as Bridgegate.

At a packed news conference  in Trenton, Christie stated that “I come out here to apologize to the people of New Jersey. I apologize to the people of Fort Lee and I apologize to the members of the state Legislature. I am embarrassed and humiliated by the conduct of some of the people on my team."

The Bridgegate scandal exploded on January 8, 2014 , when text and e-mails appeared to reveal that a senior aide to Christie, Bridget Anne Kelly and a Christie appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey David Wildstein , orchestrated the lane closures at the  Fort Lee, NJ approach to the George Washington Bridge in September of 2013.

In a electonic message three weeks before the lane closues, Kelly wrote "time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." Wildstein messaged back "Got it."
The alleged cause for the lane closures was retribution againt the Democratic Mayor of Fort Lee Mark Sokolich who had refused to endorse the Republican Christie's reelection bid. Wildstein had already resigned from his post at the Port Authority. Christie fired Kelly this morning for her participation.

At his press conference, Christie said "I take this action today because it’s my job. I am responsible for what happened. I am sad to report to the people of New Jersey that we fell short. We fell short of the expectations that we’ve created over the last four years for the type of excellence in government that they should expect from this office."

Governor Christie added "I had no knowledge or involvement in this issue, in its planning or its execution, and I am stunned by the abject stupidity that was shown here. Regardless of what the facts ultimately uncover, this was handled in a callous and indifferent way and it is not the way this administration has conducted itself over the last four years, and not the way it will conduct itself over the next four."

In further trying to put this scandal behind him Christie  said that he would travel to For Lee today to apologize in person to the Mayor and the people of the community for the turmoil and traffic jams caused by the lane closures. “I also need to apologize to them for my failure of the governor of this state to understand the true nature of this problem sooner than I did," Christie said. "I believe I have an understanding of the true nature of the problem," Christie said.

Political pundits could only speculate as to what the long term damage would be to any presidential campaign that Christie  might mount in 2016. One political guru stated that should Christie run he could expect to see negative adds run against him featuring the Bridgegate scandal. Furthermore there will probably be a run of Chris Christie campaign button lampooning him for the Bridgegate scandal. Expect to see Chris Christie a Bridge to  No Where campaign buttons and Chris Christie a Bridge to Far appearing soon.

While  Christie made an all out effort today to put the scandal behind him, both federal and state investigations will probably keep this issue in the news for months to come.