The mayor of a New Jersey town gridlocked by traffic jams that appear to have been engineered by a top aide to Gov. Chris Christie says he long suspected the backup was punitive.

Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich says the September traffic jams delayed ambulance response times, including for a man with chest pains, and made children late for the first day of school.

He says the decision to close two lanes leading to the heavily trafficked George Washington Bridge was “done with venom” and a “prime example of political pettiness.”
Emails released Wednesday link a top Christie aide to the jams.

Sokolich says he thinks officials who made the decision in the governor’s office and the Port Authority should resign. Two transit agency executives left their jobs earlier.

(AP)