Frank Pallone (Photo: AP Photo)
New Jersey Congressman Frank Pallone wants the federal Department of Justice to investigate whether Gov. Christie and a top Christie appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey violated laws when they disclosed travel information about Sen. Frank Lautenberg.
International Business Times reported today that Pallone, a Democrat, requests "an immediate investigation of these breaches of privacy, and possible criminal access and use of data." He notes since New Jersey's attorney general is a Christie appointee he wants an independent federal review.
"The use of this data seems to go well beyond any overarching general use of statistical data for analytical purposes, and rather seems to be specific examination of the E-ZPass usage of individual drivers," Pallone wrote in a letter. "Such actions violate New Jersey law and are a breach of the public trust.It is our duty as public servants to protect the public trust. These incidents seem to demonstrate the exact opposite, showing a remarkable abuse of power and violation of privacy."
IBT reporter David Sirota noted that during a 2012 Senate hearing, Christie's top Port Authority official, Bill Baroni, disclosed private E-ZPass records of Lautenberg who was questioning a Port Authority toll hike. Baroni noted the senator made frequent trips into New York and other places using an E-ZPass transponder which was provided to him free of charge.
"Days after the hearing, Christie himself disclosed more details of Lautenberg's E-ZPass records at a press conference. A year later, Baroni separately disclosed details of E-ZPass data about the constituents of state lawmakers who were interrogating him during a hearing about lane closures on the George Washington Bridge, which links New Jersey and New York City."
"New Jersey and New York laws prohibit E-ZPass records from being obtained or disclosed without a subpoena or court order. Additionally, in a recent letter rejecting an open records request for Lautenberg's E-ZPass records, the Port Authority cited an exemption for private records as grounds for blocking the release of the documents," IBT wrote.
The Bergen Record reported while the E-ZPass system has been traditionally considered apolitical, the Christie administration has political ties to current and former E-ZPass officials who could have access to private travel data.
Christie officials recommended David Haytaian for his Port Authority job as a manager of an E-ZPass customer service call center. "Haytaian, who took the job in 2010, is the son of former New Jersey Republican Assembly Speaker Chuck Haytaian, who has been called a mentor to Baroni and who ran against Lautenberg for the U.S. Senate seat in 1994. Additionally, then-E-ZPass executive director James Crawford served in 2009 on Christie's transition team and interviewed for the job of New Jersey Secretary of Transportation, according to trade publication Toll Roads News. Crawford retired in 2010."
