Following Gov. Chris Christie's marathon Bridgegate news conference, leaders from both sides of the aisle agreed they need to continue to work together in a bipartisan fashion -- along with the governor -- to keep the state moving.

Vinnie Prieto
Assembly Speaker-elect Vinnie Prieto (Kevin McArdle, Townsquare Media)
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Assembly Republican Leader Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield) praised the comments the governor made on Thursday regarding the scandal.

"I don't see how this gets in the way of working together," Bramnick said. "That has to do with the people's business, and the governor was pretty clear here: he didn't know what was going on, he's saddened and he's betrayed."

Bramnick does think some mistakes were made by the Christie administration.

"He admitted them and he's sad about it, but I don't think people distrust this governor," Bramnick said.

Assembly Speaker-elect Vinnie Prieto (D-Secaucus) said there are still plenty of unanswered questions surrounding Bridgegate, but he was willing to listen to what Christie had to say.

"I always give whoever is speaking, I give them the benefit of the doubt and I'm not here to say it's truthful or he's lying," Prieto said. "I don't know that answer. I think there's more people that need to be asked questions, to find out what was the thinking behind this."

Prieto also said federal agencies may take up their own investigations, and it's not clear if those would supersede the state probe that's already underway.

He said goal number one, however, "is to work to do the best job for the residents of the state of New Jersey, and I've always said that. We always look at what's best, and how can we compromise to get things done."

The bottom line for Prieto is that he still wants to work with Chris Christie.

"He is the governor and we are the legislature, so government can't stop," Prieto said. " I can tell you that, we have to keep going."

 

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