Smoking Guns at Fort Lee When Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey was asked recently about the sudden and inexplicable closings of the Fort Lee lanes of the George Washington Bridge - was this a manufactured traffic nightmare meant to punish the mayor of Fort Lee for not endorsing his re-election? - Mr. Christie answered in his usual way, with a sneer and sarcasm. "I worked the cones," he said. Unbeknownst to anyone, I was working the cones. Well, now come the emails and text messages showing that if Mr. Christie himself wasn't working the cones, maybe it was because he had staff to do that. That is, key members of his administration and his appointees at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which controls the bridge. They include his deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, and his old friend David Wildstein, who was then a Christie appointee to the Port Authority. Their correspondence, released on Wednesday to The Times and other news outlets, is part of a damning collection of electronic smoking guns that appear to show that the conspiracy theory of the lane closings was accurate. Two examples: Kelly: "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." Wildstein: "Got it." Later: Wildstein: "Is it wrong that I am smiling?" Kelly: "No." Wildstein: ""I feel badly about the kids." Kelly: "They are the children of Buono voters." Barbara Buono was Mr. Christie's Democratic opponent. She lost the election badly. Read here for Kate Zernike's full account of what looks like a stark example of Mr. Christie's political brutishness and a neat summation of what should be the first two chapters of any public official's handbook: 1) Email Never Dies and 2) Never Email Anything You Don't Want Plastered All Over the Internet. Sorry to state the obvious, but this scandal is powerful evidence of terrible traits people have long attributed to Mr. Christie and the administration he runs in Trenton. We knew he was a bully. We knew he was vindictive and petty. Now we see that he was either a clueless pawn of scheming aides - or just a liar. Time now for Mr. Christie to explain himself, without the sarcasm, and apologize to the mayor and citizens of Fort Lee, the commuters, the ambulance passengers and drivers, and the schoolchildren, who suffered dearly while their narcissistic governor took out his aggression on their little town.