NH GOP Executive Director Subpoenaed

A New Jersey legislative panel investigating the Fort Lee traffic scandal that is swirling around Gov. Chris Christie, a potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate, has subpoenaed the new executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Committee, according to the Associated Press.

Matthew Mowers, who was hired to lead the state committee in November 2013, was a former Christie aide who reportedly was involved in attempting to secure a political endorsement of Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, for Christie’s gubernatorial re-election campaign last year. According to press reports, he worked for Christie since 2010 before coming to New Hampshire. Mowers is one of 20 people that has been subpoenaed by the panel and has been unavailable for comment since the scandal exploded.

When hired last year, Jennifer Horn, chairwoman of the NH GOP, described Mowers and another staffer hired, Bobby Collins, "seasoned and experienced professionals who have the skills and dedication that is needed to help New Hampshire Republicans win in 2014."

In a statement on Jan. 16, she praised Mowers as an “extremely talented worker and a valued member of our team” who had not been accused of doing anything wrong.

“There is zero indication that he is in any way connected to the decision to close the bridge lanes,” Horn noted, adding that he had “my full support and confidence, and I look forward to his continued service to our party."

Ray Buckley, the head of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, pounced on the subpoena, saying that he hoped Mowers would “cooperate fully with all investigations and fully assist investigators find out the truth” about the traffic jams.

"The events surrounding the Christie administration closing lanes for political retribution are a troubling breach of the public's trust,” Buckley said in a statement. “Matt Mowers spent years working directly under now-disgraced aides of Chris Christie, and we are all left to wonder what dirty tricks they taught him and what plans he has to use them in New Hampshire.”

Horn, in her statement, also said that the issue was being used to distract New Hampshire voters from things the Democrats were involved in, including problems with the Affordable Care Act.

"Partisan hacks will try to shamelessly exploit this issue to distract from the Jeanne Shaheen's disastrous deciding vote for ObamaCare,” she said. “But it will do nothing to help the thousands of Granite State families who have lost their health insurance because Shaheen's blind support for the failed Obama health care agenda.”