A New Jersey judge reopened a whistleblower lawsuit Monday filed by the former No. 2 police officer at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Jerry Speziale's suit had been put on hold while the George Washington Bridge lane-closing trial proceeded. His attorneys had formally requested that the case be reopened at the end of March, a day after two former aides to Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were sentenced.
The lawsuit is seeking unspecified compensatory damages, back pay and future pay.
Former Port Authority official David Wildstein, who pleaded guilty in the bridge case, is a defendant in Speziale's suit.
Speziale was Passaic County sheriff when he was offered a position as deputy police superintendent at the Port Authority by Wildstein, his 2014 lawsuit claims.
In a court filing in the bridge lane-closing case, Wildstein said Christie pushed for Speziale, a Democrat, to be hired at the Port Authority so that he would not run for re-election as sheriff and a Republican candidate could be elected.
Speziale said in the suit that his mandate at the Port Authority was to uncover and report corruption and wasteful spending in the agency's 1,700-member police department, but that when he reported violations he was subjected to retaliation and harassment.
