Christie aide is latest to use private emails

Those personal emails at the center of the brewing scandal for Chris Christie may have remained secret — had the public and press relied solely on New Jersey’s open records law.

The emails show a top aide to the Republican governor asking the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to close three lanes on the George Washington Bridge. That resulted in September’s major backups.

Those emails were leaked last week, even though one newspaper requested them nearly a month ago, only to be told they didn’t exist.

The use of private emails adds Christie to the list of administrations that use private email accounts and other digital services for official business.

In turn, state and federal officials have sidestepped public records laws meant to keep government activities transparent.