© Mel Evans/AP
The special investigative committee had sought information and devices, like cellphones from Bill Stepien, Mr. Christie's two-time campaign manager, and Bridget Anne Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff to the governor. Ms. Kelly sent an email in August calling for "some traffic problems in Fort Lee," the town at one end of the bridge whose mayor did not endorse Mr. Christie for re-election.
After lawyers for the two refused to turn over information earlier this month, citing privacy as well as the constitutional right against self-incrimination, the legislative panel voted to allow its special counsel to take whatever measures he believed necessary to compel them to comply.
The counsel, Reid Schar, tried to open a discussion about conditions under which the lawyers might turn over at least some information, offering a new deadline to meet the demands of the subpoena, and to view the materials privately.
The new deadline was Tuesday, and the lawyers remained unmoved.
Kevin Marino, a lawyer for Mr. Stepien, responded with a two-page letter declining Mr. Schar's invitations to discuss ways to turn over the information. "I can think of no lawful way the committee can obtain documents responsive to its subpoena from Mr. Stepien," he wrote. "Stated simply, his principled objections to the subpoena raise significant legal issues that are no less valid because they here arise in the context of a politically charged investigation."
Mr. Marino concluded by suggesting that the Legislature withdraw the subpoena, or let a court decide whether Mr. Stepien must comply with it.
Michael Critchley, a lawyer for Ms. Kelly, said, similarly, "My position hasn't changed from my previous position," outlined in a letter earlier this month informing the panel that she would not comply with the subpoena.
The deadlock almost ensures that a court will decide whether the two must comply with the subpoenas. The lawyers, like others representing former Christie aides whose names are mentioned in emails discussing the lane closings or attempts to disguise their political purpose, have said their clients would speak if granted immunity by the United States attorney's office, which is also investigating the lane closings.
The leaders of the panel, the Legislative Select Committee on Investigation, Assemblyman John Wisniewski and the Senate majority leader, Loretta Weinberg, released only a brief statement that gave little indication of their next step.
"We are in receipt of Mr. Marino's most recent correspondence," they said. "We will review it and continue our efforts to enforce the subpoena served on William Stepien."
The legislative panel has issued more than 30 subpoenas to Mr. Christie's office and campaign, as well as to others, including David Wildstein, a Christie ally at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey who received the email from Ms. Kelly and conveyed the instructions to bridge workers to shut down the lanes, and Bill Baroni, Mr. Christie's top appointee at the authority, who worked with Mr. Wildstein and Mr. Christie's press secretary to portray the lane closings as a routine traffic study.
The effort to get the endorsement of the mayor of Fort Lee had been part of a concerted effort by the Christie campaign to win support from elected Democrats, as the governor eyed a presidential run, and wanted to present himself to Republicans nationwide as the candidate with bipartisan appeal. Mr. Stepien was considered the architect of that strategy.
Ms. Kelly's testimony is considered crucial to understanding what discussions precipitated her email directing the lane closings, and who else, if anyone, on the governor's staff or campaign was involved. Mr. Christie has said that he did not know about the lane closings until he read about them in news accounts after they were over. He has sought to explain the lane closings as a betrayal by Ms. Kelly, who was fired.
Mr. Stepien had been a key political adviser to Mr. Christie, and his pick to lead the state Republican Party, as well as to advise the Republican Governors Association, which Mr. Christie leads this year. Mr. Christie severed those ties when Mr. Stepien's name appeared in some emails revealed last month.
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