NY Times takes Chris Christie down a notch or two

Check out today's New York Times article.

Here are some choice excerpts:

In 2002, when Mr. Christie’s office won an indictment against the Essex County executive, James Treffinger, a popular Republican, he was not permitted to surrender like most elected officials who find themselves in similar circumstances. Instead, Mr. Treffinger, who was about to begin a campaign for the United States Senate, was arrested at gunpoint and spent more than six hours in handcuffs and leg shackles. ...

But politicians and lawyers involved in the corruption case say that they knew that an informant had secretly recorded Mr. Treffinger making a vulgar derogatory comment about Mr. Christie’s hulking frame, and some former Treffinger aides contend that his harsh treatment was a payback.

Okay, the guy apparently doesn't like people picking on his weight. Got it.

Mr. Christie’s critics say he well knows the political damage a candidate can suffer from even the specter of an investigation. When he ran for freeholder in the mid-1990s, he was sued for defamation for falsely accusing a political opponent of being the target of a criminal inquiry. Mr. Christie ultimately offered a public apology as part of a settlement.

Remind me again how a lawyer with little criminal law or trial experience who had to settle a defamation case winds up Jersey's U.S. attorney?

This isn't a knock on the fact that Christie has locked up dozens upon dozens of angry pols. I'd just never heard the defamation case part of the story before, which I think is somewhat, like, important since he's someone who is supposed to be upholding the law in the middle of a highly politicized environment.