In a series of recent stories and an editorial, The New York Times has shown a deep dislike for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who on Friday saw two of his top former officials indicted in an alleged traffic jam conspiracy.
Though the Republican is considering a run for president, several stories in the Times beginning Friday dismissed Christie’s potential campaign as a nonstarter.
In a Friday editorial, the Times said Christie’s campaign-in-waiting was rendered “implausible” by the indictments of his former deputy chief of staff and a former Christie appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The two are alleged to have conspired to shut down traffic on lanes of the George Washington Bridge as political payback against a Christie opponent. Another former Port Authority official and longtime Christie associate pled guilty to a lesser charge and will cooperate with prosecutors.
But authorities have repeatedly said there is no conclusive evidence that Christie knew about the conspiracy, which was apparently devised to exact revenge on the mayor of Fort Lee.
“Mr. Christie can’t slough these problems off on hired hands,” the Times said. “They belong to the man in charge.”
In two separate stories over the weekend, the Times suggested that Christie’s White House hopes are rapidly diminishing.
“With bridge case charges, a cloud descends on Christie’s White House hopes,” read one headline Friday. A Times story on Saturday said that Christie and his allies have begun to accept “a new reality” that his presidential ambitions are “increasingly far-fetched.”
A third story on Monday said Christie’s “grip on Republican politics in New Jersey shows signs of slipping,” citing a few local GOP lawmakers who have publicly criticized Christie.
The Times has shown a distaste for Christie in the past.
After Christie delivered a speech to a ballroom full of people at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in February, the Times described it as “a ballroom with many empty seats.”
The Washington Post, by contrast, said the Garden State governor spoke to a “packed ballroom,” USA Today called the venue “a full house of conservative activists,” and the New Jersey Star-Ledger, a local Jersey paper, called it a “near-packed room.”
In December, Times editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal suggested Christie had destroyed evidence that might have implicated him in the traffic jam conspiracy.
“Could evidence have been destroyed?” Rosenthal wrote. “Heaven forbid!”
A spokesman for Christie did not return a request for comment from the Washington Examiner media desk.
