Editors at a major New Jersey newspaper now regret endorsing Gov. Chris Christie in last year’s gubernatorial election.
Members of the Newark Star-Ledger's editorial board said they understood the "bully" side of the Republican candidate, but did not believe his characteristic would cause harm to people as it did in last Sesptember's traffic jam.
“An endorsement is not a love embrace. It is a choice between two flawed human beings. And the winner is often the less bad option,” Tom Moran, editor of the editorial page, wrote in an article published in the newspaper on Sunday.
“But yes, we blew this one,” he added.
Christie’s administration is currently embroiled in controversy on several fronts, including an alleged political scheme to shutter lanes of the George Washington Bridge out of apparent political retribution.
The editorial team compared Christie's political talent to that of former President Bill Clinton in the story written last October ahead of the state's gubernatorial race between Christie and Democrat Sen. Barbara Buono. The article cites favoring Christie over Buono because of her flaws.
The newspaper's duty to inform its readers about the two candidates outweighed Christie's refusal to speak to the editorial board for four years, the article states.