I've recently heard the following appropriate analogy.  When the government shut down (the dems and their media colleagues called it a "GOP shutdown" but the truth is that the Democrats would not fund ANY of the government if they didn't get their Obamacare funded, so in the end it was their decision to shut it down), the National Park Service rangers were told to make life as difficult for people as possible.  Not just the city of Fort Lee, NJ, but national parks across America.  And not just national parks.  The Obama administration wanted folks to feel the pain whenever and wherever he could make it so.  Then he could say it was because the GOP-run House was to blame.  This was not responsible government; it was intentional infliction to make a political point, knowing all the while that it was hurting Americans.  Yes, what Christie's staff did was wrong in the same way, but nowhere near the scale.  Christie said he had no knowledge of it.  I'll believe him at this point.  If he did, and he is lying, then he is (and should be) toast.