Further, speaking for myself only and based upon my own experience in state government, the No. 1 standing rule for any staff members of most any elected official is that you don't ever do anything that might embarrass the boss, were it to ever become public knowledge.

Therefore, I find it hard to very hard to believe that at least six senior staff members at the most senior level of state government would undertake such an action against a real / perceived political opponent, without first gaining the boss's understanding and tacit approval that something will be done to that effect.

After all, we're not talking about a fresh crop of political rookies who were hired by Gov. Christie right out of college. Bridget Anne Kelly, William Barone and David Wildstein have surely been around the block a time or two in this game, as have undoubtedly the rest of the governor's senior staff, appointees and advisors who've thus far been implicated in this scandal.

So, while I can accept the idea that Christie might not have known the exact details of the retailiatory plot against Mayor Sokolich that was being discussed by at his most trusted senior advisors -- in his own office at the New Jersey State House, no less! --I'm simply not buying the notion that he was entirely out of the loop altogether.

I mean, plausible deniability is one thing, but one simply doesn't rise to that level in politics, particularly in a big state like New Jersey, through blind trust and an uncanny ability to channel Sgt. Schultz at appropriate moments. It flies directly in the face of my own personal experience, and defies both logic and common sense.

And if it IS somehow true that Christie didn't know at all, then it really screams volumes about his own gross administrative incompetence, because he undoubtedly should've known what was going on right under his own nose.

So, either way, Chris Christie really has no business running for president of the United States, never mind remaining in place as governor of New Jersey.

Baroni, well, his job at the Port Authority was created specifically for him, and was eliminated once he left.  He was there to be Christie's meat-puppet at the Port Authority and, many have noted, to try to steer money and projects to those who favored Christie or whom he wanted to favor.

Here's hoping these two see the light and roll.