New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's recent scandals won't impress anyone who has read Robert Caro's biography of Lyndon Baines Johnson.
In the fourth volume of Caro's biography, he tells the story of Margaret Mayer, a Dallas Times Herald reporter who was investigating the television station LBJ owned. Johnson had his aides call Mayer's bosses and let slip that if Mayer kept investigating Johnson's business, Johnson might sic the Federal Communications Commission on the Dallas Times Herald's businesses — which included TV and radio stations. Mayer's bosses got the message. Her investigation was quickly terminated.
That, however, was an example of LBJ's lighter touch. According to another story Caro recounts, Johnson had long been irritated by the coverage of Bascom Timmons, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's chief Washington correspondent.