sought, and extended the compensation to cover other damages not named in the original lawsuit. Environmentalists were apoplectic, slamming the settlement as wholly inadequate. David Pringle, campaign director for the state chapter of Clean Water Action, called it "the biggest corporate subsidy in state history"."Christie's $225 million settlement approved," CNBC, 8/25/15: https://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/25/christies-225m-settlement-with-exxon-approved.html Jeff Tittel of the Sierra Club called this move "a violation of the public trust." The New Jersey State Senate also condemned the deal. Now-former commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Bradley Campbell, who had initially authorized the lawsuit on the state's behalf, accused Christie of deliberately cutting a deal favorable to Exxon at the state's expense, pointing out, "While he was chairman of the Republican Governors Association in 2014, the group received $500,000 from Exxon and more from company employees," and that this happened during the trial. Campbell also accused Christie's office of inserting itself into the negotiations at the eleventh hour, but they were in fact negotiating with Exxon much earlier. The previous gubernatorial administration, that of Democrat Jon Corzine, had also attempted to settle with Exon, for $550 million, though this offer was made before a 2009 ruling that strengthened the state's bargaining position. Much of the payment will be diverted to pay lawyers fees and go in the general fund. Hunterdon County's quashed indictments The quashing of indictments of three Hunterdon County (HC) officials raised questions about abuse of power. Christie has denied any involvement in the case, and there is no evidence that he ordered the charges dropped. In January 2008, former undercover New York City narcotics sergeant Mark Kobner was Chief Warrant Officer under newly elected HC Sheriff Deborah Trout, who was an acquaintance of Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno, herself a former Monmouth County Sheriff. Trout had led an association of county-level law enforcement officers who supported Christie, and Guadagno thanked Trout for sending deputies to work in the campaign. Kobner told a HC prosecutor about practices in the sheriff's office being improper or criminal, saying that Trout had demanded a loyalty oath, and a promise to not vote against her. Some of her deputies, Kobner said, had created illegal law enforcement identifications for politically favored persons. HC's top prosecutor, J. Patrick Barnes, assigned HC assistant prosecutor Bennett A. Barlyn, a former deputy attorney general, to look into the case. Investigators found that the legally required background checks for