This gentleman is Daniel Aubrey, a 62-year-old man with a gray-flecked goatee. He and his wife, an artist, live in a modest home on a modest block just outside Trenton. A friend called him that day and exclaimed: The lieutenant governor just spelled out your name and said there was contract fraud!

A day later, an assistant attorney general called Mr. Aubrey. You are involved in an illegal contract, the prosecutor said. Do you have a criminal attorney?

He did not.

Just like that, Mr. Aubrey fell into reputation’s ditch, and the Christie administration piled dirt atop him. Except — and this is not incidental to our story — Mr. Aubrey did nothing wrong.

His work as a writer and art contractor is well regarded. Three former employers say he is honest to a fault; he’ll cut costs even when those costs are his own. An audit and report showed he could account for every cent. “I’m corny,” he says. “I believe in documenting taxpayer dollars.”

Such facts did not matter.

“No one ever asked me for my records,” he says. “I’d wake up and think: ‘Fraud’ is being used in the same sentence with my name! What sort of people am I dealing with?”