New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie unleashed his inner pit bull Tuesday on Twitter after the Legislature shelved his bill to yank millions of dollars in ads from state newspapers.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in a Republican presidential debate in Cleveland in August 2015. Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

The measure was dubbed Christie's "revenge" against newspapers that aggressively covered Bridgegate — the investigation that led to the convictions of two allies who conspired to cause a traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge in 2013 to punish a Democratic mayor who didn't endorse the governor for re-election.

The bill would have repealed the state law requiring legal notices to be printed in newspapers, clearing the way for the lucrative ads to move online.

Related: Christie Accused of Pushing 'Revenge Bill' to Punish Press

Christie has denied knowing about the bridge scheme in advance and insisted that the bill had nothing to do with Bridgegate, saying it was first introduced in 2010.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in the Statehouse rotunda Nov. 29 in Trenton. Mel Evans / AP

But lawmakers weren't buying it — the measure was put on hold, perhaps indefinitely, on Monday — and neither were hundreds of residents who flooded the state Capitol with angry calls, according to several state news outlets.

Legislative Republicans said the bill could be revived in a later session, but the delay infuriated the famously combustible Christie, who launched a Twitter offensive Tuesday against Democrats who opposed it and big newspaper companies.

The highlights, with explanatory annotations:

Billionaire newspaper owners unmasked themselves as just another special interest feeding at the Gov't trough. $80m subsidy for billionaires — Governor Christie (@GovChristie) December 20, 2016

(Christie contends that state newspapers make $80 million a year publishing legal notices — a figure disputed by the New Jersey Association of Counties and the state Office of Legislative Services.)

Billionaire newspaper owners demand Gov't subsidy from taxpayers but refuse to open their books to show how much tax $ they already take. — Governor Christie (@GovChristie) December 20, 2016

Billionaire Gannett gets tens of millions from taxpayers but won't open books & plan to layoff Bergen county workers. Weinberg sides w/them. — Governor Christie (@GovChristie) December 20, 2016

(Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper publisher, announced plans to lay off 426 people at The Record in Bergen and about 50 community papers in the northern part of the state.)

Reporters blindly defend their billionaire bosses and their $80m subsidy while Gannett lays off their colleagues in Bergen. Open your books. — Governor Christie (@GovChristie) December 20, 2016

How about reporters doing their homework & asking their billionaire bosses for proof of legal ad revenue? Can't use OPRA; afraid of layoffs? — Governor Christie (@GovChristie) December 20, 2016

(That one's pretty self-explanatory. "OPRA" is the state Open Public Records Act.)