Wisniewski: Christie Must Provide Full Accounting Of Taxpayer Funded Personal, Staff & Political Travel
Governor’s refusal to reimburse taxpayers latest example of Christie not sharing in sacrifice

Trenton – In the wake of Chris Christie’s refusal to reimburse taxpayers for his personal and political joyrides on Hypocrisy One, the state police helicopter, New Jersey Democratic State Committee Chairman John Wisniewski renewed his call for Christie to comply with public record requests and release information about taxpayer funded travel of he and his staff.

“This is a Governor who has been secretive at every turn when it comes to what he is charging the taxpayers for his personal and political travel,” said Wisniewski. “There are numerous questions remaining about the Governors travel on Hypocrisy One and he owes it to New Jersey taxpayers, who are footing the bill, to let them know how their money is being spent. The explanation that a helicopter trip, with state trooper escort in an additional state vehicle to carry him 100 yards, leads to no extra expense for the taxpayers doesn’t hold water. The Governor should not be allowed to change the subject, as he is known to do, until he provides answers.”

The New Jersey Democratic State Committee filed OPRA requests yesterday requesting logs and records of helicopter use.  The State Police revealed numerous helicopter trips by the Governor in the media and the Democratic State Committee is hopeful that the OPRA requests will shed additional light on those trips and the costs associated with them to taxpayers. Previous public records requests have yielded a significant number of blacked out pages with redactions.  However, these documents do show that the Governor continues to owe thousands of dollars to the state for his travel, as well as for amenities like extra Gorgonzola cheese for his staff on these trips. 

You see the redacted and blacked out request from Christie’s previous travel here: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=expl...