Governor Chris Christie Watch
From the desk of ManwithBlackHat…
“America’s got a feevah …”
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Governor Chris Christie: “Twas the Night Before Christmas”
“Is Obama DOJ Targeting Chris Christie?
Posted on November 9, 2010 at 11:03pm by Meredith Jessup at The Blaze
Washington (AP) – New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is raising his national political profile as a government cost-cutter, engaged in a pattern of abuse when he was U.S. attorney by billing taxpayers to stay at luxury hotels, the Justice Department’s inspector general said in a report Monday.
The inspector general found that the Republican governor, who recently killed the construction of a new rail line to New York under the Hudson River, did not comply with federal travel regulations or provide acceptable justification for lodging costs that exceeded the government rate.
Christie was one of five U.S. attorneys singled out for criticism in the inspector general’s review of U.S. attorney travel that exceeded the government lodging rate. Christie was the chief federal prosecutor for New Jersey from 2002 until Dec. 1, 2008, when he resigned to run for governor. He became governor last January.
While the amount of money involved in the review of Christie’s travel vouchers is small, $2,176, the IG‘s report comes at a time when Christie’s political star is rising as he focuses on reducing the cost of government.
The inspector general’s report concluded that there were other examples of questionable travel by several other U.S. attorneys, but that those instances “were not part of a pattern of abuse like those described” in the section of the report on the five U.S. attorneys.
The report did not name the five U.S. attorneys and referred to Christie only as “U.S. Attorney C.” But the details in the report about U.S. Attorney C were identical to travel data on Christie from Justice Department records that were publicly released last year under the Freedom of Information Act during Christie’s race for governor.
Fifteen of the 23 travel vouchers for lodging that Christie submitted from 2007 to 2009 exceeded the government rate for lodging, the report stated.
The U.S. attorney “provided insufficient, inaccurate or no justification” for 14 of the 15 trips, the report added.
Christie’s press secretary, Michael Drewniak, said Monday that “the governor thoroughly addressed this issue during the campaign, and I would refer you to his remarks then.”
During the campaign, Christie said he stayed in more expensive hotels only when cheaper ones weren’t available. “We always went for government rates first,” he said. “I don’t think there were a lot of stays in five-star hotels over seven years.”
The inspector general only examined travel back through 2007.
Twelve of the 14 trips in which Christie’s hotel cost exceeded government rates all related to one particular case which the report did not identify, but Christie’s office confirmed Monday that the case involved five medical-device manufacturers. Those companies avoided criminal prosecution over financial inducements paid to surgeons to use the companies’ products.
During that case, Christie “addressed the companies, their boards and senior management numerous times on their obligations and compliance with the deferred prosecution agreements,” Drewniak said in an e-mail.
In one instance related to the case, the inspector general wrote, the U.S. attorney traveled to Boston for meetings with representatives of a defendant company at the Nine Zero Hotel at a cost of $449 per night — more than double the government rate of $220 per night in Boston.
In a trip not related to that case, the U.S. attorney justified a $475-per-night stay at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, D.C., by saying that there was an early morning speech at the hotel. If lodging at the government rate of $233 was available within a reasonable distance, “we do not believe this was a suitable justification,” the report added.
In the report, by Inspector General Glenn Fine, a footnote on transportation costs said the U.S. attorney took a prearranged car service on a four-mile trip to and from the Boston airport costing $236 round trip.
“In another example of excessive transportation costs, his car service from a London airport to his hotel in central London cost $562 round trip,” the report added.
Christie is the first Republican elected New Jersey governor in a dozen years. He was a sought-after guest on the GOP campaign trail during the midterm elections.
Christie has left the door open for a 2016 presidential run. On Sunday, he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he was “going to need a job” after 2013. He added: “So maybe it will be that. Who knows?”
Source: The Blaze.com
“Today Show” Profiles Gov. Chris Christie
Tough-talking Chris Christie and his no-nonsense approach to New Jersey’s state politics have caught the eye of Republican big shots across the country, leading some to speculate whether he is presidential material for 2012.
Posted on October 20, 2010 by RealClearPolitics
Chris Christie on pension reform: We are the ones we’ve been waiting for
HotAir.com /August 3, 2010 by Allahpundit
Via Cubachi, a sneak preview of the next phase of Christie-style Hopenchange: Figuring out how to bring sustainability to a public pension system which, by law, requires an increase of nine percent per year.
The governor, who took office in January, skipped a $3 billion payment into the $66.9 billion fund in his first budget as he coped with a record $10.7 billion deficit. The fund, which provides benefits for almost 800,000 current and retired teachers and government workers, had a gap between assets and anticipated payouts of $46 billion as of June 30, 2009…
The governor said he intends to work with lawmakers later this year on a series of changes to lower future pension costs. Those initiatives may include scaling back a 9 percent pension increase enacted in 2001 and reducing future benefits for current workers, he said.
In March, the first-term Republican signed a package of bills barring part-time workers from the pension system, capping payouts for unused sick-time and requiring employees to pay 1.5 percent of their salaries for health insurance.
Lowry, singing his praises, calls him an adult in an increasingly juvenile political world. I couldn’t agree more, but when it comes to hard choices about entitlements on a national level, I honestly don’t know how viable that degree of adulthood will ever be. Just ask the resident adult in the House GOP caucus…
Update: My mistake. The nine percent increase isn’t mandated annually. From a pension consultant in New Jersey:
Years ago the formula for the pension for members of the Public Employees Retirement System was years of service divided by 60 times final average salary. The formula was changed to years of service divided by 55 times final avg salary. This resulted in a 9% increase in pension benefits. It does not mean that members of the retirement system receive increases of 9% each year. There is a cost of living adjustment, however that is based on 60% of the difference in the CPI from the date you retired to today’s CPI. This resulted in no increase this year.
NJ Governor Chris Christie on Today Show
“You can take Snooki & the “Situation” back, I’ll show you the REAL Jersey Shore…”
Funny, funny ending to this vid…boy, it would be great to have a guy like this as President, whadda ya think?
Interview with Governor Chris Christie
New Jersey’s Governor discusses taxes, politics and more on “This Week.”
“The Christie Tool Kit: Putting Children First By Cutting Out-of-Classroom Costs “
Now, don’t you think this should mandatory viewing for NY, CA, & the rest of the miserable states run by liberal hacks? Ya think?
“Chris Christie, “Rockstar of the GOP?”
Dontcha’ just LOVE THIS GUY?? That’s right, he’s MY GOV!! Christie 2012!! Christie the Obamanator!
Paul Ryan: “I’m in the Chris Christie Camp”
More at The Save NJ blog…
How Do You Like New Jersey Now?
Governor Chris Christie- First 6 months in office- July 19, 2010
Take a look at one of our newest leaders coming forward on the horizon. I am a native born New Jerseyan and have suffered under the corruption of past administrations and their union thugs here in NJ. Taxation without real representation has been our burden for years.
Governor Chris Christie seems to be a new guy to the rest of the country, but here in NJ we have had a great relationship with him the past few years as our U.S. Attorney. Christie has locked up more corrupt politicians and union thugs than any other U.S. Attorney in NJ. He gave us real hope here in Jersey and then he did what we really needed: he gave up a personal career to run for Governor.
There are many liberal and progressive naysayers who insult him, lie about him and basically are just jealous that he has the character to do what he says he is going to do. Well, you know what? this is one Jersey girl who luvs her Guv and asks, “What do you think of New Jersey now??
A Catholic Governor Embraces Subsidiarity
Deal W. Hudson InsideCatholic.com 7/11/2010
The new governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, is distinguishing himself in two ways as a Catholic politician. Not only he is pro-life, but he is also aggressively pursuing a set of policies grounded in the principle of subsidiarity.
At a time when most prominent Catholic politicians — Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, and John Kerry — have advocated federal government solutions to problems like health care, Gov. Christie is pushing in the opposite direction by releasing a New Jersey Privatization Task Force Report.
In the 57-page report, the Task Force proposes privatizing the state’s motor vehicle inspections, housing construction inspections, turnpike toll booths, state parks, psychiatric hospitals, as well as contracting for highway maintenance work, and outsourcing worker’s compensation claims and all pension, payroll, and benefit payments systems.
These recommendations, according to Christie, will save New Jersey taxpayers over $200 million a year.
If the humanity of unborn life is the tenet most ignored by Catholic politicians, the principle of subsidiarity comes in a close second. Of course, unlike the 6th commandment — “thou shall not kill” — subsidiarity must be applied prudentially. The principle itself is simple:
A community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to co-ordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1883)
The Catechism is unambiguous in its claim that Catholics should uphold subsidiarity to offset one of the dangers of socialization, i.e., an “excessive intervention by the state” threatening “personal freedom and initiative” (#1882-1883). More…
Everybody Loves Christie…We told you so!
Governor Christie: They Said It Couldn’t Be Done
Governor Christie on Hannity
“Jersey Passion”
