(Photo by Olivier Douliery/Getty Images)
As of late, scandal seems to follow NJ Governor Chris Christie. Obviously this is not good for someone thinking about running on the GOP ticket for president.
First there was the “Bridgegate Scandal,” now comes word that he spent a whopping $300,000 on food and alcohol using his NJ expense account during his five years in office.
In total, Christie spent $360,000 from his state allowance during his term, but more than 80 percent of that money was used to purchase food, alcohol and desserts, according to a New Jersey Watchdog analysis of records released by the governor’s office.
“In addition to his $175,000 a year salary, the governor receives $95,000 a year in expense advances, paid quarterly by the state,” reports the site.
According to the state budget, the expense advances are as “an allowance of funds not otherwise appropriated and used for official receptions on behalf of the state, the operation of an official residence, for other expenses.”
But because Treasury officials say Christie does not turn in receipts or accounting of the public monies, there really is no way to know how he is spending it. Christie does return surplus funds to the state each year.
“In 2010, the governor spent all but $2,716 of his state expense allowance during his first year in office. The annual surpluses grew to $9,882 in 2011, $21,225 in 2012, $47,472 in 2013 and $30,377 last year,” reports Watchdog.
However, the governor’s ledger, obtained through the Open Public Records Act, sheds light on Christie’s spending habits. And it seems he likes to spend–and spend big. He went on a spree occurred during the 2010 and 2011 NFL football seasons at MetLife Stadium, at which Christie gets free use of luxury boxes for games and other events at the government-owned venue. Food and beverages cost extra.
“On 58 occasions, Christie used a debit card to pay a total of $82,594 to Delaware North Sportservice, which operates the concessions at MetLife,” reports Watchdog. And again, since there is no paper trail, there is no way of knowing if Christie was courting business people and officials on behalf of the state or just enjoying himself.
“The official nature and business purpose of the event remains the case regardless of whether the event is at the State House, Drumthwacket or a sporting venue,” said Christie’s press secretary Kevin Roberts in a prepared statement.
The New Jersey Republican State Committee reimbursed the Treasury in March 2012 to avoid a scandal.
While Christie’s stopped using his expense account at MetLife and other sports venues, he did use it to buy $102,495 worth of groceries and alcoholic beverages from retail stores, from Wegmans Food Markets ($76,373 during 53 shopping trips) to ShopRite (51 times spending $11,971 on food and another $6,536 in seven visits to ShopRite’s liquor stores).
In addition to grocery bill, Christie spent another $109,133 to hire caterers for official state receptions and special events, which is a more expected expense. And then there were nearly $1.2 million in travel costs.
The lack of transparency has prompted Assemblymen Troy Singleton and Vince Mazzeo (both Democrats) to introduce a bill, A-4424, that would require the governor to disclose expenses with receipts in an annual report to be posted on the State Ethics Commission website.
“New Jersey taxpayers have every right to know where their hard-earned money goes,” said Mazzeo. “Any governor who makes a responsible and appropriate use of this expense account should have no objection to complying with what’s required under this bill.”
