NJ-Gov: Christie Sez: “Supersize Me!” – Taxpayers Get Soaked

Chris Christie really has been living large – too large:

The Republican candidate for New Jersey governor, who has campaigned on a platform of ethical integrity and cutting government waste, regularly spent beyond federal guidelines on business travel while U.S. attorney, records show.

The newly released travel records show that Chris Christie occasionally billed taxpayers more than $400 a night for stays in luxury hotels and exceeded the government’s hotel allowance on 14 of 16 business trips he took in 2008.

“Generally, U.S. attorneys, assistant U.S. attorneys and all federal staff stay within the government rate,” said Justice Department spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz. “The government rate is not a suggestion, it’s a guideline.”

And look who else bunked with Christie at high-end rates:

On trips in 2007 and 2008, his top deputy, Michele Brown, also exceeded the guidelines after Christie approved her requests for rooms in the same five-star hotels where he was booked.

The vouchers show Christie and Brown stayed at the NineZero Hotel in Boston on Oct. 16, 2007 and each billed taxpayers $449 plus taxes and fees for their rooms, more than double the government allowance for a Boston hotel room at the time, according to a General Services Administration travel reimbursement table.

Yes, that Michele Brown. No word yet, though, on Christie’s room service tab.

In other NJ-Gov news:

  • Barack Obama will campaign with Jon Corzine on Wednesday, Oct. 21st, at 3pm at Farleigh Dickinson University in Hackensack. Tom Jensen points out that the few remaining undecideds in NJ voted for Obama by a 50-40 margin, so it’s key for Corzine to try to mobilize them.
  • Quinnipiac’s new survey shows the race at 41-40 Christie, with Chris Daggett pulling in 14. Christie had a 43-39 lead just a couple of weeks ago.
  • And in an unsurprising sign that Republicans are worried about Daggett drawing away votes from Christie, the RGA is hitting the independent with both radio and TV attack ads. For its part, the DGA is going after Christie hard on mammograms.

7 thoughts on “NJ-Gov: Christie Sez: “Supersize Me!” – Taxpayers Get Soaked”

  1. Does anyone else think that there might have been some sort of romantic happenings going on?  I mean a second mortgage on your home, speeding in an unregistered car and now staying at ritzy hotels together…?   Maybe they are just bffs or “partners in crime” but it seem sfishy to me.  She comes up way too often.

  2. Chris Christie scares the hell out of me and I dont even live in NJ. Not to mention the horrible shape NJ would be in if they had four years of him as a governor.  

  4. I wonder if hotels charge an additional fee for beds that have to be reinforced for their larger customers.  That might explain the additional cost…

    I wish Corzine would create an ad during the Halloween weekend with Christie’s face on the Kool-Aid mascot.  If would be really cool if Christie has ever said “Oh yeah!” on tape.  He could have Christie crashing through a wall of ethics.  

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