Christie keeps low profile at governors’ meeting

Washington — Moving cautiously to repair his image, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is maintaining a low profile this weekend as the nation’s governors gather in Washington.

Republican officials have been eager to change the subject as Democrats link Christie’s troubles to vulnerable GOP governors in a challenging election season.

The usually outspoken Christie is scheduled to attend just one public event over the three-day annual meeting. He avoided a media-sponsored forum on Friday, wasn’t granting interviews, won’t attend aWhite House dinner and was skipping a news conference hosted by the Republican Governors Association, an organization he heads.

Christie arrived at the National Governors Association meeting with his wife, Mary Pat, and a group of aides, declining to respond to reporters’ questions as he entered the ballroom. Before the start of the meeting, Christie chatted with Gov. Steve Beshear, D- Ky., and agreed to a few quick photographs with attendees near the podium.

“I think he’s getting a bum rap,” said Lily Kersh of Arkansas, who took a “selfie” photo with Christie.

Asked by reporters afterward whether the bridge scandal came up in meetings with governors, Christie said: “No, just by you guys.”

Christie is leaving Washington today to celebrate his daughter’s birthday and focus on an upcoming budget address, according to his office. Advisers privately acknowledge a larger effort to reduce media coverage of ongoing abuse-of-power investigations in New Jersey that threaten to derail his ambitious political future. When elected to his second term last fall, Christie was considered one of his party’s strongest prospective presidential candidates.

“Governor Christie may be hiding under a bridge somewhere or stuck in traffic, but the fact that he’s a liability for Republican governors remains readily apparent this weekend,” said Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association.