USA TODAY International Edition
Christie blasts critics of his use of beach closed to taxpayers
State shutdown puts many sites off- limits for residents of N. J.
TRENTON, N. J. To critics who say he shouldn’t be lounging on a beach off- limits to taxpayers during the New Jersey government shutdown, Gov. Chris Christie says, “Well, I’m sorry ... they’re not the governor.”
Christie made the comment early Monday during a telephone interview on WTXF- TV in Philadelphia. He said he was calling from the governor’s summer residence at Island Beach State Park, where he was photographed by The ( Newark) Star- Ledger sitting with his family on a beach chair in sandals and a T- shirt on Sunday.
“This is a residence,” Christie said. “We have a residence in Princeton as well. And that place is a place where people can go and tour, but they can’t if the government is closed. Am I supposed to move out and stay in a hotel?”
Christie defended his use of the state property during the shutdown that affected the pub- lic, who are being kept out of state parks with signs blaming Democratic Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, saying Saturday: “That’s the way it goes. Run for governor, and you can have the residence.”
On Sunday, Christie was asked whether he had gotten any sun that day, and he said he didn’t. After the pictures were posted, the governor’s spokesman agreed that Christie didn’t get any sun; he said Christie was wearing a baseball hat.
Still, Christie said people shouldn’t have been surprised by the pictures. Spokesman Brian Murray had said Christie was headed to the beach house Saturday night.
“This is an incredible scandal as you know. They actually caught a politician being where he said he was going to be with the people he said he was going to be with,” Christie said.
In an interview on WNYW- TV in New York, he said: “I really wonder about journalists who spend money flying planes to look for people where they actually said they’d be.”
Few lawmakers were around the statehouse Sunday, and Christie said that unless he sent state police to retrieve them, he could not force them to be there. Lawmakers were called back Monday.
Christie, for at least the second time, referred to himself as “Mr. Reasonable” and said he would consider the Democratic budget along with legislation to overhaul the state’s biggest health insurer, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield. Without the Horizon legislation he has called for, he said, he would line- item veto about $ 350 million of Democratic priorities.
Over the weekend and Monday, the public began feeling the effects of the shutdown.
Among those affected were Cub Scouts forced to leave a state park campsite and people trying to obtain or renew documents from the state motor vehicle commission.
“That’s the way it goes. Run for governor, and you can have the residence.” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie