Sen. Barbara Buono asserts Christie has 'potentially violated the law'
TRENTON — After news surfaced that Gov. Chris Christie took a ride on a state helicopter Wednesday to attend his son's baseball game, Democratic lawmakers fired off tersely worded responses.
"If these reports are true, the governor has potentially violated the law by using public resources for private purposes," said Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex). "This is a serious breach of public trust and necessitates a full accounting of his use of government resources, particularly, the state police helicopter. The Attorney General and U.S. Attorney should demand all records of the governor's travel to ensure that he has not made a habit of using taxpayer dollars for personal or political travel."
Wednesday, Christie used a state police helicopter to fly to a baseball game in Bergen County, where his son Andrew was playing. He left the game, along with First Lady Mary Pat Christie aboard the helicopter. An hour-and-a-half later, he arrived via car at Drumthwacket, the governor's mansion in Princeton, for a meeting with a group of GOP donors from Iowa who were trying to court him to run for president in 2012.
Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) chided the governor for what she called his "do as I say not as I do" attitude.
"I can’t remember how many times I had to skip political events because my children had games or school activities," Vainieri Huttle said. "Leaving in the fifth inning to meet with wealthy Iowa political donors says something about the Governor’s priorities. Perhaps his presidential courters can help him foot the bill so our taxpayers aren’t on the hook for such perks when he is calling for sacrifice.”
Other Democrats called on the governor to reimburse the state for the cost of flying the helicopter to the game.
"To use these vehicles to shuttle between both a personal and a political activity is an outright abuse of taxpayer dollars," Assemblywoman Joan Quigley (D-Bergen) said in a statement. "I’m sure every resident of this state would love to have access to these helicopters when they’re stuck in traffic on the Turnpike or Parkway and missing an important appointment. Sadly, we don’t all have that luxury."
Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, who has sparred with the governor before, said the governor is proving his calls for "shared sacrifice" don't apply to him.
"The governor must publicly detail his use of state police helicopter, and rectify this lapse in judgment by immediately reimbursing the taxpayers for all costs associated with personal and political trips,” Watson Coleman said.
The governor's office said today they had no further comments at this time.
"It is a means of transportation that is occasionally used as the schedule demands. This has historically been the case in prior administrations as well, and we continue to be judicious in limiting its use," said Christie’s spokesman Michael Drewniak in an email last night.
POLITICAL TURBULENCE
Governors of both parties have come under fire for their use of state helicopters -- sometimes after criticizing their predecessor for the same thing.
Republican Gov. Tom Kean had the state purchase an executive helicopter for $4.7 million in 1985; he used it for 1,039 flights in during his second four-year term.
Next, Democratic Gov. Jim Florio sold two of the helicopters and insisted his administration "isn't about flying first class. It's about delivering first-class service to the people with no frills." But he used the helicopter even more than Kean, logging 2,319 flights.
That led to fierce criticism from Republican Gov. Christie Whitman during the 1993 gubenatorial campaign. "I'll sell it. I'll take the money I save and use it to cut taxes," she said in a television advertisement. Once she took office, the state instead spent $443,000 to retrofit the helicopter for emergency medical work.
Then Whitman herself landed in hot water in 1997 for taking another State Police helicopter to a hockey game at the Meadowlands. However, she used the helicopters far less than her predecessors in her two terms in office.
Democratic Gov. James E. McGreevey was the next to stir controversy for helicopter use. The Democratic State Committee ended up reimbursing the state $18,200 in 2002 for 14 flights taken for political and personal reasons, such as attending a state lawmaker's wedding.
Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth), a friend of Christie's who was the Republican state chairman at the time, criticized McGreevey's "personal extravagance," saying: "At a time when he is cutting school funding and raising our property taxes, Governor McGreevey should be held accountable for how he spends every one of our hard-earned tax dollars."
After being blasted by Republicans for 277 helicopter trips in his first year in office, McGreevey cut that total to 19 trips in his second year. The Democratic State Committee and outside groups ended up paying back the state for eight of those 2003 trips.
After McGreevey resigned in 2004, Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex) stepped in as acting governor for 14 months and avoided any helicopter controversy of his own. "He's not a helicopter-and-Drumthwacket kind of guy," Rutgers University political science professor Ross Baker said in 2006.
Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine was up next. Thanks to his status as a multimillionarie, he personally contracted with a private service for political and personal trips, keeping his use of State Police helicopters at low numbers.
After he nearly died in a high-speed highway accident on the Garden State Parkway in 2007, a special panel recommended increased use of state helicopters. That led Corzine to begin taking to the skies more, but still less than previous governors.
Staff writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report.