A day’s notice, in writing: That’s the advance warning state Sen. Loretta Weinberg wants New Jersey governors to give when planning any out-of-state travels. Weinberg, (D-Bergen), introduced a bill today, aiming to require the governor to tell legislative leaders in advance of any trips, detail what states he would visit and explain the broad purpose. It comes on the...
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Senator Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) shown in this May 31. file photo introduced a bill today requiring the governor to notify legislative leaders in advance of political trips. A day’s notice, in writing: That’s the advance warning state Sen. Loretta Weinberg wants New Jersey governors to give when planning any out-of-state travels.
Weinberg, (D-Bergen), introduced a bill today, aiming to require the governor to tell legislative leaders in advance of any trips, detail what states he would visit and explain the broad purpose. It comes on the heels of numerous trips by Governor Christie, which have come to light through leaked recordings and limited disclosure.
Weinberg said only written notification to legislators would be sufficient.
“Telephone calls don’t seem to work, because we go into the he-said, she-said,” she said.
But Weinberg said she would make a distinction between trips the governor takes for personal and political reasons.
“I do not think the residents of New Jersey or any of us have a right to intrude on the governor’s private time, vacation time with his family,” Weinberg said today. “So if he wants to say, ‘I’m going to Florida with my family,’ that’s sufficient. He doesn’t have to say what hotel he’s staying at, or what rides he’s going to take in Disneyland, or how often he’s going to the beach.”
On the other hand, she said, “If he wants to say, ‘I’m flying to Vail, Colorado, for a political meeting,’ I think that that is good notice.”
On June 26, Christie was recorded at a gathering of conservatives hosted in Vail by David and Charles Koch, billionaires now better known as political powerbrokers.
When a magazine obtained an audio recording of his speech to that crowd, Christie defended his right to make that trip without informing the press or state lawmakers.
“We put out a public schedule every day,” he said on Sept. 13. “And if I’m going to be out-of-state, I tell the lieutenant governor I’m going to be out of state and she’s the acting governor. So I don’t feel an obligation to tell people every place I’m going every day.”
Weinberg said his political activities belonged in a separate category from family vacations.
“What I’m talking about are political trips, or the trips he’s taking because he’s the governor. He was not invited to Vail, Colorado, because he is Chris Christie, husband and father. He was invited to Vail, Colorado because he is the governor of the state of New Jersey, and we the residents have a right to know that.”
She stopped short of demanding the names of who hosted those political events, however. “We don’t specifically cover that in this bill,” she said. “But I would assume that, as the governor who criticized other people for doing this, as the governor who says he believes in transparency, he should be willing to give that information.
The governor’s office did not return calls for comment today.