Gov. Christie of NJ takes state helicopter to son's ballgame

State Police say it doesn't cost a thing. Seems sketchy

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/state_police_say_gov_christies.html

 

So it's costing federal dollars since it's homeland security training?

 

NO, they are saying the flight time must take place anyways because so many hours need to be logged for training. Even if the governor didn't fly, the same amount of time in the air would still need to take place. That being said, if the NJ government comes to the conclusion that they might as well complete some menial task during these training hours couldn't they come up with a task that has a greater fiscal advantage than escorting the governor to his kids baseball game.

 

There's no flying in baseball

okay, i know that was lame

 

How long did the pilot sit around waiting for the governor? And the chaffeur? How long did the chaffeur drive to be able to ferry the governor to the game? And, from how far did he come? Was he also training on how to drive this kind of car?

Besides, isn't helicopter travel more dangerous than automotive travel? I know some have protested the use of helicopters to move patients to hospitals because of the risk of the helicopter crashing.

 

If a Dem governor did this and the same explanation was given, Sarah Palin, the right-wing radio kooks and Tea Partiers would howl loud enough to wake the dead and beat this to death until next November.

 

This is not an argument. It is a lazy, weak assumption and irrelevant to the discussion of whether this act was hypocritical or not.

So, if what the State Police say is true, are you okay with what Governor Christie did?

 

Doesn't seem this is a regular thing so I don't see the big deal. Now, if he were using it daily or even weekly, i'd view it as hypocritical. Wasn't Pelosi flying a jet from coast to coast weekly on the tax payer dime or was that just a bunk chain email?

 

Fat boy ain't got nothin' on this biatch

 

If CC's $2500 copter ride rankles, how do you feel about Nancy Pelosi?

According to the documents, which we obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Speaker’s military travel cost the Air Force $2,100,744.59 over a two-year period — $101,429.14 for in-flight expenses, including food and alcohol. (Lots and lots of alcohol.) The following are highlights from the recent release of about 2,000 documents, which you can read here:

Speaker Pelosi used Air Force aircraft to travel back to her district at an average cost of $28,210.51 per flight. The average cost of an international congressional delegation (CODEL) is $228,563.33. Of the 103 Pelosi-led CODELs, 31 trips included members of the House Speaker’s family.

One CODEL traveling from Washington, D.C. through Tel Aviv, Israel to Baghdad, Iraq from May 15-20, 2008, “to discuss matters of mutual concern with government leaders” included members of Congress and their spouses and cost $17,931 per hour in aircraft alone. Purchases for the CODEL included: Johnny Walker Red scotch, Grey Goose vodka, E&J brandy, Bailey’s Irish Crème, Maker’s Mark whiskey, Courvoisier cognac, Bacardi Light rum, Jim Beam whiskey, Beefeater gin, Dewars scotch, Bombay Sapphire gin, Jack Daniels whiskey, Corona beer and several bottles of wine.

According to a “Memo for Record” from a CODEL March 29 – April 7, 2007, that involved a stop in Israel, “CODEL could only bring Kosher items into the Hotel. Kosher alcohol for mixing beverages in the Delegation room was purchased on the local economy i.e. Bourbon, Whiskey, Scotch, Vodka, Gin, Triple Sec, Tequila, etc.”

The Department of Defense advanced a CODEL of 56 members of Congress and staff $60,000 to travel to Louisiana and Mississippi July 19-22, 2008, to “view flood relief advances from Hurricane Katrina.” The three-day trip cost the U.S. Air Force $65,505.46, exceeding authorized funding by $5,505.46.

 

basso, always trying to score partisan points.

who cares if they waste taxpayer money, as long as they aren't Republicans, AMIRITE

 

yeah, those micks need to learn how to build better roads

 

If the roads to Atlantic City weren't so God-awful, this wouldn't have to happen.

Signed,

 

Odious pol is odious.

 

Christie is giving back the money for the trips (which the State Police say costs nothing) . He must feel some sort of guilt.

http://www.wral.com/news/political/story/9675814/

 

I think the last line is a good summary of this:

"On the face of it, it was simply using a very expensive state resource to run some personal business and some political business," said Patrick Murray, a Monmouth University political scientist. "I think there are so many pieces to this puzzle that said this is not a politically smart move to do it."

My guess is that this type of stuff is pretty common, though it really shouldn't be happening. Even if it was free, you could probably find actually government uses of the helicopter to get the pilots some training time. Anyone should be publicly criticized for personal & political use like that, but he gets piled on more because of how much focus he's put on cutting little things (vetoing hundreds of dollars at a time, according to the article). In the long run, it's a minor thing, and I imagine this will be forgotten a few weeks from now.