Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has champagne tastes on a public budget.
The Garden State boss and potential presidential hopeful burned through $85,000 in taxpayer cash on entertainment in luxury boxes at sports arenas between 2010 and 2012, the Associated Press reported.
“The money came from an account, worth $95,000 a year, that Christie can use to pay for official entertainment or other expenses associated with his job,” according to the report, based on documents the AP obtained via the Garden State’s open records law.
There are all kinds of things that discerning people can fault Chris Christie for but taking advantage of money earmarked for a specific purpose isn’t one of them. It’s perfectly legitimate to think the existence of the fund is unnecessary, but the headline and first line of the article are implying that Christie has been caught in some sort of “Gotcha!” wrongdoing.
Public officials spend taxpayer money for entertainment all the time. It would be nice if the taxpayers would stop electing people who allow this to be so.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member