June 14, 2016
Source/WFAN
New Jersey Governor Chris Christies fills in as co-host on WFAN's Boomer and Carton Show on June 14, 2016.
If New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is angling at an opportunity to be Donald Trump's Republican running mate, he's certainly putting up with a lot of ridicule to get there. Tuesday's broadside came from a fed up caller to WFAN's Boomer and Carlton Show who challenged the governor's out-of-state travel record and the resulting expense to New Jersey taxpayers.
The caller, a New Jersey teacher identified Monday morning only as Brian, was invited onto the show even after Christie was given advance notice of his complaint. Would Christie be okay with a teacher missing as many days as he does?
"I don't miss any days," Christie responded. "Every day that I'm up and awake and alive, I'm governor. I'm making decisions and doing things no matter where I am. You're obviously a bitter and angry guy."
As a matter of fact, Christie spent 261 partial or full days traveling outside of New Jersey in 2015, which amounted to 72 percent of the year. Omitting partial trips to New York or Pennsylvania still puts the total at 191 days, or more than half the year. On Tuesday, tired of the accusation, Christie flat out said he's working constantly.
"You don't have the first understanding that my job is a 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week job," Christie told the WFAN caller. "People who are objective about it understand that."
Considering recent comments from John F. Lehman, former transition team leader for John McCain in 2008, that might be accurate. Lehman, in an interview last month with NJ.com, recalled working 14-hour days.
Even so, how much is that hard work costing New Jersey taxpayers? Since Christie dropped out of the presidential race, his security detail has plummeted significantly. In March, the cost fell to $33,315 from $58,000 in February. Christie's total cost to taxpayers in 2015 was at least $614,000 — including hotel and restaurant bills for out-of-state campaigning.
Christie's travel expenses for Trump's campaign events, also billed to New Jersyans, would be much harder to accept if Monday's viral indignity were to be proven true. A source quoted in a New Yorker story claimed that Christie has been made a gopher to pick up the Donald's McDonald's orders, even though both men were supposed to be done with Oreos and other junk food.
By Monday evening, Christie spokesman Brian Murray swatted away the charge in a statement to USA Today.
“We categorically deny this ridiculous, completely invented scenario, which the writer attributed to an unnamed source’s anonymous friend. The fact that the writer relegated this bit of sleaze between parenthesis certainly indicated he knew it was pure trash that has to be carefully separated from the rest of the story.”
However inundated Christie may be, he certainly had the time to admire former New Jersey schoolboy star Kyrie Irving's 41-point performance Monday night in the Cavs' Game 5 win over the Warriors in the NBA Finals.
"Brought Jersey grit," Christie said on Tuesday's show. "Kyrie Irving of St. Patrick's brought Jersey grit."
