Chris Christie

Gov. Chris Christie after voting Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014, in Mendham Township, N.J.

(Mel Evans/AP)

TRENTON — The Republican Governors Association was good to its chairman Gov. Chris Christie by providing him the perfect opportunity to tour the country and build relationships while mulling a 2016 presidential campaign.

And Christie's RGA was also good to his friends.

At least two people close to New Jersey’s governor benefited financially from Christie’s chairmanship, records show. Longtime political strategist Mike DuHaime, a partner at the public strategy firm Mercury Public Affairs, and Cam Henderson, a former chief of staff to First Lady Mary Pat Christie, both received lucrative consulting contracts from the RGA.

The RGA, which raised a record-breaking amount ahead of last Tuesday’s elections with Christie’s help, argued it’s only natural for the head of the group to hire consultants with a proven track record.

Mercury Public Affairs received $180,000 in political consulting fees through September since Christie took the reins as the group’s chairman in November 2013, according to IRS filings. The firm, which was paid $18,000 a month, billed an additional $12,338 for travel reimbursements through that period.

A spokesman for the RGA, Jon Thompson, said the group used multiple consultants from Mercury Public Affairs – not just DuHaime, a partner at the firm.

The RGA also paid at least $87,500 to KCH and Associates, a limited liability company formed in March 2014 by Henderson. The payments — $12,500 a month — began the month KCH and Associates was formed, the records show.

The monthly consulting fee paid for “fundraising logistics, travel arrangements for the RGA chairman and donor maintenance,” Thompson said. Henderson’s monthly fees equate to $150,000 of an annual salary, which is $10,000 less than she was making for running the Hurricane Sandy charity founded by Mary Pat Christie.

Henderson ran the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund from December 2012 to February 2014, according to the nonprofit. The job paid $160,000.

Prior to working for the charity, Henderson was the chief of staff to the state’s first lady and director of protocol for the administration.

“As in past years, RGA staff and consultants serve at the pleasure of the RGA chairman,” Thompson said. “Governor Christie put together a phenomenal group of hard-working, talented individuals who dedicated significant amounts of their time to election of Republican governors in 2014 and, as the results show, they were extremely successful.”

Henderson, whose company lists its mailing address in the IRS filings to a PO box in Christie’s hometown of Mendham, billed the RGA for $3,735 in travel reimbursements.

It wasn’t just close associates who benefited from RGA consulting contracts, records show. Friends of friends also got paid for work.

The GOP group paid McCleskey Media Strategies – a political advertisement agency run by Jay McCleskey, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez’s chief political adviser – $10,000 a month for “Arizona/Nevada consulting.”

McCleskey was paid at least $90,000 by the RGA for consulting in the two states although Nevada received little to no resources from the RGA for the noncompetitive gubernatorial race Martinez won by nearly 15 percentage points. Christie, who described Martinez as a “very good friend” during his visit to the state last month, made at least two campaign stops in Arizona and the RGA invested $5.2 million in the race, where Republican Doug Ducey won by eight percentage points.

The last time McCleskey’s firm billed the RGA prior to the most recent election cycle was in 2012 for $779 in travel expenses, according to IRS filings.

Christie has been praised by fellow Republicans for his work as RGA chairman since the GOP swept the nation in a majority of races during the most recent elections – including flipping control of governor mansions in states like Illinois, Maryland and Massachusetts.

Phil Cox, the RGA’s executive director, lauded Christie’s leadership the day after the elections, saying New Jersey’s governor “absolutely raised the bar” for future chairs of the group.

Christie helped raise a record-breaking $106 million for the RGA to help GOP candidates across the country. Christie’s fundraising was matched by his tireless campaigning, Cox said. Christie spent more than a third of his second term out of state as he racked up tens of thousands of travel miles stumping for Republican candidates.

Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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