opinion

INGLE: Christie snubbing N.J. press no surprise

TRENTON – No one should be surprised that Gov. Chris Christie’s State of the State address was aimed at a national audience or even that he gave a special press briefing that excluded New Jersey-based reporters who cover the Statehouse.

He has devoted an incredible amount of time positioning himself to seek the 2016 GOP nomination for president. He switched the year he was due to head the Republican Governors Association, because, he said, the year he was supposed to be in the post he had to run for re-election.

Conveniently, making the switch to run the outfit after he was reelected meant his tenure included promoting Republicans running for office across the country which necessitated much traveling, raising his name recognition and affording his political team an opportunity to collect names of donors, organizers etc.

When critics complained about his out-of-state travel Christie said he could work from the road and it wasn’t costing taxpayers any money because someone else paid for his expenses. His State Police bodyguards would be on the job if he were home. Mark Lagerkvist of New Jersey Watchdog.org., said that isn’t true:

“New Jersey spent nearly $1 million on travel expenses for its State Police Executive Protection Unit during Christie’s four years and nine months as governor, according to documents obtained under the Open Public Records Act. Last year, Christie traveled out-of-state on more than 100 days while visiting 36 states, Mexico and Canada, primarily on personal and political trips that were not official state business.”

Lagerkvist wrote that the monthly travel costs to protect Christie are 50 percent more than Christie’s predecessor, former Gov. Jon Corzine’s entire final year in office. “For 2009, EPU’s expenses were only $21,704 – compared to $32,933 per month for the first three quarters of 2014.”

Christie boasted he helped raise $100 million for the Republicans. Why didn’t he request that his grateful Republican buds reimburse the taxpayers of New Jersey for the trooper costs with some of it?

Somewhere toward the end of his first term, Christie switched priorities to a national focus. He got used to traveling around on someone else’s dollar and he liked it. He likes being a celebrity, not uncommon for a politician.

When his office announced this year’s State of the State details, there was a note that reporters could RSVP if they planned to attend. The Democrats, who control the Assembly chamber where the annual event occurs, quickly sent out a message to media saying reporters could RSVP if they liked, but it wasn’t necessary, just like in the past.

The Trenton-based journalists knew something was up and figured it had to do with finding out which reporters were coming. The reason for that became clear when a couple of hours before the speech, national media were invited in for a special chat with Christie.

“I was surprised the governor was meeting with the national press behind closed doors and the local press was excluded,” Michael Aron, political correspondent at NJTV and formerly New Jersey Network, told my colleague Bob Jordan. “It was a pretty clear signal that he’s playing to the national media right now and another sign that he’s running for president.”

Some Jersey reporters were miffed, but not me. I watched the national reporting later that day and found nothing Trenton-based people didn’t report better, more thoroughly and with the institutional knowledge it takes to explain it in context. Any national reporter worth his salt knew what the special invitation event was about and wasn’t flattered to be on the list.

Were I a candidate, or working for one, that would be cause for concern. If Christie becomes a player in the 2016, the national media will turn to local reporters who know where the bones are buried.

There are lots of long forgotten stories unflattering to Christie that will come roaring back for a much bigger audience. What makes sense, or is acceptable, to someone in the admittedly quirky Garden State used to political hijinks may be enough to turn off support in Iowa — or one of those other states Christie visited.

Bob Ingle is senior New Jersey political columnist. He can be reached via e-mail at bingle@app.com. @bobingle99.