IN his very first promise as governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie pledged on Inauguration Day in 2010 to shine daylight on the workings of his government. “Today a new era of accountability and transparency is here,” Mr. Christie said. “Today, I will sign executive orders that will make our finances, our budgeting and our processes more transparent for all citizens to see. Today, change has arrived.”

But that change never did arrive. The Christie administration has defended itself against at least 22 lawsuits from watchdog groups and news organizations seeking information under New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act. One of those lawsuits was filed by WNYC. Our reporters have requested dozens of documents from Mr. Christie, and those requests have been met with silence, resistance or outright refusal.

For example, we’ve asked about taxpayer spending on Mr. Christie’s travel out of state. He has been away for some part of more than 100 days in 2014, often to raise money for Republican candidates. In the process, he has built name recognition and constructed a political operation that appears to be laying the base for his own presidential run. Most of these trips are paid for by campaign groups or the Republican Governors Association, which Mr. Christie chairs. But some are paid for by the state, and a security detail always travels with the governor. The public has a right to know how much taxpayers spend on this travel.

In response to an open records request for information about just two days of his travel, the Christie administration sent us a document so heavily redacted as to be all but meaningless.