Only yesterday I wrote this post concerning some Iowa GOP donors visiting New Jersey governor Christie, allegedly to induce him to enter his party's presidential contest.
Yet, only a day later, Christie stumbled badly as detailed here. In a move that simply defies explanation, Christie and his wife used a state helicopter to fly from Trenton to Montvale, in the northern part of the state, to several innings of their son's baseball game. The article rubs some salt in the wound by noting that, upon landing, the Christies couldn't bother to walk, but, were driven the hundred yards or so from the landing site to the bleachers.
As you'd expect, state Democratic legislators are having a field day. And why not?
At the least, Christie should have smart enough to have either scheduled some official business in Montvale or another nearby locale, or at least publicly state that he was reimbursing the state for the $2,500/hour expense of the helicopter.
But even that second option would have displayed incredibly poor instincts on the governor's part.
With what is going on in New Jersey in terms of spending cuts, Christie would be foolish to suggest that, on his publicly-funded salary, he could afford such an expensive luxury as a state-owned helicopter ride to watch only part of his son's ball game.
It may seem like a minor gaffe, but I have a feeling this could become a serious liability for Christie. Much as was former North Carolina governor Mark Sanford's admission not only of marital infidelity, but perjury on his state expense reports for his trips to South America to visit his mistress.
Before that fall from grace, Sanford was, like Christie is now, a beacon of presidential hopes among the nation's GOP governors.
How could Christie have been so insensitive and blind as to not comprehend the impression he has made by using a state helicopter for a personal visit?
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