Beachgate: Chris Christie caught using New Jersey beach after he shut it down to the public
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who is set to leave office with the lowest approval rating on record for any Governor, added a new low to his legacy when his lack of leadership led to a statewide government shut down this week – just before the crucial Fourth of July holiday. That included the shutdown of the popular tourist attraction Island Beach State Park. But that apparently didn’t stop Christie and his family from using it anyway.
The news outlet NJ.com, an online New Jersey newspaper, has caught Chris Christie and his family soaking up the sun on the beach that he had just finished closing (link). At best the move represents total tone-deafness on his part, which may help explain why he’s become so profoundly unpopular. At worst, it raises the question of whether Christie purposely allowed the government shutdown to happen heading into the holiday weekend, just so he could have private use of the beach for himself. But it gets worse.
After Christie was done using the beach that he had just finished shutting down to everyone else, he headed straight to a press conference to talk about the shutdown.
Even more strangely, Chris Christie went on to admit that he used a government helicopter to get from the beach to the press conference, even though this was during a government shutdown that he created.
