Chris Christie, family man

Gov. Christie arrives by state police helicopter Tuesday afternoon at St. Joseph Regional High School in Montvale for the school’s baseball game against Delbarton. Christie’s son Andrew plays for Delbarton. Credit Christopher Costa for Patch

At another time, this might be just the cliched tempest in a teapot, just another governor abusing the perks of office.

But in 2011, with a great budget-balancer slashing state spending and being talked up for national office, Chris Christie’s arrogance gets placed on full view for national consumption.

The story goes like this (broken by our colleagues at the Ridgewood Patch):

Governor Christie landed in Bergen County in a state police helicopter late Tuesday afternoon to attend his son’s baseball game against St. Joseph Regional High School in Montvale.

Christie arrived shortly before 4 p.m. to watch his son Andrew play baseball for Delbarton School. He was driven from the helicopter about 100 yards to the field in a black car with tinted windows.

The governor then flew back to Princeton for a meeting with Iowa Republicans — you know, Iowa, where the first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses will be held in 2012.

Previous governors — Jim McGreevey, Jon Corzine — were criticized loudly by the Republicans for their use and misuse of taxpayer-paid transportation. I would have thought the governor, who is as savvy a politician as there is in the state, would have seen the controversy coming. But, and this is key, he not only is savvy, but horribly arrogant — probably the most arrogant and imperious man to occupy the New Jersey State House in memory.

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Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie.

One thought on “Chris Christie, family man”

  1. Later in the day, Christie blasted the NJEA for being anti-helicopter and accused the NJEA of being greedy arrogant pigs. He asserted that all the hoopla over his use of the helicopter was an NJEA ruse and straw man to draw attention away from the evil misdeeds of the NJEA. Christie said that all unions should be abolished because they are anti-free markets, anti-free enterprise and worst of all, anti-helicopter. Or things of that nature. (snark satire alert)

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