According to watchdog.com, an analysis of Governor Chris Christie's expense account reveals a lot of money spent on entertainments.
Christie spent $360,000 from his state allowance during his five years in office. More than 80 percent of that money, or $300,000, was used to buy food, alcohol and desserts, according to a New Jersey Watchdog analysis of records released by the governor’s office.
Since Christie didn't submit receipts for the public funds he spent, a partial understanding of when Christie took out the "company card" can be seen in his ledger. A lot of grocery shopping at Wegmans.
Christie did most of his serious food shopping at Wegmans Food Markets, where he spent $76,373 during 53 shopping runs. He patronized ShopRite supermarkets 51 times for $11,971 in purchases – plus another $6,536 in seven visits to ShopRite’s liquor stores. Those grocery bills dropped dramatically in early 2013, shortly after Barbara Walters asked on network television whether Christie was too overweight to be president.
Before that, Chris Christie loved his American Rules Football!
Christie’s most notable spending spree occurred during the 2010 and 2011 NFL football seasons at MetLife Stadium, where the New York’s Giants and Jets play their home games. New Jersey’s governor traditionally enjoys free use of luxury boxes for games and other events at the government-owned venue, but food and beverages cost extra. On 58 occasions, Christie used a debit card to pay a total of $82,594 to Delaware North Sportservice, which operates the concessions at MetLife. The governor’s office did not provide any receipts, business reasons or names of individuals entertained, but defended the expense.
This expenditure became an issue for Christie and so the New Jersey Republican State Committee tried to make it go away with a check back in 2012. One could argue that Governor Christie's food bill might just be the cost of stocking big cabinets at the State Mansion—you know, parties, dinners, doing important things for his state, not stuffing his face. Remember how after Barbara Walters asked him if being heavy would lessen his chances of national office? It was rude, but it may have revealed something about Governor Christie's appetites. He had Lap-Band surgery a couple of months later.
The governor bought $64,687 in groceries during the 38 months leading up to the surgery. That tab shrank to $31,236 for the 26 months after the operation. On top of those food bills, Christie spent another $109,133 to hire caterers for official state receptions and special events – expenses more consistent with the stated purpose of the allowance. His favorite vendor was Jacques Exclusive Caterers of Middletown, which received $74,161 worth of business from the governor.
Chris Christie has, in the last couple of years, used less of his expense account. But don't you worry. Over the past few years, Christie has spent upwards of $1.2 million traveling around the U.S. not being much of a Governor.
Over the past five years, $975,000 of those security costs were charged to American Express credit cards issued to the governor’s office. Christie has flatly refused to release the monthly statements, claiming details of past expenditures could jeopardize his safety in the future.
Chris Christie is not a nice man. He isn't a very good person. He's also a terrible hypocrite who is not even good to the mislead people who voted for him. I wonder if those companies he works for will give him an expense account when all of this campaigning is over and they realize they don't need anything more out of him.