Terrence Dopp of Bloomberg News reveals that
Christie spending on outside lawyers tops $50 million in 2 years
TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has spent more than $50 million since the start of 2013 on lawyers outside his administration — largely because of costs related to the George Washington Bridge traffic scandal.
The administration has billed $22 million this year, according to a person familiar with the costs who wasn't authorized to provide the information. Spending on outside counsel last year reached $29 million, the most since at least 2005, the earliest information available, according to Lee Moore, a spokesman for the state attorney general's office.
Billings related directly to the bridge scandal exceeded $7 million as of mid-August, according to information released at that time by acting Attorney General John Hoffman's office.
How many other social service programs receiving less than $50 million have been cut, to pay for Christie's hefty legal expenses? I wonder if the New Jersey state workers whose pension funds payments have been cut by New Jersey to balance Christie's out of whack budgets have thoughts about this?
Even the notorious Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has used his own political funds to pay $1 million for his legal so far.
Former Governor McDonnell, who is also a former chairmen of the Republican Governors Association is being tried on a 14 count indictment including fraud and making false statements concerning inappropriate gifts received by his wife. His legal fees are being paid for by a private fund.
To the best of my knowledge Governor Chris Christie takes the prize for the amounts of money he is billing his state's taxpayers for his legal defenses. And, as far as the $7 million spent so far just on the Bridgegate related "concerns," indictments have not even been handed down yet.
Only Christie knows for sure what is is guilty of, and he must have a lot on his mind to be spending $7 million before any charges are even brought against him. Is this evidence of a guilty conscience? Not legally, but politically the taxpayers of New Jersey must be having lots of "thoughts come up" about this.
I suspect it is only a matter of time before the Star-Ledger comes up with a list of every social program under $50 million that has been cut to make room for the Christie lawyer's taxpayer subsidized gold mine.
10:49 AM PT: This editorial in yesterday's Abury Park Press gives us a feeling for some New Jersey opinions about Chrisitie's legal tabe in EDITORIAL: Outrageous tab for Christie legal defense
The cost of a whitewash in New Jersey is outrageous these days, and more outrageous still is that taxpayers are footing the bill for it.
The law firm defending Gov. Chris Christie’s administration in the George Washington Bridge scandal sent the state $784,500 in new invoices, upping the firm’s total billings to $7.3 million for work that included an internal investigation that absolved Christie of wrongdoing.
Along with other government legal costs related to the bridge fiasco, total expenditures are now approximately $9.4 million — a tab being picked up by taxpayers and those who pay tolls on bridges and tunnels operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. And the meter is still running at $350 an hour.
Given New Jersey’s fiscal troubles, and Christie’s rhetoric about the need for government to run lean, the expenditures are appalling. The Office of the New Jersey State Comptroller, whose duties include conducting audits of the executive branch of state government, should perform an independent audit of the legal expenses to see if they are warranted.