I suppose when a person is in the news as a possible Presidential contender, there is a little more attention paid to missteps and stupid actions such as Governor Christie’s helicopter flight to his son’s high school baseball game at taxpayers’ expense. This bone-headed abuse of his gubernatorial privilege is getting quite a bit of national press, given the presidential buzz attaching itself to our Governor.
You know, I get more than a whiff of the same Arrogance from the Governor that I get from our Mayor and his colleagues on East State Street. The only reason I can suppose there is far less attention paid to the Mayor and his friends at City Hall is because no one – so far – mentions the name of Tony Mack with any higher political aspirations. But, you never can tell, I guess!
Governor Christie’s arrogance is reflected this morning in his refusal to reimburse the state’s taxpayers for a trip that to all appearances looks like a purely personal family purpose. Mr. Christie has a long history of excessive taxpayer-financed Travel & Entertainment expenses, so this latest story shouldn’t surprise New Jerseyans who are more familiar with his ways than the national audience hearing today’s news.
I won’t go into too many details here. But it seems to me that the Governor will have to backtrack pretty soon. The best defense of this incident available seems to be an explanation offered by a spokesperson for the NJ State Police, whose copter served as the Governor’s ride:
A State Police spokesman, Sgt. Stephen Jones, emphasized that pilots are constantly logging hours in the new helicopters and would probably have been flying even if the governor had not been aboard.
“The destinations might be different,” Jones said. “But they’d be logging flight hours — flying over rail systems or transportation hubs or ports or chemical or nuclear facilities.” [Emphasis added]
Yeah, I can see where it’s all the same: protecting chemical or nuclear facilities, overflying ports and rail hubs, flying to high school baseball games. Flight hours are flight hours, right?
If this is the best that the State can do, Governor Christie is probably whipping his checkbook out right now! UPDATE: He did reimburse this afternoon, for two rides to two high school baseball games.
But so far, the Governor and his staff are defiant, not apologetic at all. “‘The governor does not reimburse for security and travel,’ a spokesman for the governor, Kevin Roberts, said in an e-mail message. ‘The use of air travel has been extremely limited and appropriate.'”
They are oblivious to the horrible image this has created – or perpetuated, for those who believe Christie has always played by one set of rules for himself, and another for everyone else.
Sound familiar? I hear the same tone of self-righteous indignation from City Hall, in the language of the Press Release issued last Friday, and which re-surfaced as a Letter to the Editor over the name of Business Administrator Eric berry in the Times yesterday: “The city of Trenton has protocols and due process to determine the outcome of any alleged wrongdoing by any employee. That protocol does not include an interview with a newspaper reporter.”
They are oblivious to the horrible image this has created – or perpetuated, for those who believe Mack has always played by one set of rules for himself, and another for everyone else.
But since no one is talking – yet! – about Tony Mack as a possible Republican Presidential candidate – this kind of news only draws the attention of the local press and those few citizens who pay attention.
That’s too bad, because more attention should be paid to the latest developments in this story. As you recall, Friday’s indignant screed from City Hall was in response to allegations last week of improper overtime payments and “doctored” timecards connected to city employees who are friends and supporters of the Mayor. These allegations were made after copies of the apparently forged time cards were published by blogger Robert Chilson, who also provided descriptions of many of these same Mayoral friends and suporters being hired on to the City payroll before being legally approved by the State Department of Community Affairs.
This morning, there is a report that – without admitting any wrongdoing, of course – two of the employees in question, James Moses and Employee/Volunteer/Employee/Volunteer/Employee Russell Wilson are avoiding any possible punitive action by refunding to the City the inappropriate overtime.
Another Do-Over!
This is yet another instance where – only after being found out in improper activities – whether it’s this improper activity, or the Partners for Progress/Cooper Levenson campaign donation, or donations from Pennsylvania developers in excess of the legal maximum, or whatever, the response is usually the same. As spoken in January this year by former Councilman Bill Young, this is the epitaph for this continually failing Administration:
“Mack said it was an unfortunate incident and that he didn’t know how the mistake happened.”
Variations on this statement are usually accompanied by a reimbursement check, to sweep the matter under the rug until the next time.
Governor Christie is catching a lot of heat from this latest incident. Relatively minor in the scheme of things as it may be, the incident with the Helicopter ride at least has the benefit of being very visual; people immediately understand what is wrong with it, and how arrogant the Governor and Staff are being in the way they are handling it.
The Mayor and his associates and friends are just as arrogant, in my humble opinion, but they are more successful in not being held responsible.
Too bad for us.