Photos show Christie lounging at N.J. state beach closed due to government shutdown

Boston Globe ^ | 7/3/2017 | Jaclyn Reiss

[sodpoodle]

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was photographed lounging at a deserted state-owned beach on Sunday — a beach that has been closed to all other New Jerseyans amid a government shutdown that Christie ordered Friday.

The photos, which were posted to NJ Advance Media’s NJ.com, showed Christie and his family hanging out at the Island Beach State Park on Sunday afternoon before Christie appeared in Trenton for a press conference on the shutdown.

Christie on Friday ordered the shutdown of nonessential services — including state parks — amid a stalemate over whether to include legislation affecting the state’s largest health insurer in the budget.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Whether he did it or not is irrelevant here. Either he did, and they took the fall, or he didn’t. But, we never knew for sure.

What’s important going forward is he looks like a smug, selfish ass because of his special beach day, and it makes people like me think it more likely that he did pull the bridge caper, despite protestations to the contrary.

[Vaquero]

Do what I did. Get you one of these (mine's about 1/3 smaller) Of course mine goes in Long Island sound.

[World'sGoneInsane]

You can drive your boat to NJ from LI, but you still won't get on that beach...LOL.

To be fair, the NJ Assembly never presented the budget. But, it was in very poor taste for the Governor and his family to be on the beach.

He should have invited the dems there to negotiate. That would have been the real picture.

This more complicated than one beach. Many other things are closed.

[Londo Molari]

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/07/christie_likely_to_approve_deal_to_end_shutdown_so.html

According to this account, Christie insisted Horizon “donate” $300M to his pet opioid project. “Donate” being a euphemism, of course. That was part of the reason the budget was held up.

“Christie has made the insurance company’s restructuring a bargaining chip before he signs off on the state budget presented to him by the Democratically controlled Legislature.
Christie has ridiculed the $12 billion company for keeping $2.4 billion in reserve and for rebuffing his call for Horizon to donate $300 million to aid the state’s efforts to combat the heroin and opioid drug addiction epidemic.”