Unforced Error: Chris Christie's helicopter ride to son's baseball game

New Jersey Online: TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie arrived at his son's baseball game this afternoon aboard a State Police helicopter.

Right before the lineup cards were being exchanged on the field, a noise from above distracted the spectators as the 55-foot long helicopter buzzed over trees in left field, circled the outfield and landed in an adjacent football field. Christie disembarked from the helicopter and got into a black car with tinted windows that drove him about a 100 yards to the baseball field.

During the 5th inning, Christie and First Lady Mary Pat Christie got into the car, rode back to the helicopter and left the game. During a pitching change, play was stopped for a couple of minutes while the helicopter took off. [...]

The governor had no public events on his schedule, offering no insight to where he might have been traveling from. He had a private meeting at 6:30 p.m. at Drumthwacket, the governor's mansion, in Princeton. He is meeting with a group of Iowa donors who have publically expressed a desire to persuade him to run for president in 2012.

Christie was ferried to the field in a brand-new AugustaWestland helicopter, purchased at a cost to taxpayers of $12.5 million.

The State Police has received two of the five helicopters purchased so far, according to testimony from Attorney General Paula Dow during a May budget hearing. They were purchased to replace aging Sikorsky helicopters that the State Police have flown for about two decades.

The helicopters, which can reach nearly 200 miles per hour with its twin turbo-shaft engines, are designed for homeland security duties and transporting critically injured patients.

Sorry but this is just straight up elitist behavior and in Christies' case it is the height of hypocrisy too. How can you go around the state telling everyone of dire financial circumstances and the blow big bucks on a helicopter ride for personal reasons?

As governor with state police escort, Christie can travel the full length or width of the state in under 3 hours. There is just no reason to waste money on helicopter rides. To make matters worse, previous governors had gotten into trouble for same wasteful behavior.

New Jersey Democrats are going to use this to give Christie a black eye and the sad part is Christie would have earned it.

Via: Memeorandum
Via: New Jersey Online
Via: Jersey 101.5