Families near Christie’s private beach had to leave homes

Daily Mail

Six families were left fuming after they were ordered out of their cottages located next to Chris Christie’s private beach under the threat of being arrested while the New Jersey governor and his family soaked up some sun.

Howard and Betty Height were among the families told by police officers on Friday night that they had to leave their Island Beach State Park beach cottage or they’d be arrested.

‘They’re good guys,’ Howard told NJ.com. ‘They were just doing their job. But they said if we weren’t gone by midnight, we’d be arrested.’  

The Heights along with the five other families, received calls saying the park might close but lease holders could come in, on Friday.

However, they were still forced to leave. So the families packed their bags and left their properties.

Christie closed down all non-essential state functions – including Island Beach State Park – while the Senate struggled through the $34.7 billion budget standoff.

But that didn’t stop him from brazenly using the empty sands of the park, which houses the governor’s summer mansion – or flying there in a taxpayer-funded helicopter.

The governor was seen lounging in the sun as his family frolicked in the sea while citizens approaching the park were turned away.

When confronted by the photos of himself on the beach, taken by NJ Advance Media for the Star-Ledger, Christie tried to dismiss the reports, sarcastically calling it ‘great bit of journalism’.

But feeling the pressure from lawmakers and his constituents, Christie ended the three-day shutdown that precipitated a public relations debacle for the already-unpopular governor.

Christie said late Monday that while he was ‘saddened’ the budget deal is three days late, he will sign it into law. The bill will see almost 30,000 furloughed state employees able to return to work.

Lawmakers in Trenton struck a late-night deal with Christie, who triggered the shutdown over his demand that Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield be overhauled so the state can tap into the nonprofit insurer’s surplus to finance drug treatment.

Christie agreed to sign the bill without vetoing any Democrat add-ons, including $100 million for K-12 education, $25 million to expand pre-kindergarten and $25 million for extraordinary special education.

The bill also redistributes $31 million in aid from districts considered overfunded based on the school funding formula to those considered underfunded.

To express their displeasure of the governor’s three-day government shutdown, his constituents flew a banner plane flew over his summer residence in Seaside Park on Monday with the message: ‘Tell Chris Christie: Get the hell off Island Beach State Park.’

Video of the plane flying by went viral on social media. In the video, people who witnessed the plane fly by can be heard cheering.

The phrase was borrowed from a famous quote by Christie from 2011, when the governor warned residents of potential damage from the oncoming Hurricane Irene.

‘I saw some of these news feeds that I’ve been watching upstairs of people sitting on the beach in Asbury Park,’ Christie said at the time. ‘Get the hell off the beach!’ 

Christie pushed back against outcry from his latest public relations gaffe.

Shocking aerial pictures shows how Independence Day Weekend was ruined for thousands who were forced to cram onto town-owned beaches while Christie, 54, took a whole ten miles of state-run shore for himself.

Christie said that he had announced on Monday his intention to vacation at the governor’s mansion regardless of whether the state could agree on a budget, so he was just keeping good on that promise.

‘[The Star-Ledger] actually caught a politician being where he said he was going to be with the people he said he was going to be with, his wife and children and their friends,’ he told Fox 5.

‘I am sure they will get a Pulitzer for this one. They caught me doing what I said I was going to do with the people I said I was going to be with.’

He added: ‘The governor has two residences in New Jersey. One down at the beach, at Island Beach State Park, and one at Drumthwacket, which also is in Princeton.’

‘The governor is allowed to go to his residences and I’m at my residences. I’ll tell you this, I said last Monday, a week ago today, that no matter what happens, we were coming here as a family this weekend.’

To add insult to injury, when Christie left the beach he headed back to Trenton in a state helicopter to hold a news conference about the government shutdown, where he told reporters with no irony that he ‘didn’t get any sun today’.

When the pictures – which show Christie sprawled out on a sun chair in shorts and T-shirt – revealed that claim to be an outright lie, his spokesman claimed that the governor takes sun-screen seriously and that he meant that his baseball hat had protected him.

‘Yes, the governor was on the beach briefly today talking to his wife and family before heading into the office,’ the spokesman, Brian Murray, told NJ.com.

‘He did not get any sun. He had a baseball hat on.’

In the pictures five cars are seen filling the driveway of the gubernatorial six-bedroom house and while most of the family is lounging, there are a few sprinkling of children actually playing on the beach.

Christie – clad in a faded black shirt with charcoal swimming trunks and raven-colored hat – seemed to smile for the camera in a few of the shots.

He’s surrounded by his family with some laid out tanning on towels and others, including his wife Mary Pat, sitting in beach chairs with the lame-duck governor. 

Having flown in from Milwaukee, their oldest son, Andrew, was sitting right next to his parents and nestled what appears to be a can.

At around 1pm on Monday – well into the Beachgate scandal – Christie tweeted an aerial photo of a packed-out beach.

It was accompanied by the message: ‘Another beautiful day at the Jersey shore. Our beaches are open & full of people. Come & see for yourself! And you can hit the boardwalk!’

He also retweeted messages from various towns and local communities promoting their own beaches.

Six hours earlier he tweeted another photo of a beach with the message: ‘NJ beaches are open in 119 of our our 130 miles of coastline. Come and enjoy them–but use sunscreen and hydrate!’

On Monday, Christie’s deputy, Republican Lt Gov Kim Guadagno, lashed out at the governor, saying his use of the park was ‘beyond words’.

Guadagno, who is running to succeed Christie as governor in November, said she wouldn’t be ‘sitting on the beach’ if taxpayers also didn’t have access to state beaches.

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Murphy also weighed in on Monday, calling on Christie to get off the beach and get back to work.

Christie ordered the shutdown of nonessential state services over the holiday weekend after he and the Democratic-controlled legislature were unable to agree on a budget to start the new fiscal year.

That meant parks, beaches and motor vehicle offices were unavailable to everyone for the Independence Day break.

‘Taxpayers can’t use the parks and other public sites they pay for, but he and his family can hang out at a beach that no one else can use?’ asked Mary Jackson, a Freehold resident walking through a mostly empty downtown near the Capitol in Trenton.

‘Doesn’t he realize how that looks, how people will see it as a slap in the face?’

Christie is no stranger to outlandish perks. In a single season, from 2010 to 2011, he spent $82,594 of state cash on snacks at 58 NFL games – an average of more than $1,400 per game – NY Mag reported in 2015.

That money came from a $95,000 purse he’s given every quarter to spend on ‘official receptions on behalf of the state, the operation of an official residence, for other expenses’ – though the local GOP said it reimbursed the money.

Christie has blamed a top Democratic lawmaker for the shutdown, with the state plastering CLOSED signs at parks, along with Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto’s picture and office phone number.

Among those affected by the shutdown were Cub Scouts forced to leave a state campsite and people trying to obtain or renew motor vehicle documents.

Liberty State Park was closed, forcing the suspension of ticket sales and ferry service to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island – but the two sites themselves remained open.

Prisons, state police, state hospitals and New Jersey’s bus and commuter railroads ran as normal during the shutdown.

On Sunday, Christie also admitted that he was using a helicopter provided by the state to travel to and from the residence.

‘I traveled there and I traveled back and I’ll travel back again,’ Christie said on Sunday. ‘That’s where my family is sleeping, so that’s where I’ll sleep tonight.

‘When I have a choice between sleeping with my family, and sleeping alone, I generally like to sleep where my family is.’

‘Run for governor, and you can have a residence there,’ he added.

Christie’s brazen attitude has led to speculation by CNN that the lame-duck governor, who failed in his presidential bid last year, no longer cares.

Certainly he can’t expect re-election after it emerged in the middle of June that he had possibly the lowest approval rating of any governor in recent history.

A poll by Quinnipiac University said that Christie’s approval rating was a dismal 15 per cent – the lowest of any governor they had ever polled.

The poll said whopping 81 per cent also disapproved of the governor, who has been dogged by negative headlines in recent years, starting with the George Washington Bridge lane closing scandal, also known as Bridgegate, back in 2013.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4664652/Families-near-Christie-s-private-beach-leave-homes.html#ixzz4lxEs7Cfa
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