New Jersey Governor Chris Christie loves football. Chris Christie loves food. Put the two together and you have dangerous consequences which involve the money of New Jersey taxpayers. In a report from New Jersey Watchdog, Christie’s spending of over $300,000 with a New Jersey expense account was documented. The eye opener came when it came to detailing the spending on stadium food alone:
Christie’s most notable spending spree occurred during the 2010 and 2011 NFL football seasons at MetLife Stadium, where the New York’s Giants and Jets play their home games. New Jersey’s governor traditionally enjoys free use of luxury boxes for games and other events at the government-owned venue, but food and beverages cost extra.
On 58 occasions, Christie used a debit card to pay a total of $82,594 to Delaware North Sportservice, which operates the concessions at MetLife. The governor’s office did not provide any receipts, business reasons or names of individuals entertained, but defended the expense.
“The official nature and business purpose of the event remains the case regardless of whether the event is at the State House, Drumthwacket or a sporting venue,” said Christie’s press secretary Kevin Roberts in a prepared statement.
To avoid a potential scandal that could embarrass their rising political star, the New Jersey Republican State Committee reimbursed the Treasury in March 2012 for Christie’s purchases from “DNS Sports.” Since then, the governor has refrained from using his expense account at MetLife and other sports venues.
It’s almost as if Christie … a Dallas Cowboys fan, in case you forgot … was faced with a “Brewster’s Millions Will” where he had to spend a certain amount of money to inherit ten times the amount. Except it was your money … and he could only spend it on food at Met Life. To put this in perspective, 58 debit card swipes for a total of $82,594 comes to an average of $1424.03 per purchase. For more perspective, suites hold 12-30 people. So at full capacity, Christie is spending a shade under $50 per person for food, and minimally an average of $118 per. Now granted, their meatball heroes are pretty good, but no way I’m buying $118 worth of them during a game (especially a Jets game, where I’ve probably lost my appetite after the first quarter watching Geno Smith throw meatballs of a similar consistency.) In either event, that’s a lot of food and drink for a lot of people.
I just hope all this food kept these people full through their long drive home over the George Washington Bridge.
Photo of Chris Christie getting ready to watch his Cowboys lose to the Green Bay Packers courtesy of Mike McGinnis/Getty Images.
