Christie's CopterGate is now upon us.
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.
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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.
So the much-touted "fiscal conservative" uses a state helicopter designed for homeland security duties and transporting critically injured patients. Does going to see his soon play ball meet those strict requirements or is it an abuse of power? Murshed reminded me of this Nancy Pelosi smear job by Hannity over flying: Hannity, Gingrich falsely suggested that Pelosi made unprecedented use of military plane -- but "practice began with Speaker Hastert"
And as TPM reports, Chris Christie: No. 1 U.S. Attorney In Wasting Gov't Travel Money
Voters just don't like governors using helicopters. It helped destroy Frank Murkowski's run in Alaska. We'll see how upset NJ resident are about this.
