TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - State taxpayers paid more than $2 million to cover the cost of a security detail that traveled with Republican Gov. Chris Christie in his first seven years in office, including when he was making a failed bid for the White House, according to public records.
New Jersey spent about $369,000 on Christie’s security detail last year, according to state police records provided to The Associated Press on Thursday. That’s down from a high of roughly $614,000 the year before, when Christie was running for president and was out of the state more than in it.
Christie spokesman Brian Murray said the requirement for governors to have security protection has been well established and the costs are “on par” with and “even more conservative” than in other states.
Costs for other governors’ security details vary. Security costs for Republican former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal topped $2 million in the last fiscal year, according to the head of the Louisiana state police. Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s security detail billed that state $350,000, according to state records. Jindal and Kasich also ran unsuccessfully for president.
A large portion of Christie’s costs has come in his second term, as he traveled heavily first as chairman of the Republican Governors Association and then in preparation for his White House campaign.
The state police’s executive protection unit has been required to provide full-time security for governors since 1984. Noting this mandate, Christie has said he will keep billing the state for his security, whether he’s making stump trips for Republican President Donald Trump or shopping at a local business.
“That’s not my choice. I don’t think I’m going to get shot at the Kings (food market) in Mendham, OK? But the state police believe that the appropriate thing to do to protect me and my family is for them to be with me at all times,” Christie said last year. “And they are with me at all times. You want to change that, run for office and change it.”
The documents don’t show how the money was spent.
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