New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s controversial beach trip has prompted new legislation that would let the public rent out his mansion.
“The governor’s beach house is a private luxury paid for with public money. That ought to change,” said Democratic Assemblyman John Wisniewski, who introduced the bill, NBC News reported. “New Jersey taxpayers who want to access a resource that their hard-earned money has funded should be afforded that opportunity.”
The legislation comes after Mr. Christie was photographed sunning himself on the beach behind the governor’s house at Island Beach State Park in the middle of a state government shutdown that had all beaches closed to the public during the Fourth of July weekend. The Republican governor, who ordered the shutdown because lawmakers couldn’t agree on a budget, defended himself for using the beach because he lives there.
A second bill introduced by Mr. Wisniewski would prevent the governor from using the beach house during a state shutdown.
“If a beach is closed because of a state shutdown, it ought to be closed to everybody,” Mr. Wisniewski said Friday. “Having it open to the governor and his guests while it’s closed to all the other New Jersey residents who are paying for them to be there isn’t right and it isn’t fair.”
Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, the Republican nominee to succeed Mr. Christie, is calling for the governor’s beach house to be sold outright.
“I’ve never thought there should be a beach house for the governor,” she told NJ Advance Media Friday. “I think it should be sold.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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