Christie To Announce Presidential Bid, Possibly By Next Week

Gov. Chris Christie plans a formal announcement, possible as soon as next week, that he’s running for president, according to media reports.

His announcement is expected to come after the state budget is finalized by the state Legislature, according to Newsweek.

On Monday, his pending campaign announced that he’d hired two additional staffers in New Hampshire, a state seen as critical to his White House hopes, according to Politico.

Earlier in June, Maria Comella, a longtime Christie aide, departed the governor’s official office to take a senior position at his political action committee, according to the report.

The governor’s press office declined to comment.

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Christie has been burnishing his presidential credentials for a possible run, canvassing across the country and traveling internationally to enhance his foreign policy standing.

Christie has traveled extensively to some of the early 2016 primary and caucus states such as Iowa and New Hampshire. He also was buoyed by last month’s announcement that several figures possibly involved in the Bridgegate scandal - but not the governor himself - were indicted.

At the same time, his popularity at home has taken a hit, and a poll this past week gave him a 30 percent approval rating.

Christie has also been criticized for his spending practices. He billed New Jersey taxpayers nearly $124,000 for recent trips to the United Kingdom, Mexico and Canada, according to The Associated Press.

Christie’s political action committee, however, helped score a spot for the governor earlier this month behind the home bench of the Cleveland Cavaliers during Game 3 of the NBA Finals series with the Golden State Warriors. Similar seats were offered for as much as $22,000 each, according to the New Jersey Watchdog website.

Christie’s political action committee, Leadership Matters in America, paid for the ticket and for the governor’s trip to Ohio, where he attended private and fundraising meetings earlier on June 9, according to New Jersey Watchdog.

The report comes from a website that is part of a national chain called Watchdog.org, which targets government spending, waste and corruption. The New Jersey site is operated by prominent investigative journalist Mark Lagerkvist, a former special projects reporter at The Asbury Park Press who also worked at CNBC.

Patch publishes information from the New Jersey Watchdog website with permission. New Jersey Watchdog is suing Christie in Mercer County Superior Court to compel the governor to release the Amex records of his charges.

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• Gov. Chris Christie Spent $300K On Food, Alcohol, NFL Concessions Using N.J. Taxpayer Money

Some of Christie’s most notable expenses happened during the 2010 and 2011 NFL football seasons at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, where the Giants and Jets play their home games. Christie used a debit card, on 58 occasions, to pay a total of $82,594 for concessions at MetLife, according to the Watchdog report.

The governor’s office wouldn’t provide any receipts or records for the expenses to New Jersey Watchdog, but defended the governor’s spending practices.

“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.

The New Jersey Republican State Committee reimbursed the state three years ago for Christie’s concession purchases at MetLife, and the governor has stopped using his expense account at such sporting venues.