Christie's Travel Expenses Pile Up: NBA Finals, $124,000 For Foreign Trips

Gov. Chris Christie’s travel expenses continue to pile up at taxpayers’ expense - though his political supporters paid the tab for his trip this past week to the NBA Finals.

Christie, who has been burnishing his foreign-policy credentials for a possible presidential run, 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 last week 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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The governor’s spending and gift-taking practices have come under fire before. In 2012, Sheldon G. Adelson, the billionaire casino owner and supporter of Israel, lent Christie his private plane so the governor could go on a trade mission to Israel, according to The New York Times.

But they’ve come under increasing scrutiny since Christie has taken steps to launch a possible presidential campaign, and has traveled extensively to some of the early 2016 primary and caucus states such as Iowa and New Hampshire. At the same time, he’s been criticized for spending too much time outside of New Jersey.

Christie’s three-day trip to the United Kingdom in February was the most expensive of the three foreign trips, costing $62,653.19, according to the numbers provided in the AP report by his office. A trip to Canada in early December 2014 cost taxpayers $29,800 and a trip to Mexico that September cost $21,822.06.

Taxpayer money will cover $114,275 in security and transportation costs, which includes state troopers’ airfare and hotel costs, but not their salaries; and $9,617.79 in expenses logged by Tim Larsen, Christie’s chief of photography and visual communications, according to NBC New Tork.

The costs of the NBA Finals ticket and trip were not disclosed. The PAC is not scheduled to file its semi-annual financial report to the Federal Election Commission until July 31.

Gov. Chris Christie has spent $360,000 from his state allowance during his five years in office -- more than 80 percent of which, or $300,000, was used to buy food, alcohol and desserts, according to a New Jersey Watchdog analysis of records released by the governor’s office.

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 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.

Photo: Christie met with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto in September. Photos from Tim Larsen, Office of Governor Chris Christie.