Trenton – New Jersey is buried after an epic snowstorm. And Gov. Chris Christie is … at Disneyworld.
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Critics are blasting the Republican governor’s decision to remain on his Sunshine State vacation while New Jersey residents grapple with the aftermath of a devastating blizzard.
To make matters worse, Christie’s Lieutant Governor Kim Guadagno is vacationing in Mexico, leaving Senate President Stephen Sweeny — a Democrat — in charge.
“We clearly made a mistake if we created the office lieutenant governor and wasted money if the lieutenant governor is not going to be here when the governor is out of state,” New Jersey Democrat Sen. Raymond Lesniak told New Jersey’s Star Ledger. “It’s being handled very well by Sen. Sweeney, but you have to really question the purpose of the office.”
Guadagno is the state’s first lieutenant governor. She was in Mexico when the blizzard hit.
Christie left for vacation on Sunday — the same day Sweeney declared a state of emergency in New Jersey — with his wife and four children. He is expected to return on Thursday.
Calls and e-mails to Christie’s office were not immediately returned.
The governor’s spokeswoman, Maria Comella, told Politico that “snow in the northeast happens often,” and that the response to the snow is being handled by the acting governor, secretary of transportation, state police and the governor’s staff. “And like every other day, the governor was and continues to be in regular contact with his staff and cabinet officers,” she added.
New Jersey politicians aren’t the only ones being slammed for their response to the cleanup. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was criticized over the city’s snow-removal efforts. When asked during a tense news conference Tuesday if he regretted the city’s response, the mayor sarcastically responded, “I regret everything in the world.”
Steve Benen, of The Washington Monthly, wrote that although recovery is going fine in New Jersey, Christie — whose name has been floated in the 2012 presidential race — could be making a political mistake by staying in Florida.
“When it comes to keeping up appearances, this doesn’t look great for the New Jersey governor,” Benen said. “The vacation scheduling was clearly a mistake; Christie bolted even after being told about the impending blizzard; he’s making no effort to cut short his trip; and Democratic officials are doing all the heavy lifting (sometimes literally) while the governor enjoys some fun in the sun.”
oh please let the guy hv his vacation in peace
Since when does the governor have to shovel snow? That is the responsibility of the local mayors. Saying that Christie was responsible is like saying Obama was also responsible – and he was also vacationing (again) in Hawaii, looking for his birth certificate, no doubt.
Blumberg is directly responsible. He could have had all the garbage trucks fitted with plows and there would have been no problems. But he slept while it snowed and Brooklyn and Queens are still not plowed yet.
And you voted him for another term.
Please, doesn’t the man deserve a vacation with his family? One would have thought that New Jersey had suffered a tsunami, or a hurricane!
What airlines did you expect him to fly on – when all air traffic was closed for 2 days due to this same blizzard?
I will bet Mayor Bloomberg of NYC would love to trade places with Christie right now and be able to say “what should I do, I wasn’t there calling the shots”!!!
Christie is the best thing that could have happened for nj and everyone deep down (even democrats) know that. The fact that he went on vacation (which was planned way in advance) isn’t a reason to blame him. Snow is common in nj and he had no reason to believe this would be out of the ordinary. And also, I do not believe he should cut his family vacation short for this. Life goes on without the governor, that’s why we have deputies and other officials. What would all the critics have said if he was sick or he went abroad on governmental business. No one would suggest he come back. They would understand that there are other people to hold in for him. However bloomberg imao is at fault for not being prepared.
I don’t get it – if Patterson was on a vacation now no one would say boo, that’s because the rest of the state outside NYC is fine and dandy.
If every thing is under control in NJ who cares where Christie is. Now if Christie was the mayor in NYC that’s a different story (he probably would have handled the situation a lot better) Christie for president 2012
I do not think that it is a problem that a governor is on vacation when the snow hits. The question ignored by previous writers is where is the lt. governor? Why does NJ, fir the first time, have a lt. governor when she is on vacation at the same time as the governor? It is poor planning by the state’s top leadership, Commentators can come up with any excuses they want, but the two should not be out of state on vacation at the same time.
CHRISTIE has a lot of enemies who seek to bad mouth him because he doesnt cave in to corruption or special intrest groups.
I dont get it!
I drove through NJ and the roads were pretty OK. tell me how this snowstorm would have been any difefrent if Christie was here.
This is just symantics
It appears that he doesn’t have anything to apologize for, because at the end everything worked out, but it was an awful PR move that can do significant harm to the future of his political career. I doubt he will be considered anymore as a potential ’12 candidate. He needs a few years of flawless governing before they would consider him a potential candidate for higher office.
who really cares – is it really not possible to clear snow without him? come on,
‘Christie left for vacation on Sunday—the same day Sweeney declared a state of emergency in New Jersey’ Disingenuous to say the least. He left early morning and the heavy snow came later.