There has been notice in several threads of the fiasco of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie lolling on the beach at the Governor’s retreat at Island Beach State Park after the Park (along with other NJ State Parks) was closed as a result of a budget stalemate. It’s clear that he no longer cares about “even the appearance of impropriety”, but positively wallows in it.
But nobody has yet posted one of the more interesting details (at least, I haven’t found it yet). One of the features of the Jersey Shore is the Banner Plane, a low-flying aircraft towing a banner after it so that it can be seen by the folks on the beach. These are almost invariably advertising banners, sometimes with pictures, like a billboard. More often they’re just words. You can rent these services.
Somebody did this weekend, sending up a banner that read “Tell Gov Christie[in red letters] To Get The Hell Off Island Beach State Park”.
It expresses the widespread outrage of the Governor using the closed-to-the-public State Beach and is a dig at Christie’s message back before Tropical Storm Irene hit, in which he told people to Get The Hell Off Island Beach.
According to the NY Daily News:
A there is a man that already knows he will never win another election.
Sad thing is, that on the budget stalemate, he was actually mostly in the right. The demand for Blue Cross to give back $300 million of NJ taxpayer money appears to have been correct. The timing affecting the biggest weekend of the year for many NJ shore communities and then using of one of the state beaches shows a level of “shitheadiness” that I’ve rarely seen.
Maybe he imperiously wanted the Park to himself solely out of divine melancholy, wandering around like the last man on earth in a haunted abandoned ballroom, thinking of all that was and all that never can be.
I am too and I get it. They closed the beaches, meaning they had State Police turning people away, but this asshole goes and uses one as his private park.
Governor plays his part in initiating a government shutdown, resulting in public beaches closed to the public (right before the 4th of July), Governor says let them eat cake, FU, Ha-ha and brings family to closed to the public beach. Outrage follows. Easy.
As I understand it, the NJ legislature couldn’t/wouldn’t pass a budget, and the state closed the parks because they didn’t have the money to keep them open.
The Governor used his position as a state official/governor to enter the park.
The We-Hate-Christie crowd had their usual reaction.
The news media outlets chose to fan the flames as much a possible.
He didn’t merely enter the Park – there really is a Governor’s residence there that he is entitled to use. Allow me to emphasize that Christie did nothing that is technically wrong.
But what he did – using the beach at Island Beach State Park after it was closed because of a budget stalemate, so nobody else could use it, was a colossally tone-deaf thing to do. It makes it look as if he shut down the beach for his own private advantage. It has a powerful “Let them eat cake” vibe to it, which just about everyone is seeing immediately. With the exception of the Gov and a few posters on this Board.
The NJ Legislature couldn’t/wouldn’t pass a budget. As a result of the NJ Legislature inaction/failure to do their job, state parks were closed. The initial reports that I heard on the various news media outlets said that Christie had closed the parks. It now appears that the various news media outlets were wrong. Again.
You think it makes it look as if he shut down the beach for his own private advantage. To me, it looks like Christie did not shut down the beach.
