Chris Christie Was Worst US Attorney for Big Spending on Travel

DOJ’s Inspector General just released a report on whether or not US Attorneys were living it up on the government dime. It finds that five of the US Attorneys studied were the worst offenders for staying at luxury hotels and billing the government. And though it doesn’t refer to those US Attorneys by name, we know the one it calls the worst offender is Chris Christie, because one the trips discussed match the trips discussed when his exorbitant travel first focused attention on the issue of US Attorney travel.

Here’s how the report describes Christie:

In terms of the percentage of travel, U.S. Attorney C was the U.S. Attorney who most often exceeded the government rate without adequate justification. The U.S. Attorney provided insufficient, inaccurate, or no justification for 14 of 23 trips (61 percent) that exceeded the government rate. [my emphasis]

In particular, here’s a description of his travel to the Nine Zero hotel in Boston and the Four Seasons in DC.

For example, U.S. Attorney C traveled outside of his district to Boston, Massachusetts, for meetings with representatives of a defendant company at the Nine Zero Hotel. U.S. Attorney C stayed at the Nine Zero Hotel at a cost of $449 per night, which was more than double the government rate of $220 per night in Boston.16 U.S. Attorney C’s secretary told us that it was a “coincidence” that these meetings were at the same hotel where she had reserved a room for the U.S. Attorney.

In addition to his case-related travel, U.S. Attorney C also exceeded the government lodging rate when he traveled to Washington, D.C., to speak to an association. The U.S. Attorney stayed overnight at the Four Seasons Hotel, where he was scheduled to speak the following morning. The hotel rate at the Four Seasons was $475 per night, more than double the government rate of $233 per night. According to the justification memorandum, the U.S. Attorney stayed at the Four Seasons because his speech was scheduled at that hotel early in the morning.

16 U.S. Attorney C’s reimbursements for airport transportation costs were also noteworthy. For example, rather than take a taxi from the Boston airport to the Nine Zero Hotel in downtown Boston, a trip of approximately 4 miles, he prearranged a car service to and from the Boston airport to the hotel, which cost the government $236 round trip. In another example of excessive transportation costs, his car service from a London airport to his hotel in central London cost $562 round trip. [my emphasis]

Here is TPM’s description of the same trips.

On the high end, Christie spent nearly $500 in taxpayer money on a night’s stay in four star hotel in downtown Boston, claiming government rate rooms “weren’t available.” On the low end, Christie requested $109 for a night in Warsaw, IN. The majority of the trips for which Christie formally requested to spend more than the government allows fall somewhere in between those two examples.

The Boston trip came on Oct. 16, 2007. Christie stayed one night at the Nine Zero Hotel downtown, which touts its ranking as one of Travel And Leisure magazine’s 500 best hotels in the world. The room was $449 per night, which Christie asked the Justice Department to pay because, according to the memo he submitted to the department’s budget officer, “due to a high demand for rooms, the government rate is not available for my stay in Boston.”

On Nov. 17, 2004, Christie made a trip to D.C. and stayed at the Willard Intercontinental, arguably the city’s finest and most prestigious and unarguably among its most expensive. Again, he claimed it was the best deal he could find. “I was unable to locate lodging at the government rate,” he wrote in a memo dated Nov. 22. “The only available lodging was at a rate of $449.00 at the Willard hotel.”

On another trip to D.C. on Oct. 15, 2008, Christie again went over budget limits to stay at a tony spot — this time, the Four Seasons on Pennsylvania Ave. The explanation for the overage is redacted in the memo obtained by TPMDC. [my emphasis]

As Christie continues to call for austerity in New Jersey, it’s really worth pointing out what a big fan he is of billing taxpayers for his own luxury.

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    • scribe says:

      +1.

      I was going to say something seriously witty (or so I thought) and then I read your comment and realized I was hopelessly outclassed in the Department of Wiseassery.

  1. Citizen92 says:

    Corzine’s people’s dirt digging around election time also netted details about Christie’s driving habits – tickets, cars not being registered to him, etc.

    Right before election day, details were emerging about how Christie had an incident when he was driving the wrong way down a one-way street and caused an accident. It was reported that he was driving a “rented BMW.”

    And I asked myself – who rents a BMW? That’s not an AVIS fleet car!

    And then I asked myself – maybe a lease?

    And then I asked myself, who was paying for the “rented BMW?” Was it the US taxpayer?

    And I never found an answer. Anyone?

    • scribe says:

      The guy he hit refused to talk. This was (pretty obviously, per the news reports) out of fear of being targeted by either Christie’s staybehinds in the USAtty’s office or, assuming he won the election, his new subordinates in the State AG’s office. In NJ, all state prosecutions can be “superseded” by the AG’s office, i.e., the state AG can take over a county-level prosecution for any reason or no reason at all. And that’s in addition to the prosecutions the AG’s office starts independent of the county prosecutors.

  2. jerzygurl135 says:

    What a hilarious story. Why don’t we look at Christie’s accomplishments as NJ Attorney General?
    During his tenure, Christie won convictions or guilty pleas from 130 public officials, both Republican and Democratic, on the state, county and local levels without losing a single case.

    • emptywheel says:

      Or how about his fondness for DPAs taht let corporations off mostly scot free but made his buddies richer than shit?

      That’s a real great record there!

      • Citizen92 says:

        Didn’t his family (brother?) benefit too from a settlement Christie brokered for a hospital in Livingston, NJ?

        As for hoteling in DC, the Four Seasons is two blocks away from a perfectly serviceable Wyndham – and one block away from the perfectly serviceable Latham. DC’s PBS station WETA recently ran a show called “Breakfast in Washington” naming the restaurant at the Four Seasons as one of the three breakfast spots for power brokers.

        http://www.weta.org/tv/local/breakfast

        • liberaldem says:

          There is also a Hilton Garden Inn in the vicinity of 13th St. and New York Ave, NW, with comfortable rooms at well under the rate of the Willard.

          It’s in easy walking distance or a quick cab ride of DOJ’s main building.

          It’s good to know that Christie was quite happy to bilk taxpayers when he was a politically appointed U.S.Attorney…just another fatcat bellying up to the trough.

  3. joanneleon says:

    Thanks for this, Marcy.

    As Christie continues to call for austerity in New Jersey, it’s really worth pointing out what a big fan he is of billing taxpayers for his own luxury.

    Note that even though Christie is slashing spending in New Jersey, and keeps saying “the money’s not there” he didn’t have any problem keeping the secluded state beach house in Island Beach State Park open for his exclusive use. Nor did he have any problem vetoing the millionaire tax, nor did he have any problem hiring a guy to handle his Twitter messages for something like $70K per year.

    It’s interesting how he changed his tune yesterday about running for President. Just weeks ago he was pretty emphatic that he had no interest in the job. Now he’s saying that he’ll be needing a job in 2016 and in so many words said that he may be throwing his hat into the ring. He prefaced this by saying that the assumption is that NJ will reelect him in 2013. Let’s hope my fellow New Jerseyans wise up by then and that doesn’t happen.

  4. dustbunny44 says:

    I’m the last person to argue for CC. But I have experience trying to find a room in downtown Boston, and it can be very very difficult. It often comes down to how much you’re willing to pay vs. how far out of downtown you’re willing to travel from in the morning.

  5. jerzygurl135 says:

    During the negotiations of NJ State worker contracts, previous Governor Corzine was literary in bed with the CWA(union)chief negotiator.

        • qweryous says:

          jerzygurl135 Christie worship all over.

          Her channel at YouTube: subscribes to Governor Christie’s YouTube channel- and the Republican Governors YouTube channel.

          Here is a jerzygurl135 comment on Christie’s interview with Brian Williams about travel expense reimbursement fiscal responsibility and cancelling tunnel construction here.

          “I hope the Republican Governors are thankful what the NJ citizens have given you. We’ve bestowed upon you a spokesperson who is cleaver, clear & consistent in his message. You owe us big time! Don’t squander this opportunity to get the message out to the country. Christie ROCKS..dare I say as good as The Boss.”

          Here is another classic by jerzygurl135:

          jerzygurl135 3 days ago

          “@Kloborgg He didn’t save shit you moron. All the stimulus did was hire some census worker & pot hole fillers for 6 months. All the jobs saved by the local governments was a one shot deal for one year. Those same public employees are going to be laid off because of budget shortfalls. You can’r spend your way out of unemployment. FDR tried that for 8 years. Luckily WWll came along to bring up employment..”

  6. watercarrier4diogenes says:

    Any particular reason DOJ didn’t release this information BEFORE Christie’s win? I’m not sure it would have done Corzine any good, but as bad as some people try to make him out to be, he can’t hold a candle to Christie in self-absorbed corruption. Sorry, jerzygurl135, you’ve picked a real hack to do PR for. What’s he paying you? Have you tried to cash that first check yet?

  7. qweryous says:

    Also jerzygurl135 is doing business as jerzygurl at Huffingtonpost. Jerzygurl ( with the same Nancy Pelosi avatar as Jerzygurl135 at NJ.com) has
    been commenting there since June 27, 2010.

    First comment on the thread “American Crossroads: New GOP Group Plans To Spend Millions this Fall.”

    Since then 5477 comments in 135 days at Huffpost.