Christie bristles over push to notify lawmakers of whereabouts

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wants to make just who is notified when he travels out of state perfectly clear.

The governor said Tuesday that letters go out to legislative leaders and Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno when he’ll be out of New Jersey overnight. When he intends to return the same day, only the lieutenant governor is told.

Christie, a Republican, dismisses as “political” the legislation introduced by Democratic Sen. Loretta Weinberg that would require the governor to give legislative leaders a day’s notice of all his out-of-state trips.

“You know like all of a sudden Loretta Weinberg is concerned about this. (Former Gov.) Jon Corzine was overnight in New York four nights a week, five nights a week,” Christie said. “I never heard her be concerned about that.”

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Christie said the governor’s office stopped putting out a public schedule of his political trips after Weinberg said last year that doing so was not appropriate.

“She said, ‘What are they doing, forwarding the governor’s political agenda or working for the people of the state?’ So from that time forward to avoid that criticism, we responded appropriately to Sen. Weinberg and said my office is not going to put out my political appearances anymore,” the governor said.

Christie said he will not change the policy for her or anyone else.

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