Chris Christie, possible 2012 hopeful, among U.S. Attorneys who bilked travel protocols

Although a report released Monday by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Inspector General doesn’t provide the names or districts of five U.S. Attorneys who exhibited a pattern of over-charging taxpayers for travel expenses, news reports during the fall 2009 New Jersey gubernatorial race indicate that Republican Gov. Chris Christie was the one labeled as the U.S. Attorney “who most often exceeded the government [hotel] rate without adequate justification.”

Researchers who conducted the review of U.S. Attorney travel expenses between 2007 and 2009 note that they were prompted to do so by news reports, which were likely generated by Freedom of Information Act requests by the Democratic re-election campaign of former N.J. Gov. Jon Corzine that showed issues related to Christie’s travel when he served as a U.S. Attorney.

The connection was made first by a blogger at FireDogLake, and has since been confirmed by reporter Ryan J. Reilly at Talking Points Memo and the Associated Press.

Although the 2009 N.J. gubernatorial contest between Christie and Corzine was close, Christie campaigned as a corruption-busting former federal prosecutor and earned the slim victory. In addition, Christie has been rumored as a possible 2012 or 2016 presidential hopeful, having won a Virginia tea party straw poll in October. Christie campaigned in Iowa that same month on behalf of Republican Gov.-elect Terry Branstad, and defended his decision to borrow money to pay his state’s day-to-day bills and previously established debt.

According to the Inspector General’s review, which The Iowa Independent reported on Monday, U.S. Attorney C, who is now known to be Christie, was one of a relatively small percentage of the 208 U.S. Attorneys studied that did not comply with federal travel regulations or provide adequate justification for such expenses when they exceeded established government rates.

“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 reviewers noted. “The U.S. Attorney provided insufficient, inaccurate or no justification for 14 of 23 trips (61 percent) that exceeded the government rate.”

Christie was one of just five U.S. Attorneys who was singled out in the reported as individuals “who exhibited a noteworthy pattern of exceeding the government rate and whose travel documentation provided insufficient, inaccurate or no justification for the higher lodging rates.” Although the scope of the review was limited to hotel lodging rates and payments, a footnote within the report indicates that Christie also easily parted with taxpayer dollars for other travel expenses. According to the footnote, in lieu of taking a taxi for the four-mile trip from an airport to a hotel (where Christie exceeded the government rate), the former U.S. Attorney chose to pay $236 for a car service. During a trip to London, he also chose to have taxpayers pay $562 for a car service from the airport to his hotel.

A spokesman in Christie’s New Jersey office told The Iowa Independent and the Associated Press that questions regarding travel expenses were addressed during the gubernatorial campaign.

The time period that encompassed the Inspector General’s review coincided with the previous U.S. Attorney controversy when Pres. George W. Bush fired several and appointed interim prosecutors under the 2005 Patriot Act reauthorization. But Christie was not one of those fired or appointed amid the scandal, having served as the chief prosecutor for New Jersey from 2002 to 2008, when he resigned to seek the governor’s office.

OIG Nov 2010: A Review of U.S. Attorney Travel that Exceeded the Government Loging Rate –