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Governor Chris Christie Has $95,000/Year Expense Account

By Donald C. Barbati on March 11, 2011
Posted in Uncategorized

As reported by trentonian.com, Governor Chris Christie quietly receives an expense account of $95,000 a year and does not have to tell anyone how it is spent. This annual “allowance” is being renewed for fiscal year 2012, continuing a 35 year old custom to make sure the Governor has enough dough to pay for official receptions in the State and for the general upkeep ofDrumthwacket, the State executive mansion in Princeton, and other expenses.

The $95,000 expense account is atop the $175,000 a year salary Christiegets as governor. Not only is the $95,000 expense account more than half his yearly salary, there is no law, rule, or requirement to make the payouts public. None of the eight governors who had the expense accounts have had to tell the people what happened to the money.

The authorization for the expense account is listed in the Chief Executive portion of the budget with the following description: “Allowance to the Governor of funds not otherwise appropriated, for official reception on behalf of the state, operation of an official residence and other expenses.”

The account was first created for Governor Brendan Byrne in the mid-1970s and has been renewed automatically every year since. The amount was boosted from $75,000 to $95,000 a year Governor Christine Whitman 12 years ago.

The late Democrat Assemblyman Alan Karcher of Middlesex County bristled that there was no accounting of the governor’s expense allowance. He felt it should be public, but his efforts failed to make it so because the consensus was and still is that such a move would be demeaning to a governor. So, to this day, the expense account of the governor, at $95,000 a year, is the only line item in the entire budget that is not public. 

Tags: Articles, expense account, Governor Christie, Governor expense account
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Photo of Donald C. Barbati Donald C. Barbati

Donald C. Barbati is a shareholder of Crivelli, Barbati & DeRose, L.L.C. His primary practice revolves around the representation of numerous public employee labor unions in various capacities to include contract negotiation, unfair labor practice litigation, contract grievance arbitration, and other diverse issues…

Donald C. Barbati is a shareholder of Crivelli, Barbati & DeRose, L.L.C. His primary practice revolves around the representation of numerous public employee labor unions in various capacities to include contract negotiation, unfair labor practice litigation, contract grievance arbitration, and other diverse issues litigated before the courts and administrative tribunals throughout the State of New Jersey. In addition, Mr. Barbati also routinely represents individuals in various types of public pension appeals, real estate transactions, and general litigation matters. He is a frequent contributor to the New Jersey Public Safety Officers Law Blog, a free legal publication designed to keep New Jersey public safety officers up-to-date and informed about legal issues pertinent to their profession. During his years of practice, Mr. Barbati has established a reputation for achieving favorable results for his clients in a cost-efficient manner.

Mr. Barbati has also handled numerous novel legal issues while representing New Jersey Public Safety Officers. Most notably, he served as lead counsel for the Appellants in the published case In re Rodriguez, 423 N.J. Super. 440 (App. Div. 2011). In that case, Mr. Barbati successfully argued on behalf of the Appellants, thereby overturning the Attorney General’s denial of counsel to two prison guards in a civil rights suit arising from an inmate assault. In the process, the Court clarified the standard to be utilized by the Attorney General in assessing whether a public employee is entitled to legal representation and mandated that reliance must be placed on up-to-date information.

Prior to becoming a practicing attorney, Mr. Barbati served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Linda R. Feinberg, Assignment Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Mercer Vicinage. During his clerkship Mr. Barbati handled numerous complex and novel substantive and procedural issues arising from complaints in lieu of prerogative writs, orders to show cause, and motion practice. These include appeals from decisions by planning and zoning boards and local government bodies, bidding challenges under the Local Public Contract Law, Open Public Records Act requests, the taking of private property under the eminent domain statute, and election law disputes. In addition, Mr. Barbati, as a certified mediator, mediated many small claims disputes in the Special Civil Part.

Mr. Barbati received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, magna cum laude, from Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Upon graduating, Mr. Barbati attended Widener University School of Law in Wilmington, Delaware. In 2007, he received his juris doctorate, magna cum laude, graduating in the top five percent of his class. During law school, Mr. Barbati interned for the Honorable Joseph E. Irenas, Senior United States District Court Judge for the District of New Jersey in Camden, New Jersey, assisting on various constitutional, employment, and Third Circuit Court of Appeals litigation, including numerous civil rights, social security, and immigration cases.

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Frank M. Crivelli is a shareholder in the law firm of Crivelli, Barbati & DeRose, L.L.C. His primary practice revolves around the representation of public employee labor unions in various capacities to include contract negotiation, unfair labor practice litigation, contract grievance arbitration, and other diverse issues that are litigated before state and federal trial courts, appellate courts, and administrative tribunals throughout the State of New Jersey

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