GOP NJ governor candidate's spending questioned

[ccharles000]

TRENTON, N.J. — The Republican candidate for New Jersey governor, who has campaigned on a platform of ethical integrity and cutting government waste, regularly spent beyond federal guidelines on business travel while U.S. attorney, records show.

The newly released travel records show that Chris Christie occasionally billed taxpayers more than $400 a night for stays in luxury hotels and exceeded the government's hotel allowance on 14 of 16 business trips he took in 2008.

"Generally, U.S. attorneys, assistant U.S. attorneys and all federal staff stay within the government rate," said Justice Department spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz. "The government rate is not a suggestion, it's a guideline."

Christie said he stayed in more expensive hotels only when cheaper ones weren't available.

"We always went for government rates first," he said. "I don't think there were a lot of stays in five-star hotels over seven years."

The travel records date to when he was sworn in as U.S. attorney in 2002. They were obtained this week by the campaign of Christie's Democratic opponent, Gov. Jon Corzine, under the Freedom of Information Act.

The AP has sought the same records, but the request was made later than the one by the governor's office and hasn't been fulfilled.

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