Guadagno Bashes Christie For Using Island Beach State Park During Closure

BERKELEY TOWNSHIP, NJ - Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno doesn't think much of Gov. Chris Christie's Fourth of July holiday at Island Beach State Park.

Christie ordered all government services closed on Friday, after he and the state legislature remained locked in a stalemate over school funding and the governor's desire to use state lottery revenue for the pension system, as well as extract $300 million from the reserve fund from the state's largest health insurance company, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, to pay for drug addiction treatment.

"It's beyond words," Guadagno said of photos taken of Christie in swimming trunks and a T-shirt relaxing with his family and his children's friends on the beach in front of the governor's mansion at the park. "If I were governor, I sure wouldn't be sitting on the beach if taxpayers didn't have access to state beaches," Guadagno said in a statement issued by her campaign, according to nj.com.

"We need to end the shutdown now," she said. "It's hurting small businesses and ordinary New Jerseyans," she said. "Instead of political games, Governor Christie, Speaker (Vincent) Prieto and Senate President (Stephen) Sweeney should pass a budget that delivers property tax relief and puts taxpayers first."

The governor said recently that he and his family planned to celebrate their son's birthday party at Island Beach this weekend.

"The governor is allowed to go to his residences, and I'm at my residences," Christie said on Fox News. "I'll tell you this: I said last Monday, a week ago today, that no matter what happens, we were coming here as a family this weekend. ... This is one of the places we live."

He also bashed the Star-Ledger for taking pictures of the Christie family on the beach in front of the governor's mansion at Island Beach, according to nj.com.

"What a great bit of journalism by The Star-Ledger," Christie said. "They actually caught a politician being where he said he was going to be with the people he said he was going to be with: his wife and children and their friends. I'm sure they will get a Pulitzer for this one."

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Image: Patch file photo