Christie Critics Cry Foul Over Public Records Access

The Christie administration is holding on to records tracking the use of federal recovery money for Superstorm Sandy that were requested by watchdog groups and media outlets.

Bob Jordan, Asbury Park (N.J.) Press

TRENTON, N.J. -- In advance of an expected 2016 presidential campaign, Chris Christie's administration is stepping up efforts to control the Republican governor's image at all costs — even skirting sunshine laws that permit public access to government records.

Getting the Christie administration to release its grip of records tracking use of federal recovery money for Superstorm Sandy has been particularly difficult for watchdog groups and media outlets, including the Asbury Park Press.

The Fair Share Housing Center recently received the first detailed information about housing recovery programs supported by federal grants — only after suing the administration for not complying with a public records request.

The Press has yet to receive Sandy recovery information the newspaper first sought four months ago. The Press asked for internal administration records from the contract bidding that resulted in Christie and his family starring in TV commercials for the $25 million "Stronger Than the Storm" tourism campaign.

In September, state officials told the Press a search had "identified hundreds of potentially responsive documents" and promised to begin sharing the information "on a rolling basis" starting in the second week of October.

For two months after the deadline, nothing was forthcoming — until some of the documents were released Friday, just hours after this story first appeared on the newspaper's APP.com website. State officials said more information would be available later this month.

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http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/12/08/christie-public-records-access/3906285/