The Republican gave the go-ahead for non-essential services to be shut down - including the Island State Beach Park - over the 4 July holiday weekend because of a budget impasse.
Christie then lied about his whereabouts on Sunday, saying his family was spending the weekend at the governor's residence In Princeton and he was commuting to work by state helicopter. "
"I didn't get any sun today," he claimed, before the aerial photos emerged. The pictures show Christie and his family on an otherwise empty beach. Other visitors were turned away due to closure of state parks as part of a partial government shutdown. The lack of a state budget resulted in the shutdown, which included the closure of Island State Beach Park, one of New Jersey's few free public beaches.
After being confronted with the photographs, Christie spokesman Brian Murray was forced to admit the governor had "briefly" been on the beach "talking to his wife and family before heading into the office."
"He did not get any sun. He had a baseball hat on," Murray added.
The partial government shutdown in New Jersey arose because state legislators had not passed a health insurance bill that Christie said had to be passed alongside the state's budget. New Jersey is one of at least nine states that were unable to meet their budget deadlines at the beginning of the month.
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