Already embroiled in controversy, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is now being investigated for the misuse of about $2 million in Superstorm Sandy relief funds for an ad campaign that put him in the forefront during an election year, officials said on Monday.
With last week's scandal over blocked traffic at the George Washington Bridge, the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is now auditing Christie, Reuters reported. A spokesperson said that the inquiry began after HUD "received a request from Congress."
According to Reuters, a federally financed $25 million Jersey Shore marketing campaign which included a television commercial featuring Christie and his family is being focused on by the inspector. The ad cost $2 million more than a competing bid without them.
"It is inappropriate for taxpayer-funded dollars that are critical to our state's recovery from this natural disaster to fund commercials that could potentially benefit a political campaign," said New Jersey Congressman Frank Pallone Jr., a Democrat, in an Aug. 8, 2013 letter requesting the investigation.
The advertisement was aired in April when Christie was going into the re-election campaign to win a second term, with the tag line that New Jersey was "Stronger than the Storm," Reuters reported.
According to Reuters, Sandy killed at least 159 people and damaged or destroyed more than 650,000 homes in New York, New Jersey and other parts of the East Coast on Oct. 29, 2012.
"Had Governor Christie chosen the less-expensive firm, $2.2 million in federal disaster aid could have potentially been directed elsewhere, for example, to provide 44 Sandy-impacted homeowners $50,000 grants to raise their homes," Pallone said in a press release.
There was no immediate response to calls and e-mails to Christie's office for comment, Reuters reported. "Bridgegate" will be probed by a new special investigatory committee with subpoena power, the democratically controlled states Assembly said on Monday.
"The evidence that has come out in recent weeks makes clear that this now goes above and beyond a transportation issue and goes into the highest ranks of the executive branch," said Assemblyman John Wisniewski. "A concerted and focused investigation with increased resources is now needed."
A massive September traffic jam was orchestrated by Christie's staff, apparently as political payback against the mayor of Fort Lee, N.J., who did not endorse Christie for re-election, Reuters reported.
