newjerseynewsroom.com

BY ADELE SAMMARCO

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

New Jersey’s Democrats want to know where the Governor is at all times.

So far, Chris Christie has traveled out-of-state more than four dozen times since the fall. That’s one out of every five days he’s been out-of-state over the last eight months.

On Friday, the Governor flew to the windy city to urge a conference of conservatives to, ”build bridges with like-minded Democrats”, so they accomplish their goals for the greater good.

“The lesson is this everybody, leadership matters. Standing for principles matters,” Christie said at the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual event organized by the Conservative Political Union, known as CPAC.

“You have to build bridges with like-minded Democrats,” he said according to the Record. “That’s what we have to do to make our country better.”

The conference has drawn some of the Republican Party’s biggest names over the years, including former Presidents Bush and Reagan, current GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, as well as other conservative commentators such as Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh.

This latest trip comes on the heels of another trip the Governor took to Wisconsin to support gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker’s recall election, which became a successful political feather in Christie’s cap after Walker won his primary.

As the Garden State Governor makes no excuses for making various romps through the states, there is a bill currently moving through the Legislature aimed solely at Christie's political travels.

The new bill requires legislative leaders to be notified every time the governor leaves the state so they are aware that Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno is in charge.

The two page bill, S-1321, passed a legislative committee Monday and requires Christie to inform Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver a day in advance when he will be traveling out-of-state.

Christie says his policy is to call the Lieutenant Governor when he is in Philadelphia or New York for a couple of hours, and sends out an official letter from his attorney for longer trips.

While at the CPAC conference, Christie seized the opportunity to criticize President Obama on a national stage, further fueling speculation of his future political career ambitions during this Presidential campaign season.

“He’s the one who saddled us with all these rules and regulations that don’t allow governors to do what they want,” the governor said. “The most powerful thing on our side is we’re right and they’re wrong.”

This is the Governor’s first appearance at the Chicago conference, once again stirring up talk of him becoming a possible running mate for Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who is set to take on Obama this fall.