Chris Christie Sticks Taxpayers With Huge Bill For Official Portrait

Chris Christie is sparing no expense when it comes to his official portrait, which is being paid for with public funds.

The former New Jersey Republican governor is commemorating his eight years in office, which ended in January, with a painting of himself by Australian artist Paul Newton. He signed an $85,000 contract for the work the month before his term ended.

The price is more than the state’s three previous governors paid for their portraits combined, reports The Record, which revealed the extravagant expenditure on Thursday.

Newton has previously painted the portraits of Australian singer Kylie Minogue, Pope Benedict XVI and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.

In 2017, Christie was infamously snapped vacationing with his family on an otherwise vacant state-owned beach that he’d earlier closed due to a budget impasse.

Some people on Twitter suggested that Christie, who also once spent more than $82,000 in public money on concessions at NFL games, should use photographs taken that beach day for his portrait instead: