The blowback from Chris Christie's dubious decision to enjoy a day at the beach as thousands of New Jersey residents were turned away continued Thursday with a lawyer saying the Garden State governor must be socked with a big bill for his "completely unethical" behavior.
"No person is above the law, and Governor Christie had no right to plop himself in a beach chair when the general public did not have access to the beach," Blanch, who filed a complaint against Christie with the State Ethics Commission, told The Jersey Journal.
"The governor's actions are unfair, outrageous, and completely unethical. Governor Christie should plop himself somewhere else, because New Jersey does not need politicians who only care about themselves."
Blanch wants Christie to shell out the "fair market value of renting a private beach in New Jersey during the July Fourth weekend" as restitution for "Beachgate."
The governor, whose popularity is at an all-time low in New Jersey, sparked outrage when he and his family relaxed at the state-owned Island Beach State Park after he ordered government services — including beaches — closed because of a budget stalemate.
The residence has been kept for governors since the 1950s — a fact that Christie rubbed in the faces of seething sun-worshippers by boasting: "It's just the way it goes. Run for governor and then you can have the residence."
The controversy hit the boiling point when a Star-Ledger photographer snapped aerial photos of Christie and his family sprawled out on an empty beach — snapshots that contradicted the governor's spokesman who insisted Christie had not been out in the sun.
The photos set off a flurry of parodies on social media in which pranksters superimposed Christie on his beach chair into other photos.
One shows Christie surrounded by beached whales and in another he's camped outside Dunkin Donuts. And one fat-shaming jokester posted a video of a major city being wiped out by a tidal wave and described it as the consequence of Christie jumping into the ocean.
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