Should Christie Sell Drumthwacket?
Matt Rooney | November 23, 2009
Sure. Why not? Our state is in dire financial straits. No downsizing suggestion should be off the table.
"Drumthwacket" currently serves as the "official" residence of New Jersey's governor. The state bought the land back in 1966, but it wasn't designated as our governor's home until two decades later in 1982. The property itself is administered by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), while the interior is preserved as a museum by the "Drumthwacket Foundation," a 501(c)(3) organization directed by business persons, prominent politicians and well-bred New Jerseyans of the Princeton area.
But do we really need a mansion, Save Jerseyans? Save the occasional school field trip or ritzy private party, few New Jerseyans ever bother to visit its grounds. Keeping Drumthwacket from falling apart costs taxpayers more than $500,000 annually, not to mention recent renovations which inflate the price tag to seven-figure territory. The state also maintains two -- yes, TWO -- shore homes for the governor's use. Must be nice!
Your Blogger-in-Chief can't help but question the wisdom behind this expenditure. The only governors who actually occupied Drumthwacket on a full-time basis were the two men most likely to take advantage of free room and board at the taxpayers' expense: liberal one-term failures Jim Florio and Jim McGreevey. Governor-Elect Chris Christie, on the other hand, has already expressed an intention to follow Governor Kean's example and remain at his Morris County residence.
The DEP will definitely face substantial budget cuts in the coming year. Count on it. Since red ink is already flowing, I just don't see any reason to make the taxpayers continually pay for something that no one uses and, quite frankly, doesn't have an extensive history of gubernatorial use (unless you include the Florio Administration's lavish 20th anniversary gala reunion or McGreevey's infamously decadent parties for contextually inappropriate celebrations). Drumthwacket is an "historic" property in the same sense that my 100+ year old home is historic, and I don't see anyone lining up to tour the Matt Rooney Historic Site gift shop!
Time to think outside the box. Let's explore allowing the Drumthwacket Foundation to exclusively maintain the mansion grounds going forward. New Jersey should seriously consider joining Arizona, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, California and Vermont as states without official taxpayer-financed governors mansions.... and without shore homes, too!
I think it is a brilliant idea to sell off all three of the properties, perhaps auction off the contents and use the proceeds to help reduce the deficit of this state.
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get rid of the greedy politicians.. reduce spending. sell property. just as long as taxes arnt increased..!
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