TRENTON, N.J. — Was Gov. Mikie Sherrill conducting official state business when a New Jersey State Police helicopter carried her to a U.S. Naval Academy alumni event in Annapolis this spring?
Assemblyman Alex Sauickie (R-Ocean) says the Sherrill administration should be able to prove it — and if it can’t, taxpayers deserve their money back.
The controversy centers on an April 17th trip to Annapolis, Maryland, where Sherrill, a Naval Academy graduate, attended an event commemorating 50 years of women at the academy. The Governor’s Office has defended her use of the State Police helicopter by maintaining that Sherrill attended in her official capacity and had been invited to deliver remarks.
There’s just one problem, according to Sauickie: the administration apparently has no record of those remarks.
“I’d genuinely like to see the speech,” Sauickie said. “If this was an official gubernatorial appearance important enough to justify helicopter transportation, it is reasonable to expect some record of what the Governor said.”
The Republican legislator noted that Sherrill’s office routinely publicizes far more mundane gubernatorial appearances and communications.
“Her office posts videos of the governor giving weather reports,” Sauickie added. “Why wouldn’t an important official speech be available?”
After his office failed to locate a video, transcript or other public documentation of Sherrill’s remarks, Sauickie filed an Open Public Records Act request seeking a copy.
The response raised more questions.
“There are no government records made in the official course of business responsive to your request,” the Governor’s Office reportedly told Sauickie last week.
“The Governor’s Office cannot have it both ways,” Sauickie responded. “It cannot justify the helicopter by calling the trip official state business and then produce no record of the official business used to justify it.”
There is at least some outside evidence that Sherrill spoke at the event. Maryland’s official 250th anniversary website identifies her participation in its coverage of the Naval Academy commemoration. But Sauickie argues that outside documentation doesn’t resolve the central taxpayer question: what official New Jersey business justified the use of a taxpayer-funded aircraft?
The price tag isn’t insignificant.
According to published estimates cited by Sauickie, operating the State Police helicopter for gubernatorial transportation costs taxpayers approximately $2,500 per hour. Sherrill reportedly flew from Camden to Annapolis before traveling by helicopter from Annapolis to Bloomfield. The approximately two-hour-and-15-minute total flight time would put the estimated cost in the neighborhood of $5,625.
For Sauickie, the solution is straightforward.
“Taxpayer-funded aircraft are not a personal transportation service,” he said. “If the trip was official, show us the official business. If it was personal, pay the taxpayers back.”
