Constituent, Chris Christie Twitter Feud Results From Transit Delays

For Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, feuds have become a trademark of his time in office. Whether it is feuding with political foes or with constituents at town halls across the state, the governor has long been known to share his feelings no matter who it might offend.

He kept the feuding up this weekend, in what could soon be known as the Chris Christie Twitter feud between himself and individuals angry about delays with New Jersey Transit, The Record reported.

“Christie told stalled riders to “hang in there” and that helped turn a Twitter conversation into a debate that lasted more than six hours and had some still fired up five days later.

“Commuters directly told Christie – a governor who boosted his public image beyond New Jersey through his use of social media sites including Twitter, YouTube and Instagram – that their daily frustrations were the fault of his decision to cancel a cross-Hudson rail tunnel project during his first year in office. Christie, who was vacationing in California at the time, eventually fired off testy tweets of his own when riders pressed him on his transportation policies.”

According to The Huffington Post, Christie attempted to defend himself, eventually tweeting, “The ARC tunnel to Macy’s basement, complete with $3-5b in cost overruns borne solely by NJ taxpayers, was a bad idea.”

No matter if it was a bad idea or not, The Record said it was not smoothing the aggravation felt by Twitter user Patrick Daly, who continued his back and fourth that has resulted in the Chris Christie Twitter feud heard around the world.

“When one commuter [Daly] called Christie’s cost overrun figures ‘inflated’ the governor replied, ‘How do you know that? I know the numbers, and unlike you, have responsibility to all NJ taxpayers.’ Christie added that New York should have had to share in the cost overruns, though commuters responded on Twitter that the tunnel would be more beneficial to New Jerseyans.”

We’re not sure whether the Chris Christie Twitter feud will be a one-time event or not, but one Democratic mayor of a small New Jersey city told the paper that what the governor was doing was not feuding, but real-time constituent services.

It should also be noted that this is just the governor’s latest transit-related “scandal” following Bridge-gate.

For an example of a Chris Christie feud in real life, check out this Inquisitr report from last year when he yelled at a teacher.

[Image via Flickr Creative Commons]