The governor and the front-runner are pals, but New Jersey taxpayers will have to pay for their bond of friendship.
TRENTON -- Gov. Chris Christie said that while Donald Trump would cover the governor's travel expenses while he campaigns for him, the costs of flying, feeding and housing Christie's executive protection detail will not be footed by the GOP front-runner.
"The Trump campaign doesn't benefit from my state troopers being there," Christie said at a Statehouse press conference Thursday. "They don't benefit from it especially now when he's got 50 times the Secret Service detail that I would (have) riding in the back seat."
Christie traveled to Texas last Friday to endorse Trump, then campaigned across the country for Trump for several days, including Super Tuesday.
A spokesman for Christie declined to comment on the cost of the governor's Executive Protection Unit, but noted that when Christie had campaigned for the 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, the state bore those charges.
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Christie spent 72 percent of 2015 out of state, campaigning or laying the groundwork for his own presidential campaign.
On Wednesday, Democratic state Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D- Bergen) told NJ Advance Media she was planning to re-introduce legislation Monday that would require the governor to reimburse the state for any non-state business travel, including those undertaken as a surrogate for Trump.
"It's time we stopped paying for him to attend purely political events," Weinberg said. "That's what he should be reimbursing the state of New Jersey for."
But on Thursday, Christie argued that it wasn't up to him to ask his friend to pay for his security.
"The taxpayers probably don't want to pay for the State Police to go with me to the supermarket, either," said the governor, "But that's not my choice. I don't think I'm going to get shot at the Kings in Mendham, OK. But the State Police believe that the appropriate thing to do is to protect me and my family is for them to be with me at all times. And they are with me at all times."
Christie's travel and executive protection costs from 2010 up to 2015 hit the $1 million mark, and that was before his extensive travels as a presidential candidate in 2015.
On Thursday, Christie downplayed how much time he'd be traveling in support of Trump.
"This is not my campaign," said the governor. "He and I are friends. And so, if (Trump) picks up the phone calls me and says, "I need your help somewhere." and he makes a compelling case for it, and I have the time to do it? I'm gonna go help him. If I can't, I am going to tell him I can't, and it won't affect our relationship."
Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClaudeBrodesser. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.