Police unions blast Christie for 'selfish opportunism' in skipping trooper's funeral

Claude Brodesser-Akner

March 15, 2016 at 7:40 AM

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie's absence from a young New Jersey state trooper's funeral to campaign for Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump drew angry barbs from two top police unions on Monday.

While slain trooper Sean Cullen, 31, was being buried in Cinnamonson in Burlington County, Christie traveled to North Carolina to "interview" Trump at a campaign rally.

"We are focused on honoring our fallen brother today, and quite frankly we did not expect someone who has consistently shown disdain for law enforcement to pay his respects to the Cullen and State Police family," said Chris Burgos, president of the State Trooper Fraternal Association.

Burgos added that the governor's "decision-making is clearly predicated on selfish political opportunism, that much is clear."

Christie, who made his law enforcement background as a federal prosecutor the linchpin of his White House bid, has attended trooper funerals in the past. But he has missed several police memorials due to his aspirations for higher office: In January, he missed the funeral of a Port Authority Police Officer, and in December the governor skipped another state police trooper's internment.

Patrick Colligan, the president of the New Jersey State Police Benevolent Association, said he was dismayed, but not shocked by the governor being out of state yet again.

"I will say, as respectfully as I can considering we are burying a brother in blue today, I am not surprised whatsoever," Colligan wrote in a text message to an NJ Advance Media reporter.

Both union chiefs have tangled with the governor over pension reform.

Burgos' union, the STFA, was the  lead litigant in a 2015 suit seeking to force the governor to make require payments into the police pension system.

In Dec. 2015, Christie dismissed Colligan as a "pension pig" over his demands that the governor fully fund law enforcement pensions.

In January, Colligan sent an open letter to New Hampshire peace officers, warning them that Christie was "as far away from being a law enforcement candidate as you can get."