Gov. Chris Christie's administration has paid out several hundred thousand dollars to reimburse plaintiffs' attorneys fees while fighting open records requests since 2012.
New records show the state paid more than $441,000 over 23 cases fighting denials of public records request from January 2012 through August 7 of this year.
The records were obtained through the state's Open Public Records Act. The sum does not include other costs to the state, such as government lawyers' time.
Attorneys representing media organizations and government watchdogs have complained that Christie's administration routinely stonewalls even the most basic records requests. They say the situation has grown worse this year.
A spokesman for Christie declined to comment.
