Paintgate: Former NJ Governor Insults Taxpayers on Way Out With $85,000 Portrait

So who's painting this work of art, you ask? Australian artist Paul Newton, who's previously worked with the likes of Kylie Minogue, NBA Commissioner David Stern and the Duke of Edinburgh, managed to snag the golden ticket. According to the Record, Newton's commission contract was signed in December 2017, a month before Christie's term ended.

With Christie already having been infamously photographed lounging on a New Jersey beach during a government shutdown, Twitter users have started offering up their own sketches.

​Christie's portrait will be paid for through a $250,000 taxpayer-funded transitional account that is given to former governors to pay for staff, office space and, of course, official portraits. The 55-year-old has already coughed up $37,500 for the painting from the transitional account.