Thursday, June 2, 2011

Christie and G.O.P. Repay State for Helicopter Flights

June 2, 2011

Christie and G.O.P. Repay State for Helicopter Flights

DENVILLE, N.J. — Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and the Republican Party reimbursed the state more than $3,300 on Thursday for his use of a police helicopter to travel to his son’s baseball games and to meet with political fund-raisers.
Mr. Christie insisted that he had done nothing wrong and that he had made the payments — a day after his office said he would not — just to put to rest an issue that suddenly dominated news coverage in the state. And he had some scathing words, even by his sharp-tongued standards, for Democrats, political pundits and journalists.
“I am not going to allow the media and the hacks in the Democratic Party to turn this into something that allows them to do what they always like to do, which is get away from serious issues where you have to make hard choices for things that matter, because they want to have a circus,” he said during a visit here for a bill-signing.
Of the Democrats and others who said his helicopter use might have been illegal, Mr. Christie said, “These guys are a joke.”
He added, “They know full well, full well, that it was none of that stuff at all.”
He lashed out at one Democratic legislator who announced plans to hold a hearing on the matter, and at another, Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, who had said that leaving his son’s game in the fifth inning on Tuesday to meet with the fund-raisers “says something about the governor’s priorities.”
“She should really be embarrassed at what a jerk she is,” Mr. Christie said.
Joseph Cryan, the Assembly majority leader, lashed back on her behalf, saying, “The governor needs to learn some decency.”
Mr. Christie’s critics have accused him of hypocrisy for taking the flights while preaching austerity. But he has used State Police helicopters far less than his predecessors, including some who flew in them hundreds of times a year. On Thursday, his office released a log of the 33 times it said he had used the aircraft since taking office in January 2010, all but two for official business.
His son Andrew is on the baseball team at Delbarton School in Morristown, which is in the state high school championship playoffs, and Mr. Christie flew to attend the games last Friday and on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, he flew from Trenton to the game in Montvale, at the northern end of the state, and then to the governor’s mansion in Princeton to meet with Republican fund-raisers from Iowa who, Mr. Christie said, tried and failed to persuade him to run for president in 2012. (“They didn’t ask about 2016,” he said, “so I didn’t rule it in or rule it out.”)
On Thursday, the governor paid the state $2,151.50 for the personal trips, and at his request, the state Republican Party paid $1,232.29 for the political leg of the trip Tuesday.
Mr. Christie said he would not change his traveling habits, but would not say whether he would reimburse the state for any future flights. “My son’s next game is tomorrow in Sparta,” he said, adding that he thought he would have time to drive.
The governor appealed for understanding of his role as a father of four. And he drew a contrast to his predecessor, Jon S. Corzine, saying that the alternative to helicopter use was to have the State Police speed him around as they did Mr. Corzine — and risk the kind of near-fatal accident Mr. Corzine had.
The State Police have said that the helicopter trips cost the state no additional expense, because the aircraft are aloft daily, whether or not they are needed for emergencies, to give the pilots experience.
Asked if using the helicopters at a time of deep budget-cutting was politically tone-deaf, Mr. Christie said, “I understand the perception issue.” But he added that he thought the State Police statement would make it disappear.

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