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.”