TRENTON — Facing broad criticism for flying by helicopter to watch his son's high school baseball game in Bergen County, Gov. Chris Christie refused today to refund the state for Tuesday's $2,500-an-hour flight.

"The governor does not reimburse for security and travel," a spokesman for the governor, Kevin Roberts, said in an e-mail message. "The use of air travel has been extremely limited and appropriate."

The State Police said the flight taken by Christie and his wife, Mary Pat, had presented "no additional cost to taxpayers."

That didn’t stop a horde of Democratic legislators — and even some conservative commentators — from denouncing the use of the helicopter by a governor who has become widely admired for his insistence on fiscal austerity.

Christie flew from downtown Trenton to Montvale, where his son Andrew was playing baseball for Delbarton, his high school team. He stayed five innings before getting back into the helicopter, accompanied by his wife. From there they flew to Princeton, the police said, for a dinner at Drumthwacket, the governor's mansion, with a group of wealthy Republican donors from Iowa who were in New Jersey to try to persuade Christie to run for president.

Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) chided the governor today for what she called his "do as I say, not as I do" attitude.

"I can’t remember how many times I had to skip political events because my children had games or school activities," Vainieri Huttle said. "Leaving in the fifth inning to meet with wealthy Iowa political donors says something about the governor’s priorities. Perhaps his presidential courters can help him foot the bill so our taxpayers aren’t on the hook for such perks when he is calling for sacrifice."

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:



• How else could Gov. Christie have traveled from son's baseball game to Princeton?

• State Police say Gov. Christie's helicopter rides are 'no additional cost to taxpayers'

• Gov. Christie's helicopter rides raise ire of Democratic lawmaker

• Gov. Christie arrives at son's high school baseball game in State Police helicopter

• Poll: Was it inappropriate for Gov. Christie to take a helicopter to his son's baseball game?

• Your comments: Gov. Christie takes state helicopter to son's H.S. baseball game



Even a conservative talk show host from Fox News, Greta Van Susteren, added to the stream of criticism. She took to her blog to question why the governor had used the helicopter.

"In these very, very difficult times for most Americans, it looks really bad when a politician is spending (or appearing to be spending) taxpayer money in lavish ways," Van Susteren wrote.

Amid the flak, State Police Supt. Rick Fuentes issued a statement saying the pilots would have been in the air training even had they not been ferrying the governor and his wife in the new $12.5 million helicopter.

"Therefore, there is no additional cost to taxpayers or the State Police budget, nor is there any interference with our daily mission by adding the state’s chief executive to any of these trips," Fuentes said.

The use of state helicopters by governors of both parties has been a flashpoint for decades. But the practice has been to reimburse the state for flights not related to official business. In 2002, the Democratic Party paid the state $18,200 for 14 flights by Gov. Jim McGreevey that were deemed political or personal, including one to a wedding.

Gov. Christie Whitman repaid the state when she took a police helicopter to a New Jersey Devils game at the Meadowlands.

According to Fuentes, Christie has traveled on the state’s helicopter 35 times since taking office in January 2010 — far less than previous governors — including trips to survey flood and storm damage. The dates and locations of those trips were not made public.

"As part of our long-standing security protocol, the EPU (Executive Protection Unit) provides secure, protected travel by vehicle in the overwhelming majority of the governor’s business and personal travel, except in those rare instances when the governor’s schedule warrants use of air travel," Fuentes said.

A State Police spokesman, Sgt. Stephen Jones, emphasized that pilots are constantly logging hours in the new helicopters and would probably have been flying even if the governor had not been aboard.

"The destinations might be different," Jones said. "But they’d be logging flight hours — flying over rail systems or transportation hubs or ports or chemical or nuclear facilities."

As for Christie’s use of a car to get the 100 yards from the landing site to the ball park, which was ridiculed by Van Susteren and others, Jones said the cars were there for the governor’s safety.

"If the helicopter got called away for a higher priority mission, then the governor would be transported to his next location on the ground," Jones said.

By Ginger Gibson and Chris Megerian/The Star-Ledger