New Jersey State Police Asked to Testify About Christie's Chopper Use

The head of the New Jersey State Police is being asked to testify before a legislative committee examining Gov. Chris Christie's use of state police helicopters for transportation.

A letter was sent Friday from Assemblywoman Annette Quijano, D-Union, chairwoman of the Homeland Security Committee, to state police Superintendent Rick Fuentes. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter.

Quijano's committee wants to find out who approves helicopter travel, the standards for approval and how flight arrangements are made.

"Based on the limited information released from your office, it appears one of the flights was for the governor to attend a charity event at his wife's employer, one flight appears to be just for the lieutenant governor, a couple flights were apparently for TV appearances, and lastly, a couple of flights appear to be for transporting support staff to Atlantic City and the Meadowlands," Quijano wrote.

Christie and the Republican State Committee reimbursed taxpayers $3,383 for personal and political trips the governor took this week.

His office released a log showing that Christie or his staff used the helicopter 35 times.

The Assembly hearing is set for June 14. There's no word on whether Fuentes will attend.

Writing a check to cover the cost of the two helicopter flights to his son's baseball games and to meet with Iowa delegates trying to persuade him to run for president seems to have done little to quiet criticism surrounding Christie's use of the executive perk.

Christie took to the podium Thursday using a "good father" defense, saying he didn't make a political calculation about using the helicopter.

He woke up Friday to stinging newspaper editorials for his unapologetic tone and lingering skepticism among some taxpayers.

Dan Walker, a 58-year-old computer analyst from Spotswood, says if other people had done what the governor did, Christie would complain about it.

Meanwhile, the governor's office declined to release specifics on other flights.