Christie's helicopter

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s helicopter ride to his son’s baseball game is perfectly justified. He could not afford the commuter rail fares charged by New Jersey Transit.

The current fares were set by the NJT board a few months after Christie took office because the new governor would not raise the money t forestall the change.

The fare schedule did not increase but moved into the stratosphere. As a daytripper to New York City, I noticed the fares creeping up over the years. I understood that fares would likely rise again, but I could not understand a near 50 percent hike. On April 30, 2010, the round-trip fare from Trenton to Penn Station in Manhattan was $21.50. The next day, the cost was $31.

Philadelphians who ride the SEPTA train to Trenton and NJT to NYC spent $37.50 round-trip from center city until April 30, 2010. That round trip spiked the next day and rose even higher the following August due to a slight SEPTA increase. It now costs $48.50.

The NJT board simultaneously eliminated the discounted round trips on all lines and raised single rail fares 25 percent. While rate increases are unpopular no matter how low, a 50 percent hike is shameful.

I generally do not have difficulty with a governor who uses a helicopter for personal use on occasion. A governor’s schedule makes it difficult to attend to both state business and family affairs. Despite his politics, Christie should be commended for being a good father.

Too bad he treats many of fellow New Jerseyans far differently than his children. He entered office with a let-them-eat-cake attitude in which he slashed programs right and left while eliminating a tax on millionaires and refusing to raise the gas tax.

In less than four months, NJT fares skyrocketed. I found myself paying much higher fares for day trips from Philadelphia to NYC.

I might not feel so ruffled if the fare increases were more reasonable, as they have been with SEPTA in Philadelphia and the MTA in New York. However, what Christie did with train fares, schools and other programs was plain nasty.

Connecticut’s state legislature voted to spread the pain evenly. They raised taxes along with making cuts and seeking union concessions.

Maybe Christie can conside taking the train at time instead of car or helicopter when it is convenient. Amtrak can take him straight to Newark and New York with few stops. Ten of NJT’s 11 rail lines run through northern New Jersey, including stations close to his home in Morris County.

A train trip to his son’s ballgame in Montvale might have been time-consuming, but the game site is located between two train stations serving different NJT lines that Christie could have accessed originating from Trenton.

Christie responded to the the helicopter flap by announcing that he and the Republican Party reimbursed the state $3,300 for his use of the helicopter, operated by the state police, to visit the Montvale game and another near his home in Mendham, The New York Times reported.

Without apologizing, Christie reacted with his usual touch of class: “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 also lashed out at Bergen County Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle who said that leaving the game in the fifth inning for the political meeting “says something about the governor’s priorities.” His reply: “She should really be embarrassed at what a jerk she is.”

Huttle later told a New York Daily News reporter, “I’m not surprised given his pattern of using abusive language towards tose who disagree with him.”