Gov. Christie wants us all to move on off his bungled Race to the Top application that cost the state nearly half a billion bucks. Get over it. Stop mentioning it. Don't ask no questions. Ah, and that application for $268 million in federal aide to replace teacher jobs he hasn't applied for? What? Well, I support public edu... hey, is that Mika Brzezinski? How's my tie? I'm the Decider!
Christie's got his man. He wants to offload all of this onto former Education Commissioner Bret Schundler: "Don't lie to the governor," says the Governor. But there are signs Schundler, with whom I agree on nearly nothing, but who even political foes can see may be being unfairly maligned, is tired of hearing himself impugned for what he maintains he did not do. Christie demands this all to evaporate on his explanation that Schundler told him (and his staff) that he gave the missing Race to the Top info the funding reviewers in D.C., when he did not. But Schundler says the opposite, that he told Christie (and his staff) that he did not give that info to them. Schundler now says it's the Governor who's lying:
The Governor is saying I misled him and that is absolutely untrue.
That becomes important because it is not clear that Schundler knew the required information was not in the application, and because the application was hastily changed over Memorial Day weekend, though details there are sketchy, to date. What hand Schundler had in making those changes - unclear, to date. A reported draft of the application with edits, in Schundler's handwriting removing budget information federal officials request in the application, has not been produced to date, and the Christie administration has not responded to requests for those documents.
The "mystery" of the fatal "error" is not solved.
(read about it below the fold)
Did you miss last night's scintillating edition of BlueJerseyRadio? You know, the one where Jeff and I served up the pithiest political dish in the land? The one with chairman John Wisniewski rallying the troops to keep flogging Governor Christie whose latest hissy cost New Jersey students nearly a half billion dollars?
Why is the Governor now delaying filing NJ's application for $268 million in federal aid for education jobs, with the school year right around the corner?
Race to the End: Governor says it's time to "move on" (wait ... don't I know that phrase from ... somewhere...)?
Diegnan: "I'm suspicious that the (NJ Education) department at this particular point is probably in chaos." Gov. Christie is delaying releasing a report saying how much NJ is spending per pupil, over concerns, he says, that it could hurt the state in a current legal challenge from a NJ pro-education advocacy group. But Patrick Diegnan, who chairs the Assembly Education Committee, says litigation is not a reason to hold off on that report, and wonders if the Gov. has confidence in the report.
Senate leaders say Gov. Chris Christie owes Pres. Obama an apology over his 'Race to the Top' accusations.
Essex County underground: potential redistricting obstacles for veteran Rice
Potential shrinkage of Essex County Dem Party representation could mean the loss of an African-American senate seat in a delegation where black numbers have already dwindled.
Bergen County: Former Bergen County Improvement Authority chair Ron O'Malley indicted in mortgage fraud scheme.
Newark: School Superintendent Clifford Janey's contract was not renewed.
Newark: The great sell-off of city properties to plug the budget hole gets a go-ahead.
Westfield: Moody's downgrades your bond rating, for an inability to balance budgets.
Rutgers & Kean: Both universities are laying off employees, due to tight budgets.
Bruce SpringsteenLand: Judge throws out N.J. lawsuit against Bruce Springsteen ticket resellers.
Atlantic City & Camden waterfront: 6 windmills that Fishermen's Energy wants to build in the ocean off AC would tower 300 feet in the air, with blades reaching 500 ft., to be brought in by barge from Camden, application documents show.
Lebanon Twp: Township committee and its first aid squad sent to mediation.
There is so much to sift through in this case. - promoted by Rosi
Chris Christie apparently thinks it is time to "move on" from his massive mistake in securing education funding.
Here is his excuse: "We now know who made the mistake, we know how he made the mistake, we know when he made the mistake. And so it's time now to move on."
And here's the background:
Schundler on Monday said although he does not remember making the mistake, he had learned the state found documents showing edits, in his handwriting, that removed pertinent data requested in a 5-point question. The application asked for information from the 2008 and 2009 budget years, and the state provided information from 2011. The state lost by 3 points.
Um, is there something just a little bit fishy here? The state "found documents showing edits, in [Schundler's] handwriting" showing that he made the error, but doesn't release these documents to the public, or, from the way the article is worded, even to Schundler?
And these documents just surfaced (if one can use that word for documents that aren't publicly available anywhere) this morning and now Christie a few hours later declares the case closed?
One would expect better from a former prosecutor. If US Attorney Christie had gone to court with that kind of "evidence" then he would have been laughed right out of the courtroom. Can you imagine? "Judge, we have some documents somewhere we are not showing you, and testimony from the author, who hasn't seen them either and doesn't recall making them - but you should believe me, based on that, that the case is closed."
Pretty amateur stuff. You would think that he would have learned from the stupid blame-it-on-Obama press conference last week not to just make allegations without having the facts nailed down, but apparently not.
Kudos to the legislative leadership for digging into this. Time now to dig deeper.
Each week, Blue Jersey Radio streams LIVE with Jersey's latest political buzz, interviews with newsmakers, and your stimulating calls Number: (646) 652-2773.
Our guest, Assemblyman John S. Wisneiwski represents Sayreville in the NJ Assembly. He's also chairman of the NJ State Democratic Committee and that's the hat he'll be wearing tonight. After all, who better to discuss the ongoing SchundlerGate (tm) story than the party's partisan-in-chief, John Wisniewski?
Jeff and I welcome your calls -- especially if your name is Bret Schundler --as we unravel the complicated layers of Governor Christie's colossal $400,000,000 school-funding hissy fit. So if you're in the mood to pile on, won't you join us? at (646) 652-2773.
So, tune in tonight and every Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. to laugh so hard you're friends will be jealous. Seriously. You won't want to miss an episode - and of course, you never have to. Listen to them all on Blogtalkradio, or download any show on iTunes.
In tearing up the Schundler-NJEA agreement, Governor Christie burned his relationship with former Commissioner Bret Schundler, who shares the governor's education agenda, and with NJEA, a key partner in any reform. The agreement was not everything Christie wanted, but it was a start. As a result, a working relationship with NJEA will be harder to re-establish, and other cabinet members are left wondering how to conduct their job without risking a public flogging (or worse) from their boss.
Grant Writer-in-Chief Christie showed terrible judgment in ordering a rewrite of this 1,000 page document over one weekend. It was an invitation for screw ups, even with a large team on hand. Errors creep into a proposal, and there is the danger of making last-minute changes that have not been well thought out and vetted. And that is what happened. However, the Grant Writer-in-Chief blamed everyone else.
Lawyers are trained to be careful with their words. In public presentations prosecutors often read from prepared statements lest what they utter prejudice their own case. In his press conference on Wednesday former Federal Prosecutor Christie was injudicious to say the least. He made statements that were inaccurate, some of which will continue haunting him. Seemingly mild- mannered Schundler said about the Governor's statements, "I believe the governor gets rolling, and...." A less polite name for this would be "motor mouth."
Christie said at the press conference,"The mistake was made by a mid-level official at the State Department of Education." He was acting as if he knew who committed the error, which apparently he did not. Commissioner Schundler later said he committed the error.
He also stated at the press conference "State Education Commissioner Bret Schundler gave the correct information to the U.S. Department of Education when giving his presentation two weeks ago." The video disputes this statement. Schundler himself in e-mails and orally says he asked the governor not to make that claim, as it is inaccurate, and it would violate the grant regulations against submitting changes in the proposal after the deadline.
Christie placed himself in the least attractive light possible by blaming the grant reviewers and the Obama administration which were just following grant regulations in order to provide fairness for all proposals. A wiser and better leader would have avoided a pointless and inaccurate blame game.
With the loss of a $400 million infusion into our education system, and driven by ideology and bad judgment, Governor Christie faltered for all to see. It's a sad moment for students and teachers. And it reflects poorly on a governor who has sought national media attention, but left his constituents at home shaking their heads.
Since last night, our traffic here at Blue Jersey has soared, largely thanks to Rachel Maddow's coverage last night of Gov. Christie's extraordinary efforts to offload fault for his administration's $400 million Race to the Top mess.
Links to Blue Jersey are being facebooked (thanks!) & tweeted widely (wow, thanks!). So, today, our regulars are joined by zillions of newbies.
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"This is my administration, I'm responsible for it, and I make the decisions,"
Other than that being a laughable statement, given the fact that Christie has shown a remarkable ability to pass the buck over and over and over, it shows that there are more questions that, for some reason, I haven't seen asked and would really start to get to the bottom of just what happened with the application.
When the NJEA and Bret Schundler reached an agreement on May 27, the question in, um, question was answered correctly. Then, between May 27th and June 1, when the application was revised and submitted, that answer was changed - and not in a cosmetic way that would be a "clerical error". Somebody had to have come up with the narrative. Someone had to have reviewed it. And someone had to have known about it. Quite frankly, while I don't like Schundler's politics or views, I find it hard to believe that someone like him with his attention to detail would (1) have the correct answer, (2) change the answer without Christie knowing but not remember doing so after being publically humiliated by Christie (3) act shocked when that answer is called into question on video and (4) lie about his role.
While New Jerseyans have been "treated" to a whole slew of "he said/he said" stories that are great for the gossip pages, the real questions haven't been asked - at least anywhere that I have seen (and my apologies if they have been). What I want to know is the following:
Why was a simple question that was answered correctly changed after Christie took over to revise the application?
Who came up with the revised information and narrative for that question?
Why was information clearly irrelevant to the question asked inserted instead of the factual data requested?
Who actually made the change to that question?
Who directed that response to be changed over Memorial Day weekend?
Did Bret Schundler review the changed application?
If not Schundler, who did review the changed application?
Did Schundler (or whoever reviewed the changed application) have a summary of those items which were changed?
If Schundler really knew about this, why did he look stunned when he was advised that the correct information was not in the application?
This really stinks in many ways. The children - students - the future - all lose as a result of this. And Christie's ever changing shifting of the blame indicates that he isn't acting on the up and up. His declaration that "it is time to move on" is nothing short of preposterous in light of his background as a US Attorney that would never let something like this go if he thought there was funny business going on.
His blame shifting, rush to "move along" and lack of accountability for $400,000,000 in funds that New Jersey won't get as a direct result of his administration makes it pretty clear that this is something he is uncomfortable with. Far from the façade that he puts up when pointing the finger at others or giving himself credit.
Hey, Blue Jerseyans - This was posted Friday, but I'm going to pull it up top again because breaking Schundler news was posted right on top of it then. Ed's the Dem running for Congress against the GOP's Leonard Lance. - promoted by Rosi
Two weeks ago, Congress was called back to Washington for a special session to vote on the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act (also known as the Education Jobs Bill). The legislation, which will allow New Jersey schools to retain nearly 4,000 teachers, passed and was signed into law. As many of you know, Congressman Leonard Lance voted against the bill, voting against our teachers, our schools, our students, and the future of our nation. Many constituents have questioned Mr. Lance directly about his vote, which he has attempted to justify. According to Mr. Lance, "the bill would have a negligible impact" on his district, NJ-7. According to NJEA estimates, it would help retain or rehire 56 teachers across the 54 municipalities that make up NJ-7.
When we're all struggling, how can he tell anyone in our community that their job is negligible?
As a teacher, I know that my fellow educators are not negligible. I know that the children in our schools are not negligible. During the eight years I spent teaching science at Bridgewater-Raritan High School, I saw the difference one teacher can make in the life of a student. As a science teacher and advisor to the drama club, I taught and worked with nearly 200 students each year. The loss of 56 teachers in my district would have a detrimental effect on the lives of thousands of students. The 7th district has long prided itself on having some of the best public schools in the state: this year we had five of the top 25 according to New Jersey Magazine. Governor Christie and Congressman Lance may take these schools and their staffs for granted, but I don't.
In these difficult times, only a career politician like Congressman Lance would call a job "negligible" to pitifully defend an inexcusable vote against his constituents' interests. Since going to Washington, my opponent has been more concerned with keeping his own job than saving and creating jobs in our district. He has had opportunities to vote to help small business owners, to help teachers, to help police officers and firefighters, to help nurses, and to help the unemployed. With each opportunity, he has voted no. Mr. Lance is out of touch with the needs of the people struggling in our communities and come November - with your help - he'll be the one out of a job. I'm looking forward to engaging with the Blue Jersey community throughout the next two months and beyond November 2.
"After you, Alphonse," says Gaston. "No, Gaston, after you," is the reply. And with neither willing to proceed before the other, both are stymied. Nothing gets done.
In February 2009 President Obama and Congress enacted the almost $1 billion American Recovery & Reinvestment Act to stimulate our economy. Governor Corzine and the legislature also enacted stimulus measures, including a package of four bills in December 2008. These were smart measures but insufficient for the Great Recession.
Today we see continuing high unemployment, disastrously low home sales, a declining stock market, and the threat of a double-dip recession. In a speech yesterday Mr. Obama says his economic team will identify additional measures, but his administration is stymied by congress (particularly the Senate) which lacks enthusiasm for further stimulus. Our own legislature passed a homebuyers tax rebate program but was stymied by Governor Christie. Even the Fed is running out of tools to stimulate growth.
Consumers, concerned about their own job and fearing the economy, have increased their savings rate to 6% (it used to be about 0% four years ago) and are not consuming. Businesses, with similar concerns about the economy and with a lack of increased demand from consumers, are not investing or unable to get bank loans. Hence Messieurs Alphonse and Gaston. Both are waiting for an improved economy.
Given the upcoming midterm elections and the Republican mantra of "Just Say No," help from Washington, except for a possible SBA loan program, seems unlikely. Christie displays no interest in growing jobs (he is too busy cutting them) or in stimulating the economy (he is too busy with his narrow focus on the rich.) "Winston Smith" refers to this as "authoritarian kick down and kiss up."
So we are left with our NJ legislators to create solutions. For small businesses that want to grow but can not get bank loans a SBA type program would help. Stimulus targeted toward improving our infrastructure creates jobs more quickly and benefits our future. Expanding funding for job training and education helps employees and businesses and strengthens our competitiveness. Investing in new technology firms has a similar impact. Even offering smart tax exemptions to new businesses can have benefits that exceed their cost.
Either our economy continues indefinitely in the doldrums, or somehow we have to get both Alphonse and Gaston through the door. Central Jersey Assembly Members Linda R. Greenstein (D-Plainsboro) and Wayne P. DeAngelo (D-Hamilton) are about to unveil their seven-bill Business Expansion and Jobs Plan aimed at helping small businesses weather the current economic climate. Lets hope that they and other legislators come up with innovative solutions. We can't count on our self-serving governor to help, but as time goes on maybe even he will realize "It's about the economy, stupid."
