Some in the GOP are heavily engaged right now in deflecting, diverting, and dismissing. It's "D" week, here in New Jersey! To get you to look OVER HERE at some SHINY OBJECT so you won't think about the loss of nearly half a billion smackeroos to our schools. Or why the Governor's dillydallying on applying for $268 million federal dollars to hire back some of our teachers so class size is more manageable, for those same schools. Or whether all this may represent a fundamental lack of support for public education, and a defunding of same. And while, yes, the government still has to go on whilst an investigation of the events leading up to the Race to the Top "mistakes," it's funny how some people didn't get the memo that New Jersey politicians look ridiculous right now trying to blame the feds for a Jersey bout of incompetence, and how others continue tough-talking, using terms like "reform" with no apparent sense of irony for what and who they're willing to sacrifice for their own "reform". Cases in point:
Even if the administration did everything right, the Obama administration was never going to give the governor a nickel," DeCroce said. "There was no chance he was going to get that money from D.C.
Hearings: They're coming. And they'd better be well-run, with tough questions asked. That's the direction I'm looking in. Screw the shiny objects. Keep your eye on the ball, NJ Legislature.
Chris Christie won the Governor election with less than 50% of the vote. That means more than half of the voters wanted someone other than him to govern.
He has consistently abused his power. He pulled rank as a US Attorney to get out of a ticket when he went the wrong way down a one way street, and also pulled rank when he got a speeding ticket in an unregistered car to avoid being towed. He failed to disclose his close financial relationship with top assistant Michele Brown, a conflict of interest. He gave huge no bid contracts to his boss (John Ashcroft) and the man who didn't prosecute his brother for securities fraud, while 19 others were prosecuted. He governs with a personal vendetta to the detriment of New Jerseyans.
Those are just off the top of my head. And they aren't "partisan policy disagreements". They are basic character traits of a man with a short temper who is set in his ways, come hell or high water. We already had a nightmare of a similar "leader" that just left the White House. And Christie is a disciple of that regime.
And this current situation with the $400 million in education funding that NJ students now lose out on after he took over the application process - accusations and documented support from Bret Schundler that Christie again is playing fast and loose with the facts all while lashing out at anyone who dares to point out the truth.
Understanding that many in the corporate media are overwhelmed and overworked, it would be nice to see some more reporting on this very disturbing pattern of reckless behavior and how these ethical issues on Christie's part are a danger to the state and its future. Christie has shown that he does not negotiate in good faith - if he even negotiates at all. He is not one to be trusted, and his word has been proven over and over to conflict with his actions and reality.
I have thought about the possibility that beyond my being a scapegoat for his misstatement, the Governor might be angry at me for not telling him the interview was videotaped. In my defense, I never believed I needed to say, 'Governor, stick to the truth, there's a videotape.' Perhaps I should have.
A few minutes ago, former NJ Education Commissioner Bret Schundler, fired a few days ago for "lying" to Governor Christie about events connected to the state's bungled Race to the Top funding for NJ schools, released documents he believes will set the record straight that he is telling the truth, and it is the governor who is not being truthful. From the chronology, comes this extraordinary quote. Schundler:
I have thought about the possibility that beyond my being a scapegoat for his misstatement, the Governor might be angry at me for not telling him the interview was videotaped. In my defense, I never believed I needed to say, 'Governor, stick to the truth, there's a videotape.' Perhaps I should have.
First is a 7-page written chronology which begins with the dizzying events of the last few days, including a press conference called to blame the Obama administration for the funding loss, in which the governor said something Schundler says the governor knew was not true. Next come emails between Schundler and Maria Comella, a spokewoman and top staffer to Christie. Next is a draft of a letter to US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, submitted to Christie Chief of Staff Richard Bagger. It makes, as he says, points he knew the Governor's office wanted, but does not include a claim that Schundler's team provided the federal interviewers with the data NJ's application was missing. Finally come two rewrites Bagger did of Schundler's Duncan letter. In the first, you will see that an assertion has been added - apparently untrue - that Schundler provided those missing figures to the federal interviewers. In the second, Bagger has removed the false claim that Schundler provided those missing numbers to the interviewers, because Schundler had insisted that was not true. Schundler says he transferred Bagger's second rewrite to his letterhead, signed and emailed it to Washington, following up with a pdf of that letter.
This is all breaking now. We haven't had much time to sift through it, but I wanted to get it all up now to you raw, so you could begin to read it for yourself. Schundler provided all these documents, and we uploaded them from the first place we saw them, Asbury Park Press:
There's been a lot of talk about lies, who said what when, getting to the bottom of things, changing stories, etc. All of this can get confusing and obscure the basic facts of the Christie-Shundler blunder.
The Christie Administration's incompetence cost New Jersey's schools almost half a billion dollars.
Really, do we need to focus much on anything else?
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?
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.
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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.
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.
I was responsible," he said in an interview today with The Star-Ledger. "What can I say? I don't think they're making it up.
- Bret Schundler to Star-Ledger
Actually, "making it up" would occur to me, yes. And I think I could make an even stronger case for "making it all up as they go along."
Christie administration sources - here I will include former Education Commissioner Schundler - have changed their story several times, and now are trying to settle fault on Schundler. In a dizzying few days, they've shifted blame from the governor himself owning up (for about 4 minutes) to...everyone. "Mid-level" employee. Federal bureaucrats. NJ teachers. President Obama. Rahm Emanuel... Schundler.
This story is not stable. And that means Christie's Dept. of Education - and how it makes decisions - is not stable, or may not be.
The governor himself has been caught with video proof that something he loudly claimed was in fact not true. And given he's the guy at the top, that also creates instability.
Schundler's account is particularly vexing, that he should accept that culpability now. The governor says Schundler "mislead" (read: lied) to him and everyone else about what happened. But there's considerable evidence that suggests another scenario entirely. Those wrong numbers were swapped in by the administration during a hasty Memorial Day weekend revision. Email records from last week appear to show Schundler did notify Christie's top staff that there was an error they didn't try to clarify it in D.C., and further suggest (as this video seems to support) that it may have been because Schundler's team didn't know the mistake was in there when they presented NJ's application in D.C.. (In the video, watch those heads snap around, like wha?). Christie's claim (during his 'blame the feds' phase) was that Schundler had tried to tell the funding reviewers the correct info. Schundler, who is every bit as credible here as Christie is, disputes that. We should only believe Christie's account? And why would Schundler now change direction from 2 days ago saying with some defiance he's been straight with the Governor all along ... to meekly repenting in sackcloth and ashes? Why? And why now?
New Jerseyans should take into account Schundler's own very precarious personal situation, and ask themselves if that made him more vulnerable to the requirement of powerful GOP leaders that he fall on his Christie's sword. Schundler has financial problems, and reports say he asked to be fired instead of resign, so he could collect unemployment. (Irony of ironies, government reform may make Schundler ineligibleto collect).
If Schundler's financial situation is unstable, and at the same time, Christie's plan to offload his own responsibility on the federal government (no longer credible due to that video) backfires, and his own failures are starting to be called out, was Schundler vulnerable to promises by powerful Republicans that his financial woes would evaporate if he took one for the Gipper?
Rachel Maddow has a good timeline of all this, if you're playing catch-up on this story.
The further misadventures of Gov. Christie, the screwup, the $400 million dollars we won't get, and the chain of Christie excuses, the timeline that doesn't quite add up, and some stupid stuff said about Barack Obama that backfires big. Rachel Maddow hit this tonight:
Chris Christie gets buried even deeper in his own mismanagement and possible deception:
In today's Star Ledger, Schundler says:
"I was responsible... what can I say?... It's amazing to me that I screwed up in this regard, and that others - that we screwed up as a team."
But hasn't Chris Christie blamed the error on a "mid-level" state employee? What's going on here? As the days pass, our governor's account of the debacle becomes more and more questionable.
The Christie Administration has cast a wide net, blaming everyone from mindless drones in Washington to Rahm Emanuel and the Obama Administration itself. The facts are clear, that the mistake in New Jersey's Race to the Top application originated in the Governor's office and the blame game should begin and end there.
The Governor was already prepared to scapegoat President Obama before that kind of blew up in his face, instead of taking the blame himself as he should have. Even before this mess started with former Education Commissioner Bret Schundler, the Christie administration was already planing on what they're response was going to be to be, simply to blame the federal government.
Never mind that the federal government and the Obama administration are the reason we even have a Race to the Top program and funds we could apply for that can help this state. The Christie administration is still going to try and scapegoat them. Gov. Christie is contributing to the shrill nature of politics in this state and in this nation yet again with this scorched earth policy.
The governor needs to apologize to the Obama administration and to the President directly, take responsibility, and stop trying to push it away from his desk.
The failure of NJ to receive a Race to the Top (RTTT) award after two attempts further lays bare the rift between NJEA and Governor Christie - a rift that also existed with prior administrations but grew more bitter during the current year. Tenure reform, merit pay, teacher evaluation, layoffs, and student performance data are some of the divisive issues. The governor's antagonistic attitude and frequent frontal attacks against teachers exacerbate the problem. For NJ to maintain excellence in education both groups need to work together for solutions.
The infamous failure during Christie's re-write to answer properly a simple question regarding 2008-09 education funding resulted in the deduction of 4.8 points. The panel reviewer score sheet indicates that as the total number of points possible was 500, and NJ received a score of 437.8, reviewers deducted 62.2 points throughout the proposal. A look at the technical review form indicates the categories in which the reviewers deducted points and suggests areas that must be addressed in discussions between the governor and NJEA.
Securing local education associations (LEA) commitment and translating its participation into state-wide impact - 14 points deducted. Reviewers in the first round noted that only 387 out of 656 districts agreed to participate and only four district presidents provided a signature, and they felt that "this lack of greater involvement will challenge NJ's efforts to meet its goals." In the second round they said that "while the lack of union support may create some problems, it now seems that implementation can proceed with existing LEA support."
Using broad stakeholder support - 4 points deducted. Reviewers: "The lack of support from 269 districts and the NJEA leaders supports a low rating."
Fully implementing a state-wide data system - 10 points deducted. Reviewers: "NJ has implemented only 7 of the 12 elements of a state-wide system"
Using data to improve instruction - 5 points deducted. Reviewers: "NJ does not provide a researcher's perspective on what studies the data will be used for."
Using evaluation to inform key decisions - 3 points deducted. Reviewers: Participating local districts understand that they must use evaluation data to inform professional development, compensation, and tenure. With over 40% of LEA's not participating, the potential for state-wide impact may be limited.
In conclusion the reviewers say overall our plan "is generally strong and well-designed and meets the absolute priority as a comprehensive approach to education reform." However, the reviewers add, "The biggest question for this proposal is whether the reforms will truly make a statewide impact in light of the non-support of local and state NEA affiliates."
Certainly in NJ we have the foundation for continued excellence and even stronger results. To move forward the governor must end his vitriol and return to negotiations, and NJEA must lower its resistance to some of the reforms and recommit itself to seeking solutions. The NJEA and Schundler moved closer toward healing the rift until the governor intervened and tore up their agreement. This rift hurts students, teachers and all New Jerseyans.
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Legislative investigations should be complete, and as far-reaching as evidence demands - promoted by Rosi
A simple and crucial takeaway from this week's Race To The Top shenanigans.
Star Ledger, 8/28:
"The governor claimed that Schundler gave reviewers the needed budget information, and was turned away. According to Schundler, he told the governor that was not true during a meeting immediately before the press conference when the governor was rehearsing his main points.
"I said, 'Stop. Where you say I gave them numbers, that's not accurate," Schundler says.
But Maria Comella, the governor's communications chief, who was at the meeting, says that's simply not true. Schundler never said that.
It boils down to each man calling the other a liar. Which is it? Both?
At the risk of looking like a doofus for asking you to determine which of two public officials is being dishonest, I suggest Occam's razor; the simplest explanation is usually correct. So on one hand, we have Bret Schundler, a conservative and enemy to public education, but not really known for lies and coverups.
There's a difference between a "lesson learned" and a "lesson noted." When you observe a mistake and understand its root cause, that's a "lesson noted". When you take corrective action to ensure that the root cause is eliminated so that the mistake does not recur, that's a "lesson learned." The debacle over the Christie Administration's mishandling of the Race to the Top application for federal education funds has an important lesson noted.
Initially, Governor Christie, whose team's last minute changes to the application introduced errors that resulted in the state being disqualified, blamed the Obama administration and a state mid-level official who introduced the error during a last-minute frenzy to undo the agreement between the Commissioner of Education and the teacher's union. When the Obama administration insisted on playing by the rules, Christie asked the Feds to apologize for not ignoring the errors in the proposal.
Subsequently, videotapes of the oral presentation of the New Jersey team showed that this was more than a clerical error, and the team was unprepared to support the requirements of the proposal. Christie, looking for a scapegoat, fired Commissioner of Education Bret Schundler. As far as I know, the governor has yet to apologize to the Obama administration for the false blame.
Now, imagine what would have happened if the federal Department of Education had not videotaped or not released these proceedings. Bret Schundler would still be Commissioner of Education, and the governor's false statements would be unrepudiated, treated as truth by the mainstream media. The public's right to know the truth about how how their officials are performing and how their tax dollars of being spent would have been compromised. Clearly, we need more transparency in similar types of government evaluation and decision-making.
Chris Christie ran for governor on a platform of transparency, and the Shundlergate affair shows that this is one of many campaign promises that the governor is ignoring.
Transparency is important, especially when the use of our tax dollars is at stake. Lesson noted. Now, we must transform this to a "lesson learned" by implementing full transparency at all levels of government. Taxpayers deserve nothing less.
Gov. Chris Christie called a brief press conference today to explain why he agreed to fire Education Secretary Bret Schundler, thus allowing him to collect an unemployment check which, as all Republicans know, is totally socialist.
We spent a long time analyzing Chris Christie here on Blue Jersey back when he was just a twinkle in the Governor's Race's eye. We started off giving him some credit, but over time we came to the conclusion that he was an arrogant, incompetent glory-hound who never saw a camera he didn't like or an opponent he wouldn't berate and belittle.
And after the election "huntsu" decided to take a break, because we really couldn't warn folks anymore. Christie's behavior as Governor would be there for all to see, and we'd be proven right or wrong over time.
Today with the firing of Bret Shundler, we can safely say, "We told you so." In fact, we can say it while sticking out our tongues, waggling our fingers in our ears and dropping trou.
This was a perfect example of Christie's arrogance, dishonesty and inability to admit wrong.
First he screws up by scrapping a deal his own Commissioner of Education negotiated in good faith with the teachers' union, and has the whole thing re-written.
When it comes out that the new version had basic comprehension errors, he blamed "one clerk" and the culture in Washington for not telling Christie about the error.
Then video comes out that demonstrates the folks down in DC did tell the NJ folks about the error, and Christie is proven a liar. (He was previously convicted for the same offense, as well).
So after being proven an incompetent and a liar, Christie fires Bret Shundler who had negotiated an application that would have won the $400 million for NJ students
Blue Jersey was just about the only outlet that had this guy pegged while others were writing hagiography and comparing him to Spider Man. Occasionally there was a blip of criticism, but not very often.
Maybe now the media can wake up and tell the truth about the lying, incompetent Chris Christie.
