Gov. Chris Christie’s announcement Thursday that he was pulling the plug on a new Hudson River rail tunnel that had been more than a decade in the planning stages was his latest in a line of “my way or the highway” decrees.
It is a pattern that is increasingly jeopardizing New Jersey’s ability to work collaboratively with others — its neighbors, public employee unions and members of the opposite political party — to address the short- and long-term challenges facing the state.
If New Jersey wanted a governor to work collaboratively with our neighbors, public employee unions and Democrats, the crew that got us into the fiscal mess we are in, we would have reelected Jon Corzine. Yes, even our neighbors, Pennsylvania and New York who, until Christie came along, have been fleecing New Jersey with glee.
Had the Nudniks of Neptune bothered to read their own columnist, Bob Ingle, since before former Governor Corzine broke ground on the ARC tunnel they would know that the project is an ill-concieved boondoggle that does not connect to New York’s major transportation hubs and that New Jersey taxpayers are bearing the lions share of the costs, while New York is not contributing a penny.
Christie killed the project because New Jersey taxpayers could be on the hook for between $2 and $6 billion dollars in cost overruns, in addition to the $3 billion, plus our share of the Port Authority’s contribution, that we are already on the hook for. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LeHood appealed to Christie for time to review options to reinstate the project. Christie gave him two weeks. I’m looking forward to the Neptune Nudnik’s editorial after LeHood announces that the feds will cover the cost overruns or that New York is contributing to the project.
If LeHood comes up with an acceptable solution to the financial inequities of the project, Christie should insist upon an evalution of the wisdom of building a tunnel that ends 150 feet below Macy’s, rather than a tunnel that could be built in partnership with Amtrak that would end at Penn/Moynihan Station before he commits billions of New Jersey’s dollars to the project.
If the Neptune Nudniks don’t want to be informed by one of their own, maybe they will learn from the Star Ledger which has an excellent article on the controversy.
Bret Schundler testified before the Senate Legislative Oversight Committee yesterday and joined Senate Democrats in shifting the blame for the failed “Race To The Top” application for $400 million in federal education pork to Governor Christie’s insistence that the Education Department not cave to the NJEA’s opposition to merit pay for teachers and accountability standards, rather than accept responsibility for his own clerical error that was the cause of the failure.
It is sad to witness Schundler’s personal race to the bottom. It wouldn’t surprise me if Schundler switches parties again and runs against Christie in 2013. I would enjoy that race.
Governor Chris Christie terminated the “Access to the Regions Core” tunnel construction under the Hudson River yesterday after a month long review of the projects finances. The review revealed that New Jersey taxpayers would have been on the hook for $2.3-$5.3 billion in projected cost overruns in excess of the originally approved $8.7 billion budget.
The project would have provided rail service from the ill fated Xanadu monstrosity in the Meadowlands to a new station 150 feet below Macy’s basement. Critics of ARC, which was approved by Governor Corzine, say the rails would better serve the region if the New York side of the rails connected with Penn Station and Grand Central station in New York.
Christie said the decision to terminate the project was based on finances and not the location of the New York terminal.
The project as originally approved was to be finances by New Jersey, the Port Authority of NY/NJ and the federal government. New York was not contributing to the cost of the project.
On the left, the State Democratic Party released a video trying to knock the Governor’s rising approval ratings down a peg or two. It’s not working.
On the self-proclaimed right, Paul Mulshine and Steve Lonegan knock Christie, and the national conservatives who have embraced the Governor, every chance they make. That’s not working either.
Detractors of Christie’s policies, on both the left and the right, would have much more success if they argued their issues on the merits, rather than personally attacking. If their issues, and not their political agendas were what they really cared about.
Like so many in the media elite, Stile doesn’t understand the Tea Party. We’ll find out on November 2 if they are the “Fringe” party. I don’t think we are. As the Republican Party establishment has been shocked by the wave that the real mainstream, as represented by the Tea Party, has made throughout the primary season, I think Stile and the rest of the media elite are going to be shocked on November 2. They will find that it is they that are on the fringe and have been for quite sometime.
There’s a better chance of seeing Governor Christie mingling with President Obama at the private dinner reception in Cresskill on Wednesday than finding him on stage with Sarah Palin or any other Tea Party gathering, for that matter.
The pugnacious, rant-and-ramble governor may sound like a Tea Party activist from time to time, and Glen Beck may be smitten with a severe case of political man-love, but in reality Christie wants as little to do with them as possible. He prefers the high ground of the GOP establishment, perched at a safe distance from the roiling Tea Party tide.
I didn’t know that the President was dining in Creskill tomorrow night. Attention Bergen County readers: avoid Knickerbocker Rd.
Christie may not be a Tea Party celebrity like Sarah Palin or Glen Beck. But he gets it. His “Put Up or Shut Up” message to the GOP establishment is what will bring the GOP and the Tea Party together. Palin and Beck may be the instigators on the fringe. Christie is the bridge.
Stile doesn’t get Christie anymore than he gets the Tea Party. “Put up or shut up” are not the words of someone who “prefers the high ground of the GOP establishment, perched at a safe distance from the roiling Tea Party tide.”
Pundits of every persuasion are trying to put Chrisite in a box. He’s not conservative enough for Mulshine or Lonegan, so he must be a RINO. He’s not as strident in his language as Palin or Beck so he must be establishment, a Whitman Republican.
Christie can’t be put into a box because he is not an ideologue. He doesn’t just think outside the box. As we have seen with his Education Reform Agenda, he breaks the box.
When Christie was seeking the GOP gubernatorial nomination last year he said that while he is his own man, two of his heroes or role models were Ronald Reagan and Tom Kean, Sr. When we discussed that in April of 09, I admit that I was skeptical. Having watch him govern for 9 months, his description of how he would govern makes a lot more sense to me than it did at the time.
If this very funny video, courtesy of NJ.com , Christie describes how it is that he managed to balance the budget with a 9% spending decrease and no new taxes.
Did Ronald Reagan want to be president more than anything else in the world? Did Eisenhower or Truman? Did Lincoln want it more than anything?
Clinton did. Nixon did. The Roosevelts sure seemed to want it badly.
Did George W. Bush want it more than Al Gore did?
Is burning ambition the determining factor of who becomes president? In good times it probably is. In times of crisis, the presidency is not an ambition. It becomes a duty. A sacrifice for a transformative leader.
I believe Governor Christie when he says he will not be a candidate for president in 2012. I don’t think he would leave his work in New Jersey half done. I think he really believes in the work that he his doing now, especially in regard to education, is a higher calling. By transforming state government and education, and setting an example for other states to follow, he can make a more powerful impact on the quality life in our nation than many presidents have.
Chris Christie could probably win the 2012 Republican nomination for president. He could probably win the office. If his ambitions were personal, he would probably do it.
Governor Chris Christie was joined by Geoffrey Canada, President of the Harlem Chrildren’s Zone during an Education Town Hall meeting yesterday afternoon at the Elysian Charter Schoolin Hoboken as Christie continued to introduce his Education Reform Agenda to the public.
Christie’s message: Education is the civil rights issue of today. Failure is no longer an option in New Jersey’s school’s—any of them.
Canada’s message: Educational excellence is possible through accountability, innovation and empowering good teachers. He’s doing it and has been for decades. Canada and his schools are the inspiration for the movie Waiting for “Superman” which opens today at these theaters throughout the country.
Video of Christie’s and Canada’s presentation can be viewed in four segments here.
The following two videos are clips of each gentleman’s remarks:
Canada Preview:
Christie preview:
After the town hall meeting I ran into Hoboken School Board member Maureen Sullivan who introduced me to her daughter Julia, a parochial school student who attended the town hall. Julia said about Christie, “He talks gooood, real good.”
The Christie Reform Agenda: Putting New Jersey’s Children First By Challenging the System
Governor’s education reforms challenge the status quo by putting student achievement first, empowering parents and rewarding teachers
Trenton, NJ – Only days after joining Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to announce a bipartisan education reform plan for Newark schools, Governor Chris Christie continued to provide the strong leadership needed to advance a reform agenda for public education throughout the State of New Jersey. Speaking with families and community leaders at a town hall in Old Bridge, Governor Chris Christie unveiled the first pieces of a far-reaching reform agenda to improve New Jersey public schools by challenging the status quo and transforming a system that has fallen short of the needs of parents and children.
Despite some of the highest levels of education spending in the entire nation, New Jersey’s public schools continue to confront a critical achievement gap that shortchanges our children. For example, the achievement gap between wealthy and low-income 8th graders in math is nearly the same as it was 19 years ago; the gap between at–risk 4th graders and those not at–risk has remained nearly unchanged over the past 13 years. Likewise, New Jersey’s education system has failed to prepare vast numbers of students with the critical skills required to be competitive in college or the workforce. In 2009, nearly 30 percent of all 8th graders statewide lacked basic math skills.
Governor Christie’s Reform Agenda willbring necessary and long overdue reform to the public education system by making teacher effectiveness and student achievement the driving forces behind public policies and practices. The first step toward innovation in the public school system means focusing on accountability.
“As a proud product of New Jersey’s public schools, I want nothing more than to see our public education system give our children the quality education they deserve,” said Governor Christie. “Yet, if we are to be successful in our reform efforts, we must be honest about our shortcomings, candid about our failures, and open to the necessary reforms that are crucial to bringing positive change and innovation to our classrooms, no matter their zip code.
“For too long we have accepted low expectations and failure – particularly in our urban school districts – which has stolen hope from generations of New Jersey families. Today, we begin to put an end to the cycle of inaction by challenging the status quo, demanding more for our children and restoring the promise of a brighter future for every one of our communities,” Governor Christie concluded.
Governor Christie is proposing reforms to reward innovative and effective teaching, expand opportunities for New Jersey’s best teachers, and put student achievement at the center of educator evaluations. Governor Christie is challenging the education establishment with reforms to:
·Promote Innovative and Effective Teaching by Valuing Student Achievement Over Seniority.
·Demand Accountability and Results for New Jersey’s Children with Data-Supported Evaluations.
·Expand Opportunities for Great Teachers to Succeed.
·Ensure Our ChildrenHave Well-Prepared Teachers.
Governor Christie also recognizes that through empowerment, parents can becomes better advocates for quality education for their children and increase accountability in our schools. The Governor’s reforms will work to:
·Engage Families in Their Children’s Education with Improved Access to Information.
·Improve Outreach and Communications Efforts to Parents and Families.
Governor Christie’s Education Reform Plan can be found here .
Governor Chris Christie will hold a town hall meeting in Old Bridge today, 3PM at the Richard Allen Cooper Civic Center, 1 Old Bridge Plaza. Doors will open at 2:30.
The Governor is expected to announce a series of education reforms including pay and tenue for teachers and school vouchers.
During a conference call with the media after taping the Oprah show on Friday Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Governor Chris Christie and facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg each committed themselves to transforming Newark’s school system into and symblol of educational excellence that will become an example for the rest of the country.
Booker declared, “Failure is no longer an option,” for Newark’s school children. He pledged that he was putting everything on the line, including his career, to create a school system based on accountability and results that will give Newark’s children a educational foundation for success.
Christie said that he was committed to each child in Newark receiving a world class education and that the current results of the Newark school system are unacceptable. He said the three men came together,” because of our belief that education is a civil right and our absolute commitment to each other that we are going overcome whatever obstacles get put in our path to be able to provide a better and brighter day for the children for the City of Newark and hopefully by example, for children who are being failed by their school systems across America.”
Zuckerberg said he was interested in shining “a really bright spotlight on Newark, to make it an educational hotspot for education across the nation that people can look to see what is possilble.”
The initial response from New Jersey’s political and educational establishments has been petty and cynical. From Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver to Education Law Center’s David Sciarra to Newark Teachers Union President Joseph Del Grasso to Senator Richard Codey, the defenders of the status quo reveal their self interest and that of their constituencies to continue to profit from a failed system that costs New Jersey residents obscene amounts of money and costs Newark’s children their future.
The Republican establishment is complicit with the defenders of the status quo by their silence. Since Christie’s inauguration in January my inbox has been filled with press releases from Republican leaders voicing their support of each of the Governor’s bold initiatives. Since word of this initiative leaked out last week….nothing.
The biggest obstacle that Booker and Christie will face in transforming Newark’s school system is cynical resignation. Things in Newark have been so bad for so long that we really believe nothing will make a difference. That is why nothing does.
If you live in New Jersey the condidtion of Newark and its school system impacts your life, past, present and future. Suburan bliss may numb the pain, except on the days your property taxes are due.
If Booker, Christie and Zuckerberg fail in their project to transform Newark’s schools, we all fail.
