The comparison isn’t precise, so few are, but Chris Christie, in his quest to right New Jersey’s fiscal ship of State, has shown a brass ideological constitution and political savvy to which we aren’t accustomed here in Jersey.
Over the past few weeks, Christie has been engaged in an increasingly bitter fight with the NJEA and its President, Barbara Keshishian, over the Governor’s proposed education spending cuts and, more importantly, over his completely reasonable request that the teachers union agree to a one-year pay increase freeze to stave off the need for the cuts that would directly affect students.
The union has, in response, told New Jersey taxpayers and students to pound sand. Christie, with echoes of Ronald Reagan, isn’t backing down.
New Jersey is facing an absurd $10.7 billion budget deficit for fiscal 2011; the end result of years of unchecked spending and the corresponding, inevitable shrinking tax base. Between 2004 and 2008, New Jersey lost approximately $70 billion in wealth and revenue as our State’s businesses and affluent residents took the fast train out of Dodge to avoid being taxed to death. The exodus was and is the wholly predictable yet avoidable result of liberal tax and spend policy. New Jersey’s chickens, as they say, have come home to roost.
But rather than agreeing to contribute a very small portion of their publicly funded salaries to help bring the State’s finances back into a sustainable equilibrium, what is the NJEA’s solution to the problem? Take it away Barbara:
…[by] reinstating a very modest tax on the very wealthiest New Jersey residents, those making more than $400,000 per year.
A quote by Benjamin Franklin, often incorrectly attributed to Albert Einstein, on the definition of insanity comes immediately to mind.
Just this week Christie has, 1) “offer[ed] more state aid to school districts whose teachers agree to a wage freeze for the 2011 fiscal year” and, 2) agreed to allow teachers who renegotiate their contracts before May 22 (with the one-year pay hike freeze) to forego the new 1.5% contribution toward the cost of their health benefits. The union has thus far refused to support either modest concession. But it’s all about the kids, right?
Chris Christie is writing the playbook on fiscal sanity for the rest of the Country before our very eyes and is taking head-on the NJEA’s greed and selfishness in the process. Christie has made it abundantly clear that teachers themselves are not the issue, however misled by their union so many of them have been for so long.
Ask yourselves the following question: if the NJEA is truly concerned with full funding for New Jersey’s kids, why won’t they agree to a one-year wage freeze in order to ensure that that happens?
The Gipper would be proud of Chris Christie. I know I am.
Moe Lane
PG DeFreese
Victoria Coates
Daniel Horowitz
Dan Spencer
Christie's cool on the idea of joining in HCR fight.
LaborUnionReport (Diary) Thursday, April 1st at 11:05PM EST (link)I saw an article in either the Ledger or Record saying that Christie doesn’t want to join in on the suit against ObamaCare. I only did a quick scan/read, but it appeared that he was against it because he has enough on his platter already.
If I can find the article online, I’ll post it here.
“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine December 23, 1776
In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit.-Ayn Rand
LaborUnionReport.com
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News & Views on Today’s Labor Unions.
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I know
thatsright (Diary) Friday, April 2nd at 9:54AM EST (link)And I wrote this before he opposed offshore drilling as well, which may have tempered my article. Still, with regards to his union-busting, we haven’t seen brass like this in a long time.
Thanks LUR.
Russ Cote
www.thats-right.com/rapid-fire-rightness/
He's also not exactly pro-2nd Amendment...
LaborUnionReport (Diary) Friday, April 2nd at 7:25PM EST (link)From Hannity’s show:
HANNITY: Are there any issues where you are, quote, moderate to left as a Republican?
CHRISTIE: Listen, I favor some of the gun-control measures we have in New Jersey.
HANNITY: Bad idea.
CHRISTIE: Listen, we have a densely-populated state, and there’s a big hand gun problem in New Jersey. Now, I don’t support all the things that the governor supports by a long stretch. But I think on guns — certain gun control issues, looking at it from a law-enforcement perspective, seeing how many police officers were killed, we have an illegal gun problem in New Jersey.
HANNITY: Should every — should every citizen in the state be allowed to get a licensed weapon if they want one?
CHRISTIE: In New Jersey, that’s not going to happen, Sean.
HANNITY: Why?
CHRISTIE: Listen, the Democratic legislature we have, there’s no way those type of things — listen, at the end of the day, what I support are common sense laws that will allow people to protect themselves, but I also am very concerned about the safety of our police officers on the streets, very concerned. And I want to make sure that we don’t have an abundance of guns out there.
But listen, the issues in this race are taxes and jobs and spending.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,569805,00.html
Christie is infinitely better than Corzine who slept with the union boss (literally), but he’s not exactly a conservative…then again, it is New Jersey and he may have fished in the Passaic River as a kid.
“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine December 23, 1776
In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit.-Ayn Rand
LaborUnionReport.com
The Most Comprehensive Source for
News & Views on Today’s Labor Unions.
Follow @laborunionrpt
We are Teachers. Who cares about the youth of our country.
gekster (Diary) Thursday, April 1st at 11:50PM EST (link)It’s all about the money.
We must look at whats more important here.
We realy don’t have to teach them little brats..
All we need to teach them is that the government will tell him what to and when to do what they needs to do when its time to do it.
And conservative government is bad.
.
They say Republicans are for the rich, Democrats are for the poor.
If they need more voters,
then they have to make more of who they are for.
We are there in the various Tea Party groups, leaderless, but not rudderless.
We steer always toward the Constitutional principles this nation was founded upon.
Erick Brockway
Ok folks, 2012 is here. Get involved
Kowalski: Go my man.
gekster (Diary) Thursday, April 1st at 11:56PM EST (link)After NJ, can ya come to The Peoples Rerublic of Michigan any time soon?
Everyone knows we could use some Help!
They say Republicans are for the rich, Democrats are for the poor.
If they need more voters,
then they have to make more of who they are for.
We are there in the various Tea Party groups, leaderless, but not rudderless.
We steer always toward the Constitutional principles this nation was founded upon.
Erick Brockway
Ok folks, 2012 is here. Get involved
She's terrible
thatsright (Diary) Friday, April 2nd at 9:58AM EST (link)Granholm is atrocious. It’s not out of line to call her the worst in the Country. I feel for you.
Thanks again.
Russ Cote
www.thats-right.com/rapid-fire-rightness/
It's hard
thatsright (Diary) Friday, April 2nd at 9:56AM EST (link)My Mom has been a Kindergarten teacher for 40 years. Aside from her stubbornness on this issue, she is a staunch conservative. But even she is beginning to see that the Union operates outside of the teachers wishes, often unilaterally. There are definitely some teachers who themselves are in it for the money and the guarantees, but for the most part I lay the blame squarely on the union’s doorstep. They’ve misled the teachers for so long many of them don’t even understand the basic problems.
Thanks Gek.
Russ Cote
www.thats-right.com/rapid-fire-rightness/
Gov Chris Cristie is a man who LOVES his state more then the unions who....
JadedByPolitics (Diary) Friday, April 2nd at 7:01AM EST (link)would try to STOP HIM! He is exactly what a Reagan Conservative is and that is someone who sees the bad and is determined to make it good beyond the caterwauling of the LEFT!
Unified Patriots – How-To:
Activists Taking Action
Well, if Gov. Christie loves his state that much.......
Kenny Solomon (Diary) Friday, April 2nd at 9:29AM EST (link)…….then I’m hoping he’s aware of what’s going on right there in Trenton.
Y’all better hold on to something…… This isn’t good.
=== === === === ===
Seven year old girl gang-raped at a ‘party’……. Was sold to the ‘party’ by her step-sister.
I’m going to repeat that in a web link to the story just in case you think it’s all a typo.
A seven year old girl was gang-raped at a ‘party’. The little girl was sold to the ‘party’ by her step-sister.
Police say the child’s 15-year-old stepsister sold her to have sex with as many as seven men and boys at a party Sunday in a vacant apartment. The stepsister was arrested and charged with aggravated sexual assault, promoting prostitution and other crimes.
The teen’s name was not released because of her age, but the county prosecutor plans to ask the court to try her as an adult.
Police believe as many as a dozen people were at the party and say everyone in the apartment when the rape occurred could be legally culpable. There were security cameras at the complex and police said they were reviewing all available building surveillance videos.
=== === === === ===
I saw this article last night and I’m not going to say what my first reaction was…… But that’s mild compared to what I’ve been thinking since then.
— — — — —
I help protect kids.
It’s my day job.
I’d do it for free.
When I see something like this ‘news’, I’m glad there’s a
shooting rangestress relief center nearby my home.I saw that
thatsright (Diary) Friday, April 2nd at 9:59AM EST (link)Not sure what Christie could have done in that situation. Not sure what he can do to reverse the decades long decay of the family either. Hopefully what he’s doing to get the fiscal ship back on track will lead to more jobs and more responsibility. But you can hardly blame him for such atrocious behavior.
Russ Cote
www.thats-right.com/rapid-fire-rightness/
Who says I'm blaming him ?.......... nt
Kenny Solomon (Diary) Friday, April 2nd at 10:03AM EST (link)Read you the wrong way. My bad. (nt)
thatsright (Diary) Friday, April 2nd at 10:22AM EST (link)Russ Cote
www.thats-right.com/rapid-fire-rightness/
No worries....... nt
Kenny Solomon (Diary) Friday, April 2nd at 10:42AM EST (link)People keep bouncing in here with diaries about
mbecker908 (Diary) Friday, April 2nd at 8:57AM EST (link)former governors who they want to see on ’12 ballot. None of those could hold a candle to Christie.
I’m not saying Christie should run in ’12 and don’t need to start that conversation now. He’s no Reagan and we should avoid the comparison. There was only one of him, never will there be another. If you want to make a comparison, I would compare Christie (or at least think about it) to the Iron Lady. She privatized a good chunk of Britain.
Fair enough
thatsright (Diary) Friday, April 2nd at 10:01AM EST (link)I was drawing the comparison based on his balls when it comes to the union. I guess I could have been more clear that the comparison certainly wasn’t top to bottom. But I need him here in 2012 so we’re gonna have to find someone else.
Thanks Becker.
Russ Cote
www.thats-right.com/rapid-fire-rightness/
He's only been in office for three months...
LaborUnionReport (Diary) Friday, April 2nd at 7:28PM EST (link)The jury should still be out.
He’s got some cojones, true, but let there be some time before throwing hiom out there for ’12.
“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine December 23, 1776
In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit.-Ayn Rand
LaborUnionReport.com
The Most Comprehensive Source for
News & Views on Today’s Labor Unions.
Follow @laborunionrpt
The jury is absolutely still out.
mbecker908 (Diary) Saturday, April 3rd at 2:43PM EST (link)But I’ve seen more courage from Christie in terms of taking on the political establishment in his very, very blue state than I’ve seen from anybody else anywhere.
Conservatives outside of NJ...
GardenStatePatriot Friday, April 2nd at 6:54PM EST (link)…who keep praising him have absolutely no idea what the heck they are talkiing about. They simply don’t know NJ politics and are not paying attention to Christie’s actions.
He”s surrounded himself with libs in his cabinet from his AG, to his appointments to several health care bureaucracies, to his DEP pick.
His budget contains no real cuts to government but will cause property taxes to skyrocket.
He sided with Lautenberg and Menendez in opposing off-shore drilling.
Christie is all talk. Hopefully, it won’t be long before conservatives elsewhere start to figure it out. I, for one, wish I could take my vote back.
Bret Schundler is a good pick though. nt.
LaborUnionReport (Diary) Friday, April 2nd at 7:30PM EST (link)“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine December 23, 1776
In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit.-Ayn Rand
LaborUnionReport.com
The Most Comprehensive Source for
News & Views on Today’s Labor Unions.
Follow @laborunionrpt
Dude. Lonegan lost the primary.
Moe Lane (Diary) Friday, April 2nd at 8:32PM EST (link)Get over it.
Moe Lane
PS: Lived in NJ from 1978 to 2001. AND I WILL EAT THE SOUL OF ANY REPUBLICAN WHO ATTEMPTS TO RECRUIT CHRIS CHRISTIE FOR NATIONAL OFFICE PRIOR TO HIM SERVING TWO FULL TERMS.
The Kim Kardashian of blogging.
Check out my blog at http://moelane.com/.
http://moelane.com/filthy-lucre-filthy-lucre/
http://twitter.com/moelane
My (combined) wish list.
Yeah I remember hearing Lonegan
Leopard1996 (Diary) Friday, April 2nd at 8:35PM EST (link)I think on Hannity’s show, but I really didn’t follow it because I kinda figured that folks back in NJ would repeat the same mistakes expecting different results. Especially in counties up in North Jersey, I was shocked that Christie won or any GOP person to be honest.
“The accumluated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout, “Save Us!”….and I’ll look down and whisper, “No”…The Watchmen
Kowalski,
Leopard1996 (Diary) Friday, April 2nd at 8:36PM EST (link)My NJ time was from when I was born to 1999, then moved back in 2004, then escaped again in 2007
“The accumluated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout, “Save Us!”….and I’ll look down and whisper, “No”…The Watchmen
So I shouldn't put it my short or long term plans,
Leopard1996 (Diary) Friday, April 2nd at 8:33PM EST (link)to move back to NJ any time soon since it is still an expensive place to live, a budgetary mess, and tax nightmare.
“The accumluated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout, “Save Us!”….and I’ll look down and whisper, “No”…The Watchmen
Did Reagan appoint leftists to his cabinet?
andy_bradshaw Wednesday, April 7th at 12:01PM EST (link)I don’t recall a Marxist Attorney General who made war on Christians and the Second Amendment. That’s what Christie got when he promoted Corzine appointee Paula Dow as AG:
http://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/2010/04/paula_dow.html
http://www.anjrpc.org/
I don’t recall Reagan appointing the executive director of an organization that takes a “passive view of sex between adults and children’:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/03/nj_senate_refuses_to_consider.html
http://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/2010/04/rosenzweigs_got_a_lot_splainin.html
Somehow I don’t think Ronald Reagan would approve of Christie’s choices. Wasn’t it Reagan who said that “personnel is policy”? I don’t think he would be very proud of Christie.