Jersey Jazzman notes that Governor Chris Christie is back with his favorite lines, ridiculing teachers for being overpaid and underworked.
That means, of course, that he is running for re-election and who better to kick around that the state’s teachers?
Here is Christie:
“[NJ Governor Chris] Christie said parents must stand up to organizations who he said care more about pensions, wage increases, generous benefits packages and summers off than about extending quality education to all students.”
And more: “The governor told a friendly Bergenfield crowd Tuesday that Garden State students are in need of more hours in the classroom and longer school years in order to stay competitive. Christie blamed special interests with blocking those changes for purely their own personal interests.
“They don’t want a longer school year, they like having the summer off,” said Christie, referring to the adults – not the students – who he accuses of blocking the reforms.
Christie argued longer school days and years are needed to ensure students are educated.”
JJ points out that “Of course, teachers do not get “summers off”: summer is an unpaid, mandatory furlough for teachers, who only get ten-month contracts. Teachers either have to save their money throughout the year to make it through July and August, or they have to get seasonal work, which often pays considerably less than their regular salaries.
Jersey Jazzman is waiting patiently for some industrious reporter to ask the Governor whether he has funding to pay for longer school days and longer school years. Where is the research that shows the benefits of a longer school year? Why does Governor Christie send his own children that has a shorter school year?
Is he serious or does he just want to play the old, stale teacher-as-punching-bag game?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’m betting on the teacher-as-punching-bag… that seems to work well… after all his belittling-of-the-school-teacher-video went viral on You Tube…
And if teachers are “overpaid and underworked” it stands to reason that they don’t need more money for longer days or longer years… C’mon JJ and Diane, get with the program!
Here we go again.
Christie is still banking on the hope he can ride the coat-tails of the hurricane relief effort, but coming out of the campaign gate with guns a-blazin’ at teachers is definitely taking the low road. He knows he hasn’t been endorsed by the NJEA–not sure if the AFT in NJ has announced its endorsement yet. This man seems to have a problem with his mouth, in that, he opens it and the attacks just come rushing out almost akin to a bully starting a fight in a bar because someone bumped into him.
I went to a wake just over a week ago, and a relative of the deceased who I have not seen in quite some time was reintroduced to me. He is a full-time fisherman in Ocean County, a notoriously Rebublican, Christie-loving shore region. He said, “Oh, yeah. You’re a teacher. You know what they say about the NJEA, right?” I didn’t even want to engage him further. I replied, “Thank you very much. I’m not sure what you’ve heard, but but I’m not interested in this conversation.” He smiled at me and then changed the subject. Christie has had a strong-hold in the southern and shore counties. Ironically, the hurricane is the best thing to have happened to him.
This is going to be a fight.
LG: IMHO, your posting provides an excellent teachable moment. A number of people posting on this blog objected to the term “badass” in the title of the new online advocacy group called the Badass Teachers Association. I do not fault them for their hesitations or rejection of the name of the new group. But please consider…
If you go to the BTA website, this is their current subtitle: “This is for every teacher who refuses to be blamed for the failure of our society to erase poverty and inequality, and refuses to accept assessments, tests and evaluations imposed by those who have contempt for real teaching and learning.”
When you go to a wake [!] and what is apparently uppermost in someone’s mind is trying to provoke some sort of confrontation by expressing openly dismissive contempt for teachers—
Then your last sentence is an understated description of the current situation: “This is going to be a fight.”
And one you and millions of teachers and other school staff didn’t pick.
Remember that the next time someone sneeringly orders you to be a doormat.
Don’t agonize, organize.
Thank you for your posting.
🙂
Don’t worry–I have learned that it is a) next to impossible to convince people like this man (who listens to Christie’s heinous rhetoric) that teachers aren’t the villains and b) my mental and emotional health is more important than trying to convince the above of the same.
CHRUSTIE is a giant sized bully, who needs to go get another job. Let him go and harrass people on a much smaller scale. Let him go volunteer in his kid’s private schools.
He did NOT do anything special with Hurricane Sandy. Any person in office would have done the exact same thing.
CHRUSTIE HAS DONE NOTHING EXTRAORDINARY folks!
Sadly, it is difficult to even talk to colleagues about his politics. The excuse over and over is, “I’m not comfortable with politics. I just want to do my job.” We, as a collective, are our own worst enemies. I am growing very tired of the apathy regarding action from within our own ranks. My county has 15,000 NJEA members, all with a network of family and friends. Our cost-of-living does not always reflect our salaries. Imagine the impact we can make in this county alone. Yet, many of our members are married to Wall St. They have to convince their spouses, the ones whose salaries keep them very happy, that the very man who supports them is bad for New Jersey. These same members are always complaining to our association on the local level, yet they refuse to connect the dots about the political mandates that created these situations. They refuse to see how politics can destroy, and in most places already is destroying, public education. They refuse to acknowledge that they have any power in their voices. They’d rather just ignore the election so they can “just do their jobs.”
I’m tired of them sinking what I am desperately trying to save. Yet, I refuse to jump ship, even though the apathy is most likely going to affect my family’s future. Some days I feel like I should be looking for another job.
Yeah, it’s about the election, but it’s not about getting votes. It’s about getting campaign money and hired political muscle from profiteers and hedge-funders.
Let them bring it on. Christie hasn’t been paying attention to how that’s been working out in real elections, now that the public sees through their false narrative about business entrepreneurs saving public schools from teachers.
Everybody by now has seen the new Pew Poll results, showing how a huge majority of the public values teachers (second only to the military) for our contribution. Instead of a link celebrating that finding, though, I’d like to offer one from an aggrieved business perspective. The public, it turns out, isn’t impressed, and only 28% rate their contribution as positive. Now, why is that?
http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/washingtonbureau/2013/07/12/only-lawyers-valued-less-than-business.html
Christie is the sweatheart of the press corp. He throws them some raw meat and they then don’t have to do much to hit their deadlines.
It is time for a full scale assault on the Christies, Cuomos, Corbetts . The CCC,Crass Controlling, Cornerstones of teacher haters of America. They do this for their own political gains not for children. For if they truly cared about children, they would increase funding for pre K, increase funding for social services, increase funding for poverty fighting issues, increase funding teacher ed programs in state colleges, increase funding for schools.
The CCC —Christie, Cuomo, Corbett
You hit on a bigger problem – the press. Reporters are now owned by the corporations that will soon own all of us. It seems that civil disobedience is the only nonviolent path that will be left, as debate and common sense will not work. They can hear only one note: Profit.
I don’t think you can refere to the summer as an unpaid furlough. When an employee is fouloughed, they end up with less income then they agreed to work for. The 10 month salary is what was agreed to. Would it be better to split the same amount of money over more pay periods?
I agree with you it isn’t an unpaid furlough. It is a 10 month contract. Some districts are large enough that they offer to split the money over more pay periods. My school district offered to deduct a certain amount of money from each paycheck and deposit it in a summer pay savings account at my bank. I always took advantage of that option. The thing that upsets most teachers, myself included, is that many people think time off is paid vacation. It is not. In my case, I was paid for 190 days, which means with the exception of five or so paid holidays, my time off was unpaid, including winter and spring breaks. In every profession, there are some who are, because of circumstances or poor management,not able to make the kind of financial choices I was able to make.. These are the people who need supplemental work to make ends meet. Mr. Christie needs to realize that if he asks for more time in the contract, he needs to come up with more pay. That’s the way it works.
Sorry, it’s unpaid, FORCED unemployment. It is the nature of the job, and it is accepted. If it were not, why don’t teachers have the option of getting paid for working during summers or during unpaid holiday breaks? I cannot tell you how many times I wanted to be able to go to my desk just before or just after a national holiday during one of our longer breaks just to catch up on paperwork and planning. Instead, I either stay at my desk way past the end of the contracted day or take a bag of work home with me. (The custodians always give me the speech about when the building will be closing just before a break because they know I’m staying to do work.) I’m not paid for all the extra time I need to get my work done. I have holiday plans, too, but I simply have far too much to do to just leave. And this is not an “efficiency of work issue.” Music teachers are “on stage” 24/7 when students are in their charge. There is virtually no time when students are working independently and the teacher can stop and breathe or do any kind of paperwork or even check email. One daily prep is hardly enough. Like the majority of teachers, we work with students every second they are present–no down time. So we work even when we aren’t on the district’s clock. That’s a salaried position.
How many times has a 10-month education professional tried to take a trip somewhere during the forced holiday breaks only to find travel expenses through the roof? I’d love to just run off to someplace when airfare is low, but I do not have the luxury. Why can’t I get paid to work on December 27-29 and swap out a few days in January so I can fly to Florida to visit family when it’s more affordable to travel? It’s the nature of the job–we work when students are in school.
Also, the general public never said a word when the hurricane forced many NJ education staff members all out of work (no disrespect is meant to those whose homes and schools were damaged and faced incredible hardship) and extended an already ungodly long school year. When others had MLK Jr.’s Birthday and President’s Day off, nobody was feeling sorry for us schlubs who had to work…and no, we didn’t complain that we were forced to NOT work (and in effect not be paid to work) during that 2-week period after the hurricane where chaos ensued all around the state. Nobody said, “Here, you can still be paid for those days off.” No, we made them up despite many of us having summer employment. Many teachers lost money from losing those summer employment days, myself included. I could have started working four days earlier if it were not for having to make up days that we could not make up during the school year. This is part of the job. We accept our situation–why can’t the public accept it, too?
It is unpaid because that is what you agreed to do, so I don’t see how you can call it forced.
Generally speaking professionals are not paid by the hour, so teachers are certainly not alone in working long hours beyond the number of contact hours. In any case, how would you differentiate between work and leisure? If you go to a concert to hear a piece that you have never heard before, are you working?
Some of my wife’s friends think that she’s lying, or more accurate that I’m lying, about the hours I work. They are incapable of conceiving of the possibility of such a thing.
It is not FORCED unemployment.Traditional school teachers know that they are salaried 10 month employees.
“It is not FORCED unemployment.Traditional school teachers know that they are salaried 10 month employees.”
Pardon me…it isn’t forced–all the public school teachers choose this unemployment instead of the 12-month employment with paid vacations contracts that they are offered. Oh wait…they AREN’T offered those at all.
Would it be better to spread the salary over twelve months and refer to the summer as a paid vacation? That would take care of several of your objections.
Well, if it was considered a paid vacation, then why can’t I choose the vacation days?
Like most jobs, the needs of the employer generally limit the days of vacation. Ask an accountant how often they can take vacation before tax filings are due.
But would it make you feel better if you were paid the same salary over 12 months?
On, one question. Do you lose your health insurance in the summer and have to go on COBRA? I know I don’t, but I do teach post secondary education.
TE: My district REQUIRES us to have a 12 month salary for 10 months of work. Therefore, I’m still being paid for the work I did LAST YEAR. It’s a form of deferred compensation, and the district gets to use my money has a low-interest loan.
Interesting. You are upset that you are paid over 12 months, LG is upset to be paid over 9 months. What would make you both happy?
“LG is upset to be paid over 9 months. ”
TEN months. I would rather have the pay I’ve earned when I’ve earned it.
Upset? No.
However, I would just like it to be known that there are no paid vacations, paid summer months, or paid inclement weather days. We are effectively unemployed on those days meaning we are not earning anything on those days. I would have loved to work three of those seven days after the hurricane I was forced not to work instead of having to work them at the end of the year when I could have been earning at my summer job. I lost money because of it since summer unemployment was postponed. Just don’t say that I have “summers off” as if a) I choose to and b) summer is a paid vacation. Yes, it’s the nature of the job–yes I “choose” to do the job, therefore one can argue that I “choose” not to work summers in this capacity, but no, I have no say or flexibility in choosing which days I will not be working throughout the year save three personal days for which I am eternally grateful or having. Does that satisfy your understanding of my stance? 🙂
Fine, 10 months.
Suppose the school district simply pays your salary in 26 biweekly pay derives rather than the currents practice. This, apparently, is what is upsetting Louisiana Purchase, however. Do you have a suggestion for how a school district could make both of you happy?
You misinterpret me, TE. Whether it’s purposeful or not, it’s unclear. I’m not upset about the way my paycheck goes. I’m just explaining how it works where I am.
I AM, however, upset when people say I “get (my) summers off,” since I get paid 182 days a year; no paid holidays or vacations. Before you retort, TE, I know that it’s what I signed up for, but I’m tired of people making it sound like I am lazy and indulged. I make about $20,000 a year less than many college graduates make coming right out of university, and I graduated 20 years ago. Once again, I knew I wouldn’t be wealthy becoming a teacher, but I would like to be able to put enough away for my sons to go to college. At this point, neither of them will be able to go because my husband and I can’t afford it.
I took your statement that
My district REQUIRES us to have a 12 month salary for 10 months of work. Therefore, I’m still being paid for the work I did LAST YEAR. It’s a form of deferred compensation, and the district gets to use my money has a low-interest loan.
to mean that you were unhappy that you were giving your district a low-interest loan because they had yet to pay you for work you did LAST YEAR.
My apologies.
I would not be so pessimistic about affording college for your children. Many schools offer steep discounts based on family income. I would pay little attention to the sticker price that is quoted by the schools.
Most districts spread the money over 12 months. That way teachers have money over the summer and do remember they are not eligible for unemployment compensation even though they are in fact laid off.
There is not a single teacher in the United States, in public or private schools, who gets paid vacations. They get an annual salary, and the majority of teachers get that salary spread over 12 months.
I disagree. The majority of teachers do not get their salary spread out over 12 months.
We are not “laid off”. We have 10 month salaries. You are right that in some states, such as in North Carolina, teachers can elect to have their 10 month salaries paid in 12 installments.
This is one of those arguments that have no real function other than as rebuttal to another argument. If I have a long-term job and the deal is that I work 10 months and then take two months off every summer, I don’t call July and August my “leave of absence,” or my “unpaid furlough,” or my “shore leave.” I call it summer vacation. Own it, people!
My original concern was the use of the word furlough in the post. It is not a furlough, and I think that words have meaning.
How about “annual layoff”?
Oh, no FLERP, some refuse to call it a “layoff” since one cannot collect unemployment benefits during this time.
For the record, TE, I am just fine with the arrangement–no further happiness required from my employer. What I despise, however, is the characterization that I am somehow rich to be working a job for only ten months as if I’m some sort of slacker who gets paid for not working. No, I verily do not receive payment on days for which I do not report to work. I do not create the work calendar–I agree to work it. (And yes…without summer employment, I could use my savings to pay my summer bills.)
This entire discussion stems from the misguided notion that teachers have “summers off” in the same sense that those in other jobs might have vacation time for which they do not have to report to work yet are paid. By forcing us to not work when the district chooses to close the schools for whatever reason (be it weather-related or an issue of building safety) and requiring us to make those days up, we are not enjoying paid vacations. They are days we are not working and not being paid. This is not very difficult to understand yet the discussion goes on and on…
I think the discussion stems from the word furlough in the original post. State workers in California were furloughed and they received a lower income than they had originally agreed to. Federal workers will be furloughed, and they will receive a lower income than they agreed to. Teachers receive the income that they agreed to despite not working in the summer. It is not a furlough, it is a ten month contract.
Obviously that bloated blabber of bull, never hae to worry about where HIS next meal is coming from! Oh, that’s right, he’s a fixin’ that public image problem by a operation that no doubt didn’t pinch his budget. He has the audacity to belittle and snarl about the bennies he enjoys…FAR larger than ANY teacher ever dreamed of. Why not refute his bull with a little bit of truth telling about HIS plush salary (to say nothing of all the payoffs he doubtlessly gets from the corporate charter school cronies).
HAS HE NO SHAME?? Right, dumb question!
It’s time for teachers to take a hard line against the reformers. I understand that we have to put kids first but what about the abuses heaped upon teachers? Mass strikes in states where allowed and sickout in non-striking states. Can Obama fire all the teachers nationwide and replace them with Teach For America interns?
Every teacher in America could be fired and replaced by a certified person glad to have the job.
They wouldn’t last more than two years, tops. Then they’d be off looking for jobs where they are actually valued.
And your basis for that statement is. . . ?
The You Tube video is so awful, and the thousands of comments are even worse, in favor of Christie. He has the cheap shot comments that rile people up thinking one group is getting over on another.
He’s so low and hypocritical. I agree with rrato: Full Court Press on al those politicians riding the sweet 1% train. We’re all just a blip in history and the time is now to fight so our grandchildren can read about us and how the resistance of people rose up and fought.
Also have to keep an eye on the Clinton Global Initiative, I just feel they are cooking up something so huge we will not be able to Rise Up and we’ll have to succumb to education by the 1%.
Diane, I hate to say it but Randi, is going to be a speaker for them.
Are we preparing to compromise, is this what is happening and is this what you were telling us last week?
I do not understand why some people seem impressed with Christie.
When I hear him speak, two words come to mind: RUDE and UNINFORMED.
Teachers get paid for the 190 days or so that they work. I’ll bet many teachers would like to work more, IF AND ONLY IF they are paid for the time. And Cristie must think the water, gas, and electric bills to have the schools open longer will just pay themselves somehow.
Why do republicans have to slam teachers over this “summers off” issue? I never hear about lazy nurses who only work three days a week, or lazy dentists whose offices are closed on Fridays. Not all professions work 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year. Not everyone wants to work themselves to death.
How many days a year does congress work, you ask? 126. And they don’t work 5 day weeks, either. And who are the lazy mooches again?
Unfortunately, He will reign again. The Dems are even supporting Christie. So, with that said, the demeaning, condescending, profession trashing will continue with the ok from the taxpayers, who don’t realize that their children are the ones that will NOT reap the benefits.
Teachers in NJ will either move away, or those coming into the field will not even consider the state as an option. Hope the state of New Jersey votes Gov. Sandwiches out!
Well, we cannot move away and still teach here. Didn’t he foster a bill that requires us to live in NJ to teach in NJ?
I believe he did. Teachers will eventually get tired, and leave the state to look for teaching jobs elsewhere, or future teachers will not even consider NJ if this keeps up.
The big question is, where will NJ teachers move to considering that the same kinds of things and much worse are going on in the other states (think Wisconsin, Indiana and all the right to work states which make NJ look like paradise).
Let’s clear something up…Districts don’t spread salaries over 12 months. Teachers elect to have their 183 -190 day salary distributed over 26 pay checks.
To rratto: In North Carolina, teachers can elect to receive their 10 month salaries in 12 installments, thus receiving checks in June and July. NC teachers are paid once a month. Some teachers are paid twice a month, but not in NC.
Very horrible, very sad news from southbrunswickpatch: “Christie leads Buono 61 – 29 percent of likely voters, according to a new poll by Quinnipiac University. The number is roughly unchanged since a June 10 poll by the university.” I did not vote for Christie and I certainly won’t this time around. Buono gets my vote. The NJ Democratic party is divided and there are quite a few Democrats openly supporting Christie. Christie gets big support from the media, especially Fox News, hate wing radio and NJ101.5, a very popular radio station that constantly propagandizes against the NJEA, teacher pay, teacher benefits, teacher pensions, tenure and seniority. This oft repeated nonsense about teachers getting the summers off is mind numbingly inane. Even the private and religious schools have pretty much the same school year length as the public schools. Teachers and their unions do not determine how long the school year is, that’s up to the local school districts and school boards. Blame the school boards for the 180 day school year not the teachers or the unions. If they were to lengthen the school year, then be prepared to air condition the rooms and to pay the teachers more. Oh wait, Christie wants the teachers to work longer for the same frozen wages and for reduced benefits and a gutted pension.
It’s time to turn the argument against Christie & his fellow teacher bashers by demanding accountability for their PAID vacation time and time spent being PAID attending parties raising campaign cash.
Attacking teachers for unpaid summers & holidays are code words for “lazy” and “overpaid”. The AFT, NEA should hire a PR firm that highlights the teachers who died in OK and Newtown protecting their students form harm and juxtapose those images with Christie wining & dining with the 1%ers.
I like the way you think, but remember Christie will play the Hurricane Card reminding us how he was “on-call” around the clock during that first week.
An outstanding framework! Stand by…
So Christie wants to change the educational structure of NJ. Lets get rid of the money grabbing teachers in favor of money grabbing corporations that will steal taxpayers money and run. At least the teachers care about what they do. For the record, I wished school was all year round. I worked every summer for 32 years just to live in the city where I taught.
“organizations who he said care more about pensions, wage increases, generous benefits packages and summers off than about extending quality education to all students.”
Most of the same could be said of… elected officials, hedge fund managers/venture capitalists, charter operators, etc…
Goodness, what a discussion. It is going around and around.
It is apparent that different states have different ways of delivering pay to the teachers. Depending on the state or district, the contract can be for 185 to 200 days per year. Vacation days are NOT paid for … Christmas and Easter breaks … not part of the contracted days for pay.
HOWEVER, where I worked, you’d better believe that we were EXPECTED to work on those break days. We’d have our grading periods end the day before a break and our grades to be turned in the day after the break ended. Not too easy to go on some vacation if you have to spend your time grading and averaging grades during that time. Sure you can do much of it ahead of time, but when you have quarterly tests that need to be given at the end of the quarter, you can’t really do that ahead of time.
In any case, it is like beating your head against a concrete wall to get through to some people just how the pay structure works, even if they are teachers living under another type of contract.
When I first began teaching in 1974, all that was available in my county was the 10 monthly pays. Salary divided by 10, And, the pay was horrible. And, in WV you had (have?) to pay both teachers’ retirement and social security out of your paycheck each month. Not a lot of net pay left after that back in the day. They eventually began to change to the 12 month or bi-monthly pays.
In Ohio, where I worked until retirement, we had the option of 10 pays, or 24 bi-monthly pays, or 26 pays every 2 weeks. Things have morphed to the point where we had no choice but the latter one. We were also required to have direct deposit. Some people fought it as long as they could for some reason.
It doesn’t take a degree in rocket science to understand that when a person is paid for a contracted 185 days that the other days during the year are NOT paid for. Why do some ask petty little questions to “clarify” what is being said? It makes little difference what you call it, the days are NOT paid for, you are not LAID OFF, you don’t get UNEMPLOYMENT, you can work a summer job or a seasonal job if you need to, but you are not paid to be a “lazy, mooching piece of trash” during the summer months.
The disrespect for the teaching profession seems to be some kind of manufactured “jealousy” about the “easy job” that it is to “babysit the kids” all day. People have made analogies of teacher pay to baby sitter pay. If teachers were paid per pupil per hour rates at the baby sitting rate of $3 per hour, they’d receive $75 per hour for 25 kids. Per day, they’d receive $487.50 for the 6.5 hours at the students are at school. For 185 days of work, they’d be paid $90,187.50 for that calendar year. If someone works in a high paying job, making $250k or higher for juggling figures in order to manipulate clients’ money, are they even willing to pay $3 per hour for their child’s education? Probably not, even though they’d pay less than $20 per day or $100 per week for that child’s education.
Now, get real. Using these numbers and looking at reality, the average salary is somewhere around $45K for teachers. So that is about $1.50 per kid per hour … if all they were doing were BABYSITTING.
As for the paycheck issue, apparently some people just don’t understand the term deferred wages. The money the teachers earn from Aug. 25 to June 5 is calculated for the year as a salary. It is divided into 10, 24, or 26 equal payments. The payments for June, July, and August are for work that was completed by June 5 (estimated dates). That money is NOT a “paid vacation”.
In districts with which I have been associated, the decision to spread the money out helps the district (keeping your money longer), helps the teacher by not having to budget for the summer, with regular taxes, insurance, etc. being taken out, and also makes the bookkeeping easier for the treasurer’s office.
I don’t know why anyone continues to harp on the point of whether or not a teacher is paid for not working. They do not. They work many more hours than they are paid to work, including many weekends, Friday nights, holidays, and summers, for no “overtime”. This isn’t a “complaint” but it is a fact. Not all teachers do all the same things, but it is next to impossible for teachers to avoid at least some unpaid overtime. And, yes, we signed on to do this. However, the public needs to be aware of how we are paid and the rumors need to be squelched, esp when they cause the bickering and disrespect to occur.
Well put, Deb. The whole point of this argument is not to complain about one’s plight–it is about setting the record straight which dissolves the validity of Christie’s rhetoric.
Some will just continue to debate for the sake of debating.
I don’t even think it is about debating. I am not sure what it is about. It certainly stalls progress.
And, well, this kind of rhetoric from Chris Christie et all is precisely why it is easy to suck in supporters. They think the same thing. They have no idea what it is like, what we do, what we put up with, how much time and money of our own that we give. Ridiculous.
Gov. Christie has received EDUC.funding from Eli Broad, Zuckerman, and other billionaires.
He wants to privatize all the urban public schools in NJ –
(Camden, Newark, Patterson, and others).
Many of his education bills are almost exactly like ALEC “model bills”
Here is a 2 part article with some background information:
http://my.firedoglake.com/dswright/2011/04/18/cerfs-up-how-privatization-will-wipe-out-public-education-in-new-jersey-part-1/
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He s not as bipartisan as the media plays him up to be.
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/17131-gov-chris-christies-illusion-of-bipartisanship
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