Andy Smarick, a Bush-era political hack, is #2 at the DOE; let's resist the temptation to make him Schundler's replacement, shall we?Gov. Chris Christie fired state education commissioner Bret Schundler this morning after Schundler refused to resign in the wake of the controversy over the state's loss of up to $400 million in federal school funding, two officials briefed on the situation said.A deputy commissioner will be named acting commissioner while the governor searches for the next person to fill the $141,000-a-year position, the officials said.
And, again, the Star-Ledger remains clueless:
It's still unclear how the error was made. The New Jersey Teachers Association produced a version as of May 27 of the bungled answer — from a draft including compromises later jettisoned — that included information for the correct budget years. The NJEA said the paper proved the administration had changed it in the process of re-writing the application to take out the compromises with the state's largest teachers union, which has been Christie's most vocal combatant during his first year as governor. The application was submitted June 1.It's quite clear how and why this happened - you guys just haven't reported on it.
This should surprise no one, least of all Brett S. Afterall, it is Christie's MO to say one thing and do another.
ReplyDeleteNot long ago, he swore on everything under the sun that he was a teacher's best friend and would never touch or alter their pensions in any way, shape, or form. Of course, about 3.2 seconds after his learning that he won, he began his ongoing campaign to make all sorts of pension changes, including trying to get the fund declared bankrupt. That was his first move, one which was barely reported on or noticed, and one which failed miserably (for now).
So it should surprise no one that he fired Brett after stating that he would not fire anyone for the rttt debacle. In fact, Brett should have started filling out his unemployment application the minute the words "I'm not going to fire somebody for this" left Christie's mouth.