Out Of Control?

Nice to see someone standing up to our bully of a governor:

PARSIPPANY — The war of words between Gov. Chris Christie and the Parsippany Board of Education over the contract extension for school Superintendent LeRoy Seitz continued Wednesday, as board president Anthony Mancuso said that if Christie wanted to help school districts, he would not have cut vital state aid.

“Considering the amount of money that the school district lost in state aid last year, it seems to me that the middle-class school districts are being squeezed while we still see large sums of money going to the Abbott districts,” Mancuso said.

Parsippany’s education aid for the 2010-2011 school year was cut 85 percent to $1 million. During the previous school year, the district received $7.3 million.

I must tell you that watching a sitting governor - who is the current daring of the Republican party and a prospective presidential candidate - go after a school superintendent in such a personal way is very disturbing. The video is really unlike anything I can recall in modern politics. It's one thing to rip into a political enemy or someone who is corrupt - but a superintendent? Making $225K? And you're the governor?

Again: I'd like to see some of that ire directed against William Marino, who made $8.7 million as the CEO of Horizon Blue Cross, the company that administers the School Employees Health Benefits Program. Think that'll happen any time soon?

"But, but, but... he's in the private sector!" Yeah, like Halliburton.

What we have here is a barely controlled fury that is designed solely to get as many taxpayers as possible to take their eyes off of the money flow. It's the same mendacious performance that leads Christie to tell Trenton teenagers that they don't have school supplies thanks to the NJEA.

And, yes, it is a performance - but I also think it's like method acting. After a while, you really start to believe in this nonsense. You really start to get angry about the wrong things. You really start to believe your own lies.

I have been slipping into amateur psychology lately, and that's probably not good on my part. But it's really becoming intertwined into the story of our state's politics: there is something not quite right about our governor. He is not a healthy person. He may have been playing a part before, but it's getting beyond that.

This will not end well.