I will protect your pensions. Nothing about your pension is going to change when I am governor. - Chris Christie, "An Open Letter to the Teachers of NJ" October, 2009

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Governor Morton Downey, Jr.

Holy crap:
The two adversaries went back and forth for a few minutes, until Chaudruc, a Republican, interrupted the governor.
"You want to come up here?" Christie shouted. "You come up here ... Let’s have a conversation.." 
Chaudruc, who stands 5’6" and weighs about 160 pounds, backed away until the governor insisted "bring him up here," and a state trooper escorted him to the stage.
Christie, a few inches taller and several pounds heavier, loomed over Chaudruc as he launched into a tirade.
"Your wonderful increase in taxes would have killed jobs in this state," Christie said pointing his index finger at Chaudruc. "You and I have different ideas of what being a Republican is all about because I’m not going to raise taxes."
Before he could get another word in, Chaudruc was ushered off the stage and out of the room by a trooper.
"It’s his playground. He holds the ball," Chaudruc said afterward, adding that Christie never answered his question.
"Several pounds heavier" - yeah, OK.

Of course, earlier this week:
TRENTON – Gov. Chris Christie will not agree to adding the Tappan Zee Bridge to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a move that was recommended by New York Gov. David Paterson. 
"I can't make this any clearer to New York than this: stop screwing with us," Christie said at a press conference this morning. "You're not going to come and pick our pockets. New Jersey is not going to permit it anymore." [emphasis mine]
I know the talk radio crowd and the comment posters at NJ.com love this stuff, but it really is starting to get out of hand. BTW, he's right about this, but he also has to work with the governor of our neighboring state, and words mean things.

I want my governor to show some class. I want him to try to build consensus. I want him to show some respect to those who disagree with him.

You simply can't govern this way. And it's is becoming increasingly clear that, while his base is all fired up , the rest of the state is not going to fare well with an out-of-control governor in charge.
Screw you, Patterson!

4 comments:

deciminyan said...

It is becoming more and more clear that our governor is unstable. I bet the reason he is picking on the school superintendents' salaries is that they make more than him.

Lisa said...

"The two adversaries went back and forth for a few minutes, until Chaudruc, a Republican, interrupted the governor."

WTF is wrong with Ginger Gibson, the Statehouse Bureau reporter who characterized a voting citizen (of the same party and political ideology) asking a valid question of his elected official at a public event held for the specific purpose of having citizens' questions asked and answered, as "ADVERSARIES"??!! Or with us, members of a free civil society, for not only glossing over but applauding this behavior??

Does no one consider it a problem that in a free democracy the chief public servant calls on his militia, a state trooper, to "escort" a questioning citizen against his will (he was backing away) up to him so he can point his finger in his face and yell abusively at him??? What is wrong with Gibson--and with us--that this is acceptable, that a citizen and his elected official are blithely described as adversaries? In any other circumstance, such behavior would be met with being fired, sued, or arrested.

Put this in another situation and consider: it's the Q&A session at a PTA meeting, a parent questions the principal about his new homework policy, the principal launches into a tirade and tells the security guard to "bring her up here!" As she backs away the guard "escorts" the parent to the stage where the principal points his finger in her face and yells, "You and I have different ideas of what being a parent is all about because I'm not going to reduce homework!"

Is it me?

Duke said...

Spot on, Lisa. It all comes back to the media. They have normalized this behavior.

More on that problem tomorrow.

Duke said...

dec, he's said outright that they shouldn't make more than he does.

That's stupid. He was elected. He gets a ton of perks. He has incredibly lucrative opportunities available to him at the end of his term.

There is no comparison. But, if he's going to be consistent, Greg Schiavo, Rutgers football coach, should be held to the same standard.