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

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

And Now the Times Gets One Wrong

David Leonhardt is a pretty good reporter, but he blows the facts on this one:
"New Jersey’s new Republican governor, Christopher Christie, had the nub of an intriguing idea recently. He lobbied voters to reject school budgets — rejections that would have led to layoffs — unless local education unions agreed to pay more for their health benefits. In effect, Mr. Christie was offering to save jobs now in exchange for saving money later."
Wrong. Christie was calling for teachers to take a wage freeze in addition to paying more for benefits. In effect, he wanted a wage cut - a freeze plus paying 1.5% for your benefits is less money.

This is important to get right. He didn't ask anyone else to take a freeze - only the teachers. Gee, wonder why...

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