Another New Jersey Story To Love And Cherish

I love this NJ.com story, from the headline to the details:

High driver caught with $41K and 'numerous air fresheners,' cops say

A high New Jersey driver and his passenger were allegedly found with three hand-rolled suspected marijuana cigarettes and more than a little cash in the Holland Tunnel on Thursday night, authorities say.

Manuel Rodriguez, 39, of Kearny was allegedly found with a black plastic bag containing $39,930 in his back seat -- and another $1,191 in his front pocket.

He and his passenger, Jessica Torres, 28, of Miami, Fl., were both arrested.

According to Port Authority spokesman Joe Pentangelo, police do not know why Rodriguez had the money, or about the extent of the relationship between Torres and Rodriguez, who knew each other.

"He made a couple of statements that he's a business owner and he had made another statement that he had won at gambling, but nothing was really clear. He was under the influence," Pentangelo said.

...

Rodriquez, who Adams said smelled strongly of marijuana and had bloodshot and watery eyes, allegedly volunteered that he had been smoking a joint, and admitted it was on the floor next to the driver's seat. Adams then searched the vehicle, finding the cigarettes, cash, and "numerous air fresheners," police said. A canine also found trace amounts of marijuana on the money and a cooler in the car, Pentangelo said.

I love the part about the air fresheners.

Man, these Yankee Candle Sun & Surf air fresheners will fool the cops and make the whole car smell like the beach...

Cool, man...

This story could have happened anywhere, of course, but I feel like it's extra special that it happened at the Holland Tunnel toll plaza.

Chris Christie's Full Of Crap When He Says He's Getting Rid Of Common Core In New Jersey

Another day, more jive from Chris Christie.

In May, the New Jersey governor running for president in the heavily anti-Common Core Republican Party, said this:

 The governor, speaking at Burlington County College in Pemberton, declared Common Core is "simply not working." Christie wants to assemble a team to develop a state-based group to develop "new standards right here in New Jersey, not 200 miles away on the banks of the Potomac River."

...

"It's now been five years since Common Core was adopted and the truth is that it's simply not working," Christie said.

"It has brought only confusion and frustration to our parents and has brought distance between our teachers and the communities where they work," he said. "Instead of solving problems in our classrooms, it is creating new ones."

About those "new standards" Christie's going to have implemented?

They're going to look a lot like the old ones:

The department announced earlier this month that it will establish a 23-member committee to oversee the Common Core review process and make final recommendations, as ordered by Gov. Chris Christie. Three subcommittees will review the math and English/language arts standards, which outline what skills students should master in grades K-12.

Any teacher can apply for the committees that review the standards, but only teachers nominated by their district can sit on the committee that makes final recommendations, according to the state.

The committees will also consist of parents, school board members, administrators, educational experts and business and industry representatives. For questions about how to apply, contact NJStandardsReview@doe.state.nj.us.

...

Department of Education officials have said the review is intended as an opportunity to build on the existing standards through clarification, addition and omission.

"We will not be tearing down and starting over," Assistant Education Commissioner Kimberly Harrington said on July 8. 

Let's see, a committee that makes final "recommendations" to the state education department which has already said that this is an exercise in building on the existing standards, "not tearing down and starting over."

That's not getting rid of Common Core in New Jersey.

That's creating an exercise in making it look like you're getting rid of Common Core in New Jersey while not really getting rid of Common Core.

I guess it's just as well since even though Christie said it was time to "move on" from the Common Core in New Jersey, he didn't think it was time to move on from the Common Core state tests, which are still going to be given.

Former New Jersey Teacher: I Was Forced To Campaign For Administrator Who Was Also The North Bergen Mayor

Time For Some Traffic Problems: Education Edition:

NORTH BERGEN -- A former North Bergen high school teacher claims in a political video that she was forced to campaign for longtime Mayor Nick Sacco, and was asked to give two politically connected officials' students top grades.

The video was posted on YouTube April 21 by Sacco's May 12 election opponent Larry Wainstein. On April 22, Mayor Nick Sacco and his supporters denied all the claims in a response video. 

"I was being forced to go knock on doors and say 'Mayor Sacco is great, he's wonderful, and how everything was great,' and I was just very upset," said Sarah Guillen, a North Bergen resident, in Wainstein's video.

Guillen switched jobs in 2013 after two years teaching in North Bergen, and now works as a French teacher in New York City, she said.

Sacco, who is also a top school administrator, posted his response on Facebook, calling Guillen's testimony "outright lies and slander."

There must be a new domain on the Danielson rubric - "Doing The Politically Expedient Thing To Ensure Incumbent Mayor/School Administrator Gets Re-elected."

Mary Pat Christie Isn't Laughing This Weekend

The George Washington Bridge traffic lane closures scandal in New Jersey just gets more and more troublesome for Governor Blustery himself, Chris Christie.

In the beginning, when critics first began to ask questions about why Christie's Port Authority appointees closed lanes to the GWB on the NJ side in September for an alleged traffic study that nobody saw conducted, Christie laughed the questions off, claiming the whole thing was a big hullabaloo over nothing.

But after his second PA appointee was forced to resign over the scandal and more subpoenas went out over the matter, with one of Governor Cuomo's PA appointees stating under oath to the NJ legislature that the Christie administration story about the lane closures was untruthful, Christie spent over an hour on Friday trying to again explain away why this burgeoning scandal is no big deal.

But the Star Ledger reports this morning it may be a very big deal, especially as it relates to Christie's 2016 presidential ambitions and it's something I have noted again and again about Christie too (see here and here for two examples).

This guy's as dirty as they come, from his lobbyist days to his padded US attorney expense accounts (and his leaking damaging information about Bob Menendez in order to save his attorney gig when the Bushies were firing all of their US attorneys) to his business deals to his appointing of friends and cronies to positions of power where they rape and pillage the public coffers to his actions in an SEC investigation that saw his brother avoid indictment when all the brother's co-conspirators could not.

If and when he runs for president in 2016, you can bet this stuff will get more scrutiny than it has so far - and now the GWB traffic lane closure scandal just reinforces the narrative about Christie's vengeful nature and essential dishonesty.

Here's the Star Ledger on how the GWB scandal impacts Christie's 2016 White House dreams:

TRENTON — Not too long ago, Chris Christie was joking about it.

But as the controversy over lane closures at the George Washington Bridge continues to swirl, Democrats in Washington are pouncing on the Republican governor in the hope that they can stop his potential quest for the White House before it begins.

For Christie, it’s the first taste of what it’s like to be his party’s front-runner for the next presidential sweepstakes.

"National Democrats will make an issue about everything about me so get used to the new world, everybody," Christie said at a news conference Friday. "We’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy."
In Jersey’s form of Oz, the bizarre tale of September traffic jams and a supposedly punished small-town mayor makes the cable news. A group looking out for Hillary Clinton creates a graphic out of Christie’s unsmiling face, a picture of a bridge and a sign that reads: "Lane closed. Expect Christie?"

And the Democratic National Committee issues a campaign-style attack ad asking if the facts add up to "Chris Christie’s political payback?"

"When you run for president, you will be questioned about absolutely everything, and you can’t bluff your way past something like this. It’s not personal life or his weight; it’s related directly to his conduct in office," said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

...

"One of the concerns voters will have about Christie is New Jersey’s reputation for rough, take-no-prisoners politics. It isn’t known as the Soprano State for nothing," Sabato said.

At first, the governor laughed off the insinuation he played a role in the traffic mess: "I worked the cones actually. Unbeknownst to everybody, I was actually the guy out there. I was in overalls and a hat, but I was the guy working the cones," Christie said, joking with reporters at a Statehouse news conference.

Last week, Christie was still trying to put the issue to rest. He said the resignations of his two top appointees to the Port Authority, Bill Baroni and David Wildstein, signaled a fresh start. He put former federal prosecutor Deborah Gramiccioni in Baroni’s place, saying: "We’re gonna turn the page now. We’re sending new leadership over there in Deb."

The governor went on to entertain reporters and people watching online — Statehouse news conferences are streamed live — for an hour, taking questions on every facet of the investigation.

"He wants to present himself as an independent and a tough executive," said Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. "A lot of Democrats and a lot of Republicans want to present him as a real rough and unfair and somewhat explosive politician. It’ll be a competition between which story wins out."

The Democrats in Washington are using the tale of the bridge to undermine the narrative Team Christie perpetuated in all manner of media: He’s a bipartisan straight talker and principled leader. They’re eager to present the bridge controversy as part of a pattern, noting that Christie has given seemingly conflicting statements about whether he wants to extend in-state tuition to the children of people who came to this country illegally.

"This of course gives any political opposition that he has either now or in the future, fodder, which is exactly what he does not want," said Brigid Harrison, a professor of political science and law at Montclair State University. "He does not want questions raised about his qualifications or experience in office."

Just as Christie is flipping on the look-at-me national media switch, state Democrats appear to have finally found their mojo, landing punches on a governor who bobbed and weaved with ease during his first term.

"This is really in my view the first time that the Democrats have effectively held Christie’s toes to the fire," Harrison said. "In my view, this is a different Democratic Party than we’ve seen for the past four years."

Two public hearings gave Democrats in the Legislature more ammunition to keep the issue on front pages.

Next up? Documents from seven Port Authority officials are due on the desk of Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) on Thursday.

This GWB scandal isn't going to go away yet, not with more subpoenas going out to PA officials this week.

In addition, Christie's handling of the scandal has given lots of ammunition to critics and opponents who have pointed out some of his previous malfeasance.

If and when Christie runs in 2016, you can bet the Madoff connection, the for-profit Edison School lobbying, the padding of his US attorney expense accounts, the SEC investigation of his brother, the funkiness around the alleged Menedez indictment that never happened, the political appointees (and friends and/or business associates) who strip the public coffers of tax dollars for their own benefit will all get the scrutiny they deserve.

On top of that, Dems in NJ finally have gotten off the Christie bandwagon (many of them either officially or tacitly supported his re-election in 2013.)

If Dems start acting like an opposition party in Trenton rather than co-conspirators in Christie's government, they might actually uncover even more Christie malfeasance.

It's not like they would have to dig too hard - Christie lies repeatedly to save his ass and even a rudimentary digging into various scandals will unearth that (like his lying about why NJ Transit trains were vulnerable to Sandy back in 2012.)

Mary Pat Christie was yucking it up before the 2013 election as her husband screamed at a teacher who dared to question his education policies.

You can bet she isn't yucking it up this weekend as her husband finally starts to get some of the scrutiny he deserves for his criminality and dishonesty.

UPDATE - Here's a timeline of the scandal, courtesy of the Star Ledger:

Sept. 6: The Port Authority's director of interstate capital projects, David Wildstein, orders the bridge's general manager to carry out the closures.

Sept. 9: The Port Authority closes two of three local access lanes from Fort Lee to the George Washington Bridge, the nation's busiest crossing, bringing traffic to a halt and turning borough streets into a parking lot.

Sept. 12: Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich writes to Baroni and expresses the belief that the closures were "punitive" and asks they be lifted immediately. Some suspect they were put in place because Sokolich, a Democrat, did not endorse Christie for re-election.

Sept. 13: Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye, an appointee of Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York, directs bridge managers to lift the closures, saying they violated agency policy and jeopardized public safety as well as the agency’s "credibility."

Sept. 16: The Port Authority claims the closures were due to a traffic safety study.

Oct. 2: Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), chairman of the Assembly Transportation, Public Works and Independent Authorities Committee, says he will convene a hearing to determine who ordered the lane closures and if they were politically motivated.

Oct. 16: The Port Authority announces it will undertake an internal review to determine why the lanes were closed and whether proper procedures were followed.

Nov. 5: Christie is re-elected governor in a landslide victory over Democratic challenger Barbara Buono, a state senator from Middlesex County.

Nov. 13: The Port Authority remains mum on the lane closures despite mounting criticism and a barrage of questions from reporters at its board meeting in Jersey City.

Nov. 20: With the threat of subpoenas, Wisniewski requests that top Port Authority officials including Baroni, Foye and Wildstein testify before the transportation panel about the closures.

Nov. 25: At a hearing held by the Assembly transportation committee, Baroni says the closures were ordered by his direct subordinate, Wildstein, as part of a traffic study and acknowledges making a mistake by not notifying Foye, police or the public.

Nov. 27: Wisniewski subpoenas Foye to testify before the Assembly committee, and Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex) writes a letter to Port Authority Inspector General Robert Van Etten requesting an investigation into the lane closures.

Dec. 2: Christie brushes aside speculation that the bridge closures were politically motivated, joking at a new conference, “I worked the cones. Unbeknownst to anyone, I was working the cones." The governor said he had nothing to do with situation.

Dec. 6: Wildstein announces his resignation, saying that the controversy over the lane closures has "become a distraction, and I’m going to move on."

Dec. 9: Foye testifies before the transportation committee that he was unaware of any traffic safety study being conducted on the bridge in September, despite the testimony of Baroni two weeks earlier. After the hearing, Wisniewski calls for Baroni's resignation.

Dec 10: The Port Authority's inspector general launches an investigation.

Dec. 11: A Democratic group connected to Hillary Clinton attacks Gov. Chris Christie over the Port Authority's closure of lanes leading to the nation’s busiest bridge.

Dec. 12: Wisniewski issues seven more subpoenas as his investigation into the closures widens. The requests seek documents and communications from Port Authority officials to determine what they knew about the traffic-snarling lane closures.

Dec. 13: Christie announces the resignation of Baroni and appoints his trusted staffer, Deborah Gramiccioni, to the post. The governor says the change was planned regardless of the controversy, and reiterates he had nothing to do with the lane closures.

Chris Christie Has Bloomberg-Level Approval Ratings In New Jersey

So much for the governor's supposed popularity in Jersey:

By 5:1, NJ Voters Say Governor Christie Should Not Run for President in 2012: New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie, beloved by some and despised by others for his bluntness, has a Minus 18 job approval today as speculation continues about whether Christie should run for President. 38% of NJ adults approve of the job Christie is doing, 56% disapprove.

According to this latest Eyewitness News Poll conducted by SurveyUSA exclusively for WABC-TV in New York City, NJ voters by 5:1 say Christie should not run for President.

* By 2:1, NJ voters say Christie would be a worse president than Barack Obama.
* Obama carried NJ in 2008 by 15 points. Obama's approval rating in NJ today is Plus 14 (54% approve, 40% disapprove).
* Voters split evenly on whether Christie would be better president than George W. Bush.

Christie has cut state spending on education. In those Jersey homes where a school teacher lives:

* Christie's job approval is Minus 30 (33% approve, 63% disapprove).
* 6:1 say Christie should not run for president.
* 5:2 say Christie would be a worse president than Obama.

In union households:
* Christie's job approval is Minus 36 (31% approve, 67% disapprove).
* Obama's job approval is Plus 15 (55% approve, 40% disapprove).
* 8:1 say Christie should not run for president.
* 2:1 say Christie would be a worse president than Bush.

* Among Republicans, Christie's job approval is Plus 29. But: by 2:1, Republicans say Christie should not run for President.
* Conservatives by 2:1 and Republicans by 3:2 say Christie is qualified to be President.
* Conservatives and Republicans by 3:1 say Christie would make a better President than Obama.
* Even among the state's comparatively few Tea Party members, where Christie's approval is Plus 49, there is division: 38% say Christie should run for the White House, 39% say he should not.

* Among Independents, Obama's job approval is Plus 7, Christie's is Minus 11.
* Among Moderates, Obama's job approval is Plus 28, Christie is Minus 23.
* Among lower-income voters, Christie is Minus 32. Among upper income voters Christie is Minus 5.

So many interesting things here.

First, just who are the 33% of teachers who approve of the job Christie is doing as governor?

Christie is on a one-man crusade to vilify teachers as "political thugs" who use their students like "drug mules," to slash teacher salaries and benefits and tenure and job protections, to privatize NJ schools and sell off as much as the state as he can to corporations.

But 33% of teachers approve?

Sheesh! Talk about not voting your interests.

That said, there is lots of good news if you're opposed to the governor's policies and his further political career.

He has a -18 approval rating, with self-described "moderates" Christie has a -23 rating and with "independents" he has a -11 rating.

This is a governor who would face an uphill battle for re-election if there were a good candidate to oppose him.

Also, this poll shows that the fraidy cat Dems can stop cowering when the behemoth bully shouts at them. They can take him on - he is NOT popular, and if they coordinate their attacks and continue to hammer on Christie's hypocrisies, his brutal policies toward working and middle class people, and his overall ugliness of character, they can beat this guy.

When self-described "moderates" give Christie a -23 rating on approval, you know that Christie's bluster and bullying is beginning to backfire.

Now if only some of this plunge would wipe off onto his Democratic buddy next door in NY State.

But let's see how things shape up after the Cuomo budget becomes reality and people see just what these cuts mean to services around the state.

Again, Dems (Let's be honest here, Cuomo is more popular with Republicans than he is with Dems) have got to have the courage to take him on.

That time will come, and Cuomo is doing himself no favors by taking on legislature members in their own districts a la Spitzer over the property tax cap.

If the "rising star" Chris Christie can end up at Bloombergian levels of popularity, then so can Cuomo.

So come on, Dems - show some guts and take on Christie here in NJ.

And Cuomo in NY ought to be next.

POSTSCRIPT: WABC 7 reports the Dalai Lama is in Newark to work for peace and democratic solutions to violence.

He ought to start in Trenton at the Governor's office.

Wasn't it Christie who wanted to take a bat to an old lady he disagreed with?

UPDATE: Looks like Dems are getting the message that it's cool to attack Christie - Frank Lautenberg blistered Christie and sell-out Dems today:

At a speech at the Democratic State Convention this afternoon, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) ripped into Gov. Chris Christie for cutting funding for family planning centers and other social programs.

At the “Women’s Step Up Luncheon,” Lautenberg called Christie’s cuts “shameful” and said he was “working to destroy the progressive state we’ve built.”

Lautenberg went on to criticize Democrats who have forged alliances with the governor, though he did not single them out by name.

“We see some Democrats sitting on their hands and even in some cases helping the Republicans, trying to move over on the other side to make up a few votes,” said Lautenberg. “It won’t help New Jersey if we leave the ranks of Democrats.”

Lautenberg’s speech only got more heated as it went on. He pointed out Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver and noted that Christie had once called one of her claims a “lie.”

“Gov. Christie actually called (Oliver) a liar in the press. Imagine Gov. Christie calling someone else a liar?” he said. “He’s the king of the liars.”

Oliver then took to the podium, saying she’s usually the only woman in the room when she meets with the Christie.

“Once in a while Lieutenant Gov. Kim Guadagno is able to be there, though she never says anything,” said Oliver. “And without question, I am the only person of color in that room. Now that is not reflective of the State of New Jersey."

In response, a Christie spokesman mocked Democrats and asked if they were enjoying the beach.

That's cool.

Christie and his people live by the mockery, but they'll perish by the mockery too.

Looks like while Christie was taking victory laps with Michelle Rhee on education reform, NJ voters were turning on him.

The Consequences Of Christie's Rule

Two stories in the Newark Star-Ledger caught my eye this morning.

The first was this one:

Gov. Chris Christie’s cutbacks in school funding violate the state’s mandate to provide children "a thorough and efficient" education, a court-appointed Special Master declared today in a finding that could force the governor to come up with millions more for schools.

The opinion by Superior Court Judge Peter Doyne, who was appointed by the state Supreme Court in January, will now be considered by the state’s highest court, potentially setting the stage for another historic confrontation on an issue that has been litigated for more than 40 years.

"The difficulty in addressing New Jersey’s fiscal crisis and its constitutionally mandated obligation to educate our children requires an exquisite balance not easily attained," Doyne wrote. "Despite the state’s best efforts, the reductions fell more heavily upon our high risk districts and the children educated within those districts."

This was the second:

The Great Recession pushed thousands of New Jerseyans below the federal poverty level in 2009, causing the state’s rate to spike to the highest it’s been since at least 2002, a report released Tuesday finds.

The recession also took its toll on the state’s youngest residents, according to a separate report to be released today by the nonprofit Advocates for Children of New Jersey. Close to one-third of the state’s 2 million children were living in low-income families, more youths were out of both school and work, and slightly more children were abused or neglected, the group found.

In 2009, 9.4 percent of the state’s residents lived in poverty, compared with the national average of 14.3 percent. New Jersey’s rate has not risen above 8.7 percent since 2002, the first year it was calculated under the formula now used.

"New Jersey poverty is markedly worse by every measure," said Melville Miller Jr., president of New Jersey Legal Services, which released the poverty report. The numbers are "stunning, and terribly troubling," he added.

The report found 799,099 New Jerseyans lived below the poverty line in 2009. Children and the state’s Hispanic population in particular suffered sharp increases.

I'm sure Christie's school budget cuts, cuts to state aid, and tax cuts for rich people won't make these dire circumstances in New Jersey worse.

Two Days After The Riot, More Arrests At Jersey City High School

Breaking news: Governor Christie and Barack Obama agree on something!

Teachers need to be fired for this:

Jersey City police quelled violence and made eight arrests at Dickinson and Ferris high schools yesterday, just two days after a citywide police response was needed to suppress rioting among 350 to 500 Ferris students, officials said.

"It's like you are sending your kids to a war zone," the parent of a Dickinson sophomore said yesterday after seven students were arrested during a riot at the Palisade Avenue school around 12:30 p.m.

Police officers at Dickinson were in a first-floor classroom when they saw a large group of students "running and screaming throughout the hallway," police reports said.

An officer walked into the hallway and "observed hundreds of students fighting, screaming and encouraging the other students to join the melee," reports said.

Numerous police units were dispatched to a large fight inside the school, reports said, adding that a Dickinson security guard breaking up a fight was injured when he fell into a desk.

Six boys, ages 15 to 17, were charged with rioting and disorderly conduct and two were additionally charged with aggravated assault on the security guard, reports said. Dashawn White, 18, of Wilkinson Avenue, was charged with rioting and disorderly conduct, reports said.

A Dickinson sophomore said yesterday there was also a fight in the morning when a boy was "jumped" on Newark Avenue.

The boy said fights appeared to be between African-American students and Hispanic students. Students and a police source said Tuesday's large disturbance at Ferris also involved African-American students and Hispanic students.

Police were back at Ferris at noon yesterday on a report of a food fight and had to force their way past fleeing students to get into the cafeteria, where they found a group of students barricaded behind overturned tables, reports said.

There was "a multitude of various food items splattered all over the entire cafeteria," reports said, adding that more police responded to clear the cafeteria.

You know what will happen here, right?

The state will close these two schools down for being so violent, they'll fire half the teachers, turn the places into charter schools and send all the violent thugs to other schools around the city.

Then they'll close those down too and reopen them as for profit charters.

They'll just keep shifting the problems around, firing teachers, closing schools and blaming the union for the violence.

And the problems will all be solved!

Except, of course, they won't.

800 NJ Teachers Go Months Without Insurance

The new normal - screw the teachers:

As many as 800 teachers and school employees in Newark and Paterson were without health insurance for four months because of a paperwork problem at the state level.

The problem primarily affected staff rehired this summer following last spring’s cuts in education budgets, though it also touched new hires and teachers trying to add dependents to their policies

Six-hundred Paterson Public Schools employees got back on the state’s health insurance rolls this week. Up to 200 Newark teachers and staff have not been as lucky and are still without coverage.

A spokesman for the Treasury Department said the state health benefits commission is aware of the problem, but he is not sure how many public school employees are affected. The insurance problem could affect teachers throughout the state who were laid off and then rehired by their districts before the start of the school year.

"The state health benefits commission is making every effort to process them quicker and put them on the front burner, now that they know this is happening," said Treasury spokesman Andy Pratt. "Now they realize this is something they can expedite and will expedite."

Speaking specifically about Newark, Pratt said the problem cropped up in part because the district failed to send health insurance applications to the state grouped together. Because applications trickled in one by one, the commission did not realize the volume of teachers being re-enrolled in the state’s health insurance plan.

Or maybe the state just didn't give a shit about the insurance problem because Governor Christie doesn't much give a shit about the insurance problem?

I wonder if the sociopath who owns Facebook will send a few stock options the way of the teachers so they can, you know, take their kids to the doctor if they get sick?

Let me answer that question myself.

Probably not - not unless they agree to give up tenure and allow Cory Booker to run everything.

NJ Ed Commish: We Can Give Taxpayer Funds To Private Schools, We Cannot Regulate Them

How's this for hypocrisy?

Bret Schundler says he is a great believer in educational accountability, willing to take on the statewide teachers’ union to establish a system that links teacher job security and pay to student learning.

But there are limits to the education commissioner’s commitment to accountability.

And those limits are based, not on union pushback, but on his own ideology. A former Democrat but now a self-described "Republican with libertarian instincts," he doesn’t want to see too much regulation of private schools that receive public money.

"We regulate everybody but we’re not going to regulate everybody the same,’’ said Schundler.

The contrast between Schundler’s insistence on close accountability in public schools and his instinct to preserve the independence of private schools, even private religious schools that operate with public money, is striking.

The central focus of Schundler’s accountability effort is the creation of a statewide, centralized data base that would allow the state to determine what factors — including the performance of individual teachers — result in student learning.

Can the state develop a system that shows correlations between individual teachers and student learning? "Absolutely," he said. In two years or less.

"Once you put all the data points into a large collection, once you put all that stuff into the system, you can begin to measure the impact of an independent variable," said Schundler. "You’ll have amazing data.’’

Amazing data that can be used to pay teachers bonuses or deny them a job.

But, when asked whether that same level of scrutiny should be applied to non-public schools, Schundler — once active in a number of state and national organizations promoting school choice and vouchers — demurred.

"I would make sure the money is used for education,’’ said Schundler, who called parental choice a "human right" and was chief operating officer of a Christian college in the Empire State Building.

He added, "That’s an appropriate measure of accountability.’’ He cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s warning against "excessive entanglement" of government with religious schools.

Uh, wait - the Supreme Court warning against "excessive entanglement" of government and religious schools has NOTHING to do with the government making sure that taxpayer-provided money to those schools is being used correctly.

If the government is providing taxpayer money to ANY entity, the government ought to be able to regulate how that money is spent.

We can argue whether religious schools should get ANY government money (I say they shouldn't), but if they do, then those schools - and the teachers in the them - need to be held to the same "accountability standards" as public schools and public schools teachers.

But in the Chris Christie/Bret Schundler/Mayor Moneybags/Joel Klein/Andrew Cuomo/Michelle Rhee/Arne Duncan/Barack Obama world view of things, it seems accountability is ONLY for public schools and public school teachers.

Everybody else - including religious schools and charter schools run by for-profit companies - get passes on "accountability."

Which means there is no accountability at all.

POSTSCRIPT: I should add another little piece from the Jersey paper about the New Jersey Education Commissioner Bret Schundler:

Bret Schundler is like no education commissioner the state has ever had. He’s not an educator, but a businessman and a politician. He is more of an advocate for private schools than for public schools. He is a true believer in parental choice, something he deems "a human right."

And, in the midst of an ugly fight between his governor and the state’s largest teachers union, his spokesman refers to New Jersey schools as "wretched" — just when they led the nation in a countrywide test of educational achievement.

Okay, so he repudiated the word "wretched" when legislators and educators protested — but what does he really think of the public schools he is constitutionally sworn to support?

That’s not an easy question to answer, even after sitting with Schundler for three hours and talking about the schools.

While he conceded some New Jersey public schools are doing well, he also clearly believes that things have to change and that private schools, without their union rules and bureaucracies, are the models for reform.

But then he suggested veteran teachers should pack it in and retire for the good of the schools.

...

If 9,000 veteran teachers retire, he said, the savings will allow the rehiring of all teachers given layoff notices this spring. Laying off new teachers, he said, would mean the loss of "some of the most energetic, attractive teachers you have.’’

So veterans are not energetic?

"Sometimes when they’re in their last years, and they’re thinking about retiring, they’re not quite as driven."

There you have it - the NJ Ed commissioner despises New Jersey public schools, is an advocate of the voucher movement and thinks school choice is a "human right," hates unions and wants to replace as many veteran teachers with newbie McTeachers as he can.

He fits right in with Barack Obama, Arne Duncan, Mayor Moneybags, Joel Klein, et al.

I guess that's why the obese NJ governor appointed him to his position. (See here for why I included the word "obese" into the previous sentence.)

While Some NJ Schools Get 100% State Aid Cuts...

...Wall Street traders and business execs who live in New Jersey pay $200 a day for a helicopter commute.

And of course Governor Christie refuses to raise taxes on these people, preferring instead to cut school aid, lay off teachers in 268 school districts and skip payments on the pension funds of state employees.

Because taxing Wall Street traders and business execs would be bad for the economy but cutting all those school budgets and laying off all those teachers isn't bad at all.