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United States News Title: Gov. Chris Christie fires N.J. schools chief Bret Schundler Gov. Chris Christie fires N.J. schools chief Bret Schundler Published: Friday, August 27, 2010, 12:42 PM Updated: Friday, August 27, 2010, 12:43 PM Statehouse Bureau Staff TRENTON — 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. "I was extremely disappointed to learn that the videotape of the Race to the Top presentation was not consistent with the information provided to me," Christie said in a press release. "As a result, I ordered an end to Bret Schundler’s service as New Jersey’s Education Commissioner and as a member of my administration." A deputy commissioner will be named acting commissioner while the governor searches for the next person to fill the $141,000-a-year position, two officials briefed on the situation said. Rich Bagger, Christie's chief of staff, asked Schundler to resign on Thursday evening because he "misled" the governor and senior staff about what happened during a presentation in Washington, D.C., the officials said. On Wednesday, Christie publicly said Schundler had tried to give the correct information to a bungled question during the presentation, but video from the U.S. Department of Education released Thursday proved that did not happen. “As I have said before, I never promised the people of New Jersey that this would be a mistake-free administration," Christie said. "However, I did promise that the people serving in my administration would be held accountable for their actions.” Christie asked Schundler to walk him through the details of the mistake before the governor came out to defend him earlier this week, according to a source. But after Christie and other top officials on Thursday watched the video of Schundler and other officials' presentation to the U.S. Department of Education, and the video contradicted Schundler's explanation, the governor said, "He can't lie to me," the source said. He directed Bagger to ask for Schundler's resignation Thursday afternoon, but it took several hours for Bagger to reach the commissioner. Then, Schundler at first said if the governor wanted his resignation, he would give it, according to the source. By this morning the resignation had not been received, and word started circulating in Trenton that Schundler was resisting. Christie grew tired of waiting, and ordered Schundler fired, the source said. Aaron Houston/For The Star-LedgerEducation Bret Schundler testifies to the Senate Education Committee on Aug. 16. The state lost a competitive grant contest for education funding by 3 points. While the state lost points across a number of areas for substantive issues, a blunder on one 5-point question has caused an uproar in Trenton. The state lost 4.8 points by seemingly misreading the question, which asked for information from 2008 and 2009 budgets. The state provided information from 2011. The error was first reported Tuesday evening by The Star-Ledger. On Wednesday, Christie blamed Washington bureaucrats for their inflexibility to fix what he described as a clerical error. Christie said Schundler had provided the correct information during a presentation of the state's application in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 11. But on Thursday, the U.S. Department of Education released a video of that presentation that showed neither Schundler nor the other four people from New Jersey's delegation were able to come up with the information for the correct budget years. STAR-LEDGER EDITORIAL BOARD: • Bret Schundler had to go; N.J. education commissioner was out of sync with his boss Before the video was released, Christie had said he would not fire anyone over a paperwork mistake made by a "midlevel" staffer. 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. Like Christie, Schundler was once hailed as a rising star in conservative circles. He served as mayor of the Jersey City, a Democratic bastion, for more than two terms between 1992 and 2001. Although he was a Republican, the city has non-partisan municipal elections, and he was able to forge alliances with Democrats there to help win reelection. Schundler ran for governor in 2001, upsetting the Republican establishment-backed Bob Franks in the primary but losing badly to Democrat Jim McGreevey in the general election. He attempted another run for governor four years later, but came in second out of seven candidates for the Republican nomination, behind Doug Forrester. Schundler taught public policy at The King’s College, a Christian school in Manhattan, before becoming its chief operating officer in 2009.
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#1. To: All (#0)
Great way to end a busy week....(chuckle)
#2. To: Badeye (#1)
Christie did the right thing. Note, when people fuck up in Obama's administration, like Geithner has done, there never is any loss of job. The corruption and incompetence just keeps getting promoted in the Fed. Gov. Christie is a great man and a great leader.
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