Share this
Twitter
Myspace
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Facebook
Export PDF
Print
E-mail
Tags
BY MICHAEL COHEN
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
While a frequent flurry of Sarah Palin sound bites and Michael Steele gaffes dominate the hype surrounding the Republican party's leadership void, many point to New Jersey's Governor Chris Christie as a serious potential leader of the GOP.
Since his first budget address on March 16th, conservatives have applauded Christie's adamancy of spending cuts, and they particularly admire his battle with the state's teachers union over $820 million in state education cuts.
Conservative editorial pages in The Weekly Standard lionized Christie as a "rock star," and the Wall Street Journal canonized him with a Ronald Regan comparison.
To meet the proposed education cuts, Christie demanded that teachers take a one-year pay freeze and begin contributing to their pensions and health benefits. The teachers union disregarded the demands, so the governor urged people to vote against local school budgets. Last Tuesday, voters rejected 316 of 541, or 58 percent, of the proposed budgets, an unprecedented rejection rate.
Conservative columnist, George Will, supported Christie's demands on teachers' pay in a Washington Post column, and also commended the governor for closing a $2.2 billion gap with spending freezes and cuts.
Marc Thiessen, also a columnist for the Washington Post and former speechwriter for George W. Bush, said that the school budget defeats gave the governor "a strong mandate to push through his reforms."
Although Thiessen's piece suggested the possibility of a 2012 presidential run for Christie — an idea based on the recent ubiquity of the governor's name in national media — he also warned about premature presidential presumptions, using California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's ephemeral popularity as an example.
But whether it's a future presidential candidate or just a rational visionary, the GOP needs a leader. And as Peter Applebom of the New York Times' noted, "If the Republicans ever hope to be more than the Party of No, they should be paying careful attention to how Mr. Christie fares in his demolition derby in Jersey."
NAN SHAW - Atlanta, Georgia
Funny thing is, these are the same people who applaud the "messiah" in the White House for ramming unpopular legislation through the most suspect means ever.
I suggest the dissenters and their union bullies above take the advice of their beloved vice prez and recognize that, "It's time to be patriotic ... time to jump in, time to be part of the deal...". He was referring to doing your part to help get through the "crisis".
As wage earners who don't use their numbers to bully others into giving them more pay for less work, when times get tough and the money's just not there, we tighten our belts. Now you're gonna whine when you have to tighten yours...
And don't believe it for a minute that somehow through osmosis this is going to hurt property values, raise taxes, or shortchange students...Nice try, though.
Second, Christie has a Facebook expert who makes more money than many NJ teachers and who also has benefits paid for by the state.
This guy is a hypocrite, if this is what the Republican party is holding up as a modicum of excellence, we are all in for long sad days.
President, what a joke
New Jersey localities are most vulnerable because of future loss in property taxes as housing values decline.
The fact of the state aid "cuts" are not cuts. If they were, then where is the income tax cut that should come in conjunction with it? After all, state aid is derived from the income tax and a half cent of the sales tax. By law, the income tax is to go to the Property Tax Relief Fund. "Cutting" these funds as Christie is doing is illegal.
Moreover, the funds are just going to the general fund.
Meanwhile the cuts in state aid will mean drastic property tax hikes for the very people in the suburbs who voted for Christie.
This is just one area where Christie is off course. There are many others. And i can assure you that not all conservatives in New Jersey are applauding. There are many like myself who know better.