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TagsGovernor opens up in candid interview with Neil Cavuto
In an interview to be presented on Fox Business Network's Cavuto Wednesday at 6 p.m., New Jersey Governor Chris Christie told Neil Cavuto that public sector workers must "share the sacrifice" with the private sector, that he will not run for President and reaffirmed his plan to cut taxes.
On the teachers unions blasting him over cutting programs:
"Teachers don't dislike me, the teachers unions dislike me. There is a real difference.
"They're wrong, they're dramatizing it. They are playing to the grandstand; they are playing to their own constituency. When you make those hard choices, you know you are going to anger, hurt or disappointed some people. This who I am, this is what I was elected to do. It doesn't mean I will necessarily be reelected because I will anger special interest groups that are powerful in this state. I am not going to back off what I promised to do, that is my covenant with the people of this state."
On public workers feeling he is attacking them:
"If we don't change (the pension system), that pension won't be there for the people who are complaining about it right now. The public sector has been shielded from this recession in New Jersey.
"The property tax payers who have lost their jobs...they are the ones picking up the tab. Shared sacrifice is shared sacrifice and the public sector unions have been shielded from that. And it's got to stop."On running for President:
"Not going to happen. I want to be Governor of New Jersey. I ran for Governor of New Jersey. I'm not Woodrow Wilson. You have to be in your gut and in your heart ready to President if you decide to run for that. I simply do not have the desire to do it, nor do I think I'm ready."
"In my judgment, if you're going to try to do something like you have to absolutely believe in your heart and mind that you want to do it and that you're ready to do it."
On running for Vice President:
"Is there anybody around here who thinks I could be a number two to anybody? It'd be kind of hard. It'd be tough for me to be number two to anybody. Now is the time for me to focus on being Governor. While I am flattered by all this, I really am. On the other hand, I know who I am."
On the major downscale of the New Jersey budget:
"We are at a point in our economic life here in our state, where increased taxes are just the wrong way to go. The people of our state are not convinced that state government, county government; local government has done all they can with the money we already give them. Raising taxes to close these holes is counter to getting private sector economic growth so we can put people back to work in good paying private sector jobs. What we've done in cooperation with the legislature, republicans and democrats, is show people in New Jersey that we get it."
On the criticism that he is on the side of the rich with stopping the "Millionaires Tax":
"The "millionaire's tax" as they called it was allowed to expire by Jon Corzine in December of last year before I was Governor. If they wanted to pass that tax, that was their choice to extend that tax. They chose not to because they wanted to play politics. I said to them you made your choice, you didn't want to take the revenue when you had a Governor who would sign it, and you're not going to get it now. These other things are just politics and false choices. I think they thought they had a governor like Jon Corzine who when they pushed, I would fall over. They misevaluated this Governor."
On tax hikes on a national level:
"People are discontent with the idea that we're going to have an ever expanding, ever growing government with deficits our great grandchildren will never be able to pay off. For me, philosophically, I don't think you need to even ask the questions on what I think about that. I'm putting my money where my mouth is in New Jersey by making hard choices, standing up to special interests. I'm standing up and fighting for what I believe is right in our state."
On his personality dynamic as a nice guy versus his aggressiveness:
"People confuse all the time passion, and Jersey passion, with anger. I get angry sometimes like everybody does, but I am passionate about what I believe in. I also think the public needs to be treated like adults. Politicians too much cow and try to figure out what everybody wants to hear. I'm not a smoke signal sender; you're not going to have to wonder what I am thinking."
On whether Obama should fire General McChrystal:
"I understand as an executive and Commander in Chief of the National Guard here in New Jersey that if you are the commander you have to be the person in charge. I hope the President has an open and robust conversation with the General today. I hope the President uses good sound judgment, takes a deep breath."
On challenging his education commissioner Bret Schundler but not firing him:
"I think that goes with the relationship. Bret and I had a number of direct conversations. It means I didn't mince any words. You have to balance all of those things out, with my judgment with Bret, I felt confident in keeping him on. As long as you believe those are honest, genuine mistakes, I think people should get a second chance."
On keeping a sense of humor:
"If you take yourself too seriously in this job, you're bound to fail and be miserable. You have to laugh at yourself. I tend to have a good outlook on that stuff. I'm the luckiest guy in the world."
SOURCE: FOX BUSINESS NETWORK
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But the NJEA is such a strident, lying ("we are for your children"), and - 'till recently - incredibly successful advocacy group, that has never found an incompetent tenured teacher or a budget increase that shouldn't be passed, THEY are such an easy target!
And there are A LOT of younger teachers 25~35 who would secretly agree that the NJEA sells them out. Why? Because they refuse to freeze salaries and are more comfortable with lay-offs. Because the younger teachers pay in 8.5% of their salaries for a pension system that will never be there for them. Because the NJEA is truly more concerned with preserving the "rights" of lousy teachers than getting rid of the 5~10% who don't belong and making the entire school work better.
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Most of the younger teachers are afraid to speak up because, well they are the minority in the union. But they are there . . . and they probably voted for Christie, just like most of your students' parents did.
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Dump Keshishian and try a re-start with a different message. One that resonates with PTO's and understands the reality of most taxpayers' economics. That's your play.
As a retired school professional, my salary was not above the 'state average' for someone with a 64 credit Master's degree but for many years below that of high school graduates with a technical degree. I did not receive 3 to 4% raises each year and, during the boom years of the late 1990s and 2000 to 2008, received 1 to 1 1/2 % raises. My fellow educators openly negotiated less of an increase to maintain our medical insurance and partially paid for our insurance. None of those facts matter to our Governor because he needed to scapegoat us to redirect the public's anger onto us.
If the Governor had been HONEST about the facts rather then scapegoating education staff and other public employees, I would have supported him. Instead he blamed the people who have been contributing to the pension fund for their entire careers for the problem and failed to state the facts of why the pension plan is in trouble. It is in trouble because of lack of funding by the State and municipalities and because of the current financial climate. There are many other reasons for NJ budget deficit that aren't related to public employees but scapegoating a group is so much easier and effective.
I don't like the Governor and many of his policies.
The teachers actually do dislike you.
I want him to be their worst nightmare -