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BY TOM HESTER SR.
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Bitter and hurt about his ouster by Gov. Chris Christie as state education commissioner and worried about his family's financial situation, Bret Schundler Wednesday blamed the governor and his chief of staff Richard Bagger for the missteps that led to his firing last week.
As Christie and his aides hoped more pressing events like the approach of Hurricane Earl would put the Race to the Top debacle behind them, Schundler, from his home in Jersey City, emailed reporters a long explanation of his version of how the events leading up to his ouster occurred, including letters and emails.
At one point, Schundler declared that he feared Christie and Bagger were setting him up to take the fall for the embarrassment.
"I've held up distributing this chronology of events because I haven't wanted the education agenda I support to be harmed by Governor Christie,'' Schundler said. "But the governor saying yesterday that I lied to him forces me to defend myself.''Christie fired Schundler, a key member of his cabinet on Friday, charging he had lied to him about his role in a mistake that cost the administration a chance at $400 million in federal Race to the Top education aid. On Tuesday, Christie told reporters that should a cabinet member or aide lie to him, like Schundler, they would be fired.
Schundler said Christie and Bagger were told twice not to state to reporters that he had made the application correction verbally to U.S. Department of Education officials at a videotaped meeting in Washington.
"I will not accept being defamed by the governor for something he knows I did not do,'' Schundler said.
Christie's office is sticking with the governor's position that Schundler lied.
"Once again, Mr. Schundler acknowledges that he told both the governor and the U.S Secretary of Education that he verbally confirmed for Race to The Top judges that New Jersey satisfied spending criteria on education for the period 2008-2009,'' Michael Drewniak, the governor‘s press secretary, said. "However, video of the presentation revealed that this was not the case. This indisputable fact was the basis for Mr. Schundler's dismissal, no matter how much he attempts to cloud the issue or redirect responsibility for his own conduct."
New Jersey finished 11th in the Race to the Top competition, only a few points behind finishing in the money. Nine states and the District of Columbia collected from $750 million to $75 each.
Schundler conceded after the firing that he made an editing mistake on the application that cost the administration the aid. But earlier last week, Christie told reporters that Schundler had told him he corrected the mistake in person during a review of the application with officials in Washington. When a tape of the meeting showed Schundler did not make the correction, the governor fired him. Earlier this week, Schundler said he never told Christie he corrected the mistake and on Wednesday he provided details of events leading up to his firing.
