The Tea Party War On Publicly Funded Media

Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, has introduced legislation which would end taxpayer funding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which operates National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System. The alleged impetus for this is NPR's firing of Juan Williams for his comments on The O'Reilly Factor. In so doing, DeMint joins a veritable "Who's Who" of tea party stars.

This strikes an odd parallel with Governor Christie's plan to de-fund New Jersey Network, New Jersey's public broadcaster. New Jersey Network is a public broadcast network owned by the State of New Jersey. It was originally formed because New Jersey, sandwiched between the media markets of Philadelphia and New York City, did not have any local network with Jersey-centric programming.

Christie's alleged motivations are budgetary and operational. However, it was NJN News that disclosed then U.S. Attorney Christie’s secret loan to Assiatant U.S. Attorney Michele Brown during the 2009 gubernatorial election. The fate of NJN remains to be seen.

Since I don't believe in coincidences, I have to believe that the tea party wants to escalate the Republican war on the "liberal" media be eliminating publicly funded broadcasting. Maybe they don't want anyone in the media smart enough to ask Sarah Palin embarrassing questions. Because she really CAN see Russia from her house.

MIchelle Rhee Will Not Be Newark's Next Superintendent

OK, I admit it, I was wrong. Michelle Rhee will not be coming to Newark as the new superintendent. She may, however, become the State's new Education Commissioner -- but probably not.

The unofficial "official" story is that Rhee does not want to come to New Jersey for family reasons -- her husband, Kevin Johnson, is the mayor of Sacramento, CA. Something else is in play here, clearly, as it is nonsensical to assert that D.C. was not too far from Sacramento but Newark and Trenton are. My gut tells me that Ms. Rhee wants to be the only superstar in town, and that sharing the stage with Chris Christie and Cory Booker is not optimal in her view.

So now we wait to see who Booker and Christie tap for the highest profile superintendent gig in the nation, and who Christie gets to sit on the Commissioner hotseat formerly belonging to Bret Schundler.

UPDATE -- The Wall Street Journal reports that Ms. Rhee is engaged to the mayor of Sacramento, not married -- so my dismissal of the "family time" discussion above doesn't actually hold water. The Journal also reports that Governor Christie says he never offered Ms. Rhee a job, despite reports to the contrary in the national press.

At this point, this whole story reminds me of 6 year olds playing soccer. You know there has to be a ball in there somewhere, because everyone's kicking at something, but clearly no one has a grasp on the game.

The Wall Street Journal Says Liberals Killed The ARC Tunnel

According to the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, "Chris Christie sure has a knack" for shocking the political class on behalf of taxpayers. Christie struck a blow for taxpayers by cancelling the ARC Tunnel because of cost overruns. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was "stunned."

States the Journal:

"The [ARC] tunnel flap is a microcosm of the crowding out of public works caused by liberal governance around the country. In New York State, bridges like the Tappan Zee over the Hudson River are in desperate need of repair . . . The 6th Street Bridge in Los Angeles needs repair and earthquake retrofitting, but Sacramento is busted."

First of all, New York had a Republican governor from 1995 to 2007, and the mayor of New York City before independent Mike Bloomberg was Rudy Giuliani. And California has had Republican governors since 1991. So how can this be a liberal phenomenon?

It's the public employee unions, of course. The public employee unions have a stranglehold on state government, and are sucking the transportation infrastructure repair money out of the states in the form of pensions and health benefits and wage increases. See, it's public employee unions against taxpayers again -- that's the underlying meaning.

Second of all, the taxpayers whose property values will rise as a result of the ARC Tunnel are not being well served by the Governor. The taxpayers who pay for road maintenance are not being well served by the Governor, who is doing nothing to get cars off of the road. The taxpayers who breathe the air are not being served, either.

Third of all, Chris Christe cancelled the ARC tunnel to pull the press out of the room where Bret Schundler was throwing the Governor under the bus. Basically, Christie panicked and killed a deal with the NJEA that he knew about because he did not like the press he was getting. Then, when he was about the get more bad press about his previous panic, Christie panicked again and prematurely pulled the plug on the ARC Tunnel. And somehow that's a model of good choices in government.

It seems Chris Christie can't pass gas without the Wall Street Journal finding the Governor refreshing.

Michelle Rhee Officially Looking For A Job

As anticipated, Michelle Rhee has resigned as D.C. Chancellor of Schools. Rhee backed incumbent mayoral candidate Adrian Fenty in a Democratic primary largely seen as a referendum on Rhee's educational reforms. Fenty lost to Vincent Gray, who intends to pursue more incremental reforms than those adopted by Ms. Rhee -- e.g., no more mass teacher firings, no more mass school closures.

The Wall Street Journal editorial page cited Ms. Rhee's departure as an "Education Reform Setback," and noted the fact "[t]hat one of the nation's most talented school reformers was forced out does not bode well for students, or speak well of the man likely to become D.C.'s next mayor."

But I say, "Fear not, WSJ." Michelle Rhee is the most famous education reformer in all the land, and after Mark Zuckerberg's $100 million dollar gift to the Newark School System -- announced on the Obama-friendly Oprah Winfrey Show, no less -- Newark is the most famous school district in the world in need of reform. Surely, destiny will not keep these two apart, especially since Chris Christie and Cory Booker are ardent fans of Ms. Rhee's.

In the movie version, I want Meg Ryan to play Ms. Rhee and Tom Hanks to play Newark. And they can meet at the end of the movie on top of the Prudential Center.

The Midtown Direct Effect

The Wall Street Journal reports that certain New Jersey communities have seen housing prices recover faster than in other communities. Houses in good condition in bedroom communities with good public schools and short commutes to Manhattan are seeing housing prices rebound. Apparently, the Wall Street recovery is fueling the housing market boomlet.

Jeffrey Otteau of Otteau Valuation Group, a New Jersey appraisal firm, says that New Jersey towns with short, direct train rides to Manhattan outperformed the rest of the State during the first half of 2010. Says Otteau, "We have seen the effects of the Manhattan rebound in the market we describe as Midtown Direct," a corridor with direct commutes to Manhattan of 35 minutes or less.

I hope someone flags this information to the Christie advisors reviewing the ARC Tunnel. That project would create a new Midtown Direct corridor and increase property values -- it would create wealth.

I also hope someone flags this information to the Governor himself the next tome he discusses pulling money out of suburban school districts to send to private, parochial and charter schools. Good public school districts add to home value -- they create wealth.

I had a lot of time to ponder this information last night during my 2.5 hour commute (normally 35 minutes. Aging Amtrak infrastructure cannot handle the volume of traffic our economy requires. Doing nothing is not an option -- either we act affirmatively to improve the infrasrtucture or we react when that infrasrtucture crumbles beneath our feet.

Where's PETA When You Need Them?

I know this is picky, but why is the Governor belittling pet sterilization?

The Governor has been saying that the legislature has been wasting its time on bills such as a pet sterilization bill rather than working on the Governor's tool kit. Speaking as someone who has taken in shelter animals and strays, there is nothing frivolous about the humane treatment of animals. And, quite frankly, I don't trust people who aren't kind to animals.

Man, this Governor has a tin ear.

Bret Schundler Gets To Say The Obvious

Although it came as no surprise, it is still worth noting Bret Schundler's confirmation that Chris Christie killed Schundler's deal with the NJEA, which would have brought $400 million to the State, merely because Christie did not want to make peace with the union.

And it's worth noting that the decision to provide annual cost information different from the requested information in the State's Race To The Top application was not an oversight, not a careless error, but instead a conscious decision based on a political calculation.

This information may seem lost in the noise of the ARC Tunnel collapse today, but in the future elections Chris Christie plans to run in, this information will speak loudly about how idealogues function. Future elections won't be run on the premise that there are 2 classes of people, public employees and the taxpayers who pay for them.

Mr. Right or Mr. Right Now?

Congratulations to Michael Aron, senior political correspondent at NJN. With the Governor's cancellation of the ARC Tunnel project, Mr. Aron is ready to conclude that Chris Christie is making decisions with national office in mind. According to Mr. Aron, Mr. Christie wants to run in 2016 as the Republican who cancelled the largest public works project in the nation on grounds of fiscal responsibility.

Why 2016? Because the Governor has gone out of his way to make it clear that he is not running in 2012. He may be able to explain away a Vice Presidential bid in 2012, but not a presidential bid.

But here's the thing. 2016 is a political lifetime away. Hell, 2006 was the year the Democrats swept into Washington, and 2010 is the year they get swept out (although I am not convinced that Democrats will lose the House -- I will be surprised if it happens).

In 2016, the economy will be back on track, people will be back to work. And the lack of adequate public transportation infrastructure will probably be seen as a bad thing. And the ARC tunnel will not be 2 years away from completion, if it ever gets started at all. My money says that in 2016 the cancellation of the ARC Tunnel will be seen as penny wise and pound foolish, an act of political cowardice and a failure to invest in New Jersey.

Such is the fate of idealogical demagogues. They are creatures of their times, and as they build track records of accomplishments they prove themselves of limited appeal.

For example, in 2004 the top issues were terrorism and the war in Iraq; swing voters were focused on "values." In 2008, candidate's support for the war in Iraq was a big litmus test. In 2004, you weren't a viable candidate unless you supported the war; in 2008 support for the war was a detriment.

Maybe this all speaks to where Chris Christie expects New Jersey to be in 2016. Apparently, he's not planning on a robust economic recovery anytime soon; apparently, he's planning for 6 more years of recession.

Children Are New Jersey's Future Profit Centers

Last week the Governor announced his school reform agenda. He wants merit pay for teachers, and he wants student test scores to count for 50% of a teacher’s evaluation (as it is in Chancellor Rhee’s D.C. schools). And he wants changes in tenure, a statewide data system than tracks student achievement, a teacher evaluation task force, the ability to designate “master” teachers and alternate route certification for principals.

Merit pay and tenure reform require the legislature to act.

Money for merit pay increases would come from firing bad teachers. Says the Governor:
“Any type of compensation that allows for anything but merit – gone.”

Seniority and graduate degrees (outside of math and science) would not affect pay.

But it is the Governor’s own plan that should fail any test based on merit. It ignores every major study on the issues. For example, a study recently released by Vanderbilt University and the Economic Policy Institute shows that merit pay simply does not work. The studies showing the unreliability of the use of student test scores in teacher evaluations have been discussed on this blog previously. This is not fact-based policy, this is politics.

According to NYU professor Diane Ravitch, “One of the signature issues of business people and conservative Republicans for the past 30 years has been merit pay. They believe in competition, they believe that financial rewards can be used to incentivize better performance, so it seems natural for them to conclude that merit pay or performance pay would incentivize teachers to produce better results.” Kind of like telling your kid they get $10 for an A and $5 for a B on their report card.

The last piece of economic reform proposed by the Governor would be to allow private companies to operate charter schools. Christie also called for swift passage of the Opportunity Scholarship Act, which would provide corporate dollars as scholarships to low income students who want to attend private or parochial schools.

So, connecting the dots, here’s the Governor’s plan. First, the Governor delivers a budget that diverts more tax revenue away from suburbs and into urban school districts than ever before. Second, the Governor announces a voucher lottery where 24,000 of the kids in the districts that got all the money can apply towards private school tuition. In New Jersey, educational funds follow the student, not the school. So when a student leaves a public school and goes to a private school, the state money also leaves the public school and goes to a private school. So, in reality, the Governor is taking taxes from the suburbs and giving them to private schools.

Another piece of the Governor's plan is that corporations will provide the scholarships that allow students to use their lottery vouchers and attend private schools. In exchange, the corporations get a tax break. So now the Governor is taking corporate income taxes away from the State and giving them to private schools.

So, in the final analysis, this is classic Chris Christie. Use educational policy to reward those who support him – private business and those who favor parochial schools – and punish those who oppose him – teachers. And the inner city kids who don’t get scholarships and have to stay in even less functional schools? Collateral damage. Acceptable losses.

I guess we should be grateful that the Governor is unwilling to take these policies to their fullest potential. For example, the school voucher program could set the scholarships at 75% of the price of private school tuition, creating a market for a new student loan program.

So Junior wants to go to school? Here's his first lesson -- nothing is free. Here's his second lesson -- in order to be a productive citizen, Junior must carry debt. Yes, we must start teaching Junior that the American way of life requires borrowing to live beyond your means. America doesn't actually produce that much anymore, so the only truly reliable source of revenue for corporate American is interest income on debt. So how better to teach Junior to be patriotic than to start him accumulating debt and paying interest at the earliest possible age? Because only when the middle class is completely strapped by debt and has no choice but to work at whatever job they can get can government pursue its true purpose -- servicing corporations.

Let's say Junior doesn't have the money to start repaying his loans when they come due in the sixth grade. Well, then we create a "work-study" program. Junior will spend 10 hours a week working either for the private bank that provided his student loan or the corporation that provided his scholarship. Because we have to support the student's right to make choices with respect to his or her education.

Perhaps the company has to pay its janitors too much money because of a pesky union. No problem -- send in Junior and the rest of the sixth grade class from Our Sister of Perpetual Debt. Or, maybe one day you will be driving down the Garden State Parkway and see a sign that says "The next mile of this road is maintained by Generic Bank", and there will be Junior and the sixth grade class cleaning up the highway wearing bright orange vests that read "Another Proud Private School Student."

But even this does not go far enough. To truly squeeze the full potential out of this school voucher program, we have to think of New Jersey's children as not just our future but as our future profit centers.

We can start small, auctioning off advertising space on the lapels and ties of the new mandatory private school uniforms. Nothing garish. The kids will just look like they are playing at the Masters or at the U.S. Open.

But the real money comes from all of that glorious debt the kids are generating. The State could take all of that debt, lump it together, then carve it up into little pieces and sell it as asset-backed securities (the assets are the loans, not the actual students -- at least at first). And, of course, the State will then sell credit default swaps so that the people buying the student loan backed securities can insure themselves against student loan defaults. The State will then start a program where, if you move your company into the State, you get to pick all of the student loans that go into a given asset-backed security -- then the State will go out and sell that security while the relocating company and the State sell the security short. It's win-win!

Of course, there is an inevitable end-game. Ultimately, the churches become ever more reliant on State-sponsored vouchers and loans. Then, when the market for student-loan backed securities goes bust and companies stop providing scholarships, the churches will become insolvent. And at that point, the State will swoop in and acquire the churches in a pre-negotiated bankruptcy, achieving the ultimate Church-State which has been the dream of the religious right since the invention of birth control.

Lucky for us Chris Christie isn't this ambitious.

Chris Christie, Culture Warrior

It's clear -- the Wall Street Journal hearts Chris Christie. Last week, a lead editorial crowed that "New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has become the national pacesetter in state fiscal reform. . ." The Governor got his picture in the Wall Street Journal two times in one day within the past two weeks, once in connection with a lawsuit in Minnesota that had nothing to do with New Jersey (I'm sure Tim Pawlenty was none too pleased).

The focus of this love-fest is the Governor's on-going war against public employee unions, the latest salvo of which was launched a few weeks ago. The Governor unveiled a plan to reform public employee pensions by rolling back a 9% increase negotiated in 2001, eliminate cost of living adjustments for both current and future retirees, raise public employee contributions to retirement plans, make it harder to get disability benefits and lower the expected return on pension benefits from 8.25% annually to 7.5%. State workers would pay 30% of health costs, up from about 8% now, and retirees would face higher co-pays.

All of this moves State public employee health and retirement benefits closer to a private industry model, which the Wall Street Journal says is the right way to go. In fact, the Journal thinks the Governor does not go far enough, and should replace government pensions with 401(k) plans.

In an earlier op-ed, Steve Malanga of The Manhattan Institute discussed Governor Christie’s successful election campaign and the role of the NJEA. By way of reminder, the Manhattan Institute is the right-leaning think tank that issued a study showing that New Jersey’s Millionaire’s Tax caused wealthy citizens to flee the State. According to Malanga, the NJEA polled its own membership and found its members supported John Corzine by only a slight majority. Malanga posits that Christie has positioned himself on the right sife of a national anti-union culture war that has Republicans and Democrats alike distancing themselves from public employee unions.

Writes Malanga:

"Still, what we are seeing this year may mark a historic shift in American politics. If candidates around the country can repeat Mr. Christie’s strategy of winning office by taking on public unions, we could be witnessing a change akin to what happened in the late 1970s, when tax revolts in a handful of states created a nationwide momentum that eventually reflected Ronald Reagan.

The early 21st century version of tax rebellion is a head-on collision between over-burdened taxpayers and public sector unions. The many signs of union weakness suggest that after decades of expanding power, government-worker unions have met their match."

And interestingly, an article on a Minnesota court case which ran the same day as Malanga's op-ed featured a photograph of Chris Christie. The article discussed a law suit questioning whether or not Minnesota can curtail pension benefits for current retirees from state jobs. The article cited a February report from the Pew Center on the States estimates that, in the aggregate, the states face a trillion dollar gap between the pension, health care and other retirement benefits owed to public employees and the money states have set aside to pay for them. But since New Jersey is one of those states considering cuts to pension benefits for retired government workers, the outcome of the Minnesota case may impact plans in New Jersey and other states, so of course the only picture would be of Chris Christie.

So it would seem that the Wall Street Journal, now a part the Rupert Murdoch/ Fox News/ right wing echo chamber, is selling us a culture war which pits overburdened taxpayers against teachers, judges, police officer, firefighters and the like. The middle class against the middle class. And the solution is to turn state pensions over to Wall Street.

Prediction: Michelle Rhee Coming To Newark

This week, the District of Columbia held a momentous Democratic mayoral primary. Incumbent Adrian Fenty lost the nomination to challenger D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray. As Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee was vocal in her support of Fenty over Gray, scuttlebutt is that Ms. Rhee, widely seen as the national face of education reform, will soon be looking for a new job.

Governor Christie has publicly announced that he will be using Newark as a testing ground for his views on education reform, and that he will be replacing Clifford T. Janey as Newark Schools Superintendent. Ms. Rhee succeeded Mr. Janey as Chancellor in D.C., and my bet is that she will be succeeding him as Newark Superintendent as well.

My biggest question is whether or not Ms. Rhee will get a bigger salary than the Governor. Fortunately for both Ms. Rhee and Governor Christie, the Newark Superintendent position is exempt from the new $175,000 salary cap.

The Ethics Of Chris Christie

The Governor has indicated that he will unveil 1 new reform initiative a week for the next 4 weeks. Initiative 1 -- ethics reform. As part of the Governor's plan, he would seek to stop people from collecting 2 public paychecks. So, for example, a teacher, fireman or policeman cannot collect a second public salary if that public employee is elected to public office.

Thus, we have an interesting opportunity to gain insight into what the Governor does and does not consider ethical. The Governor's probable concern is cronyism -- finding elected officials second jobs on the public dime so that they can afford to stay in office and vote as their patron would have them vote. For the record, the logic of extending that concern to public employees who win elections escapes me.

What I see is that this Governor is committed to using every power available to him to further his agenda. The Governor wants to weaken the control public employees have over state government. Since expanding a legitimate ethics concern to also limit the number of public officials running for office furthers that goal, the Governor sees no ethical conflict in doing so.

Simply put, the Governor believes that enlightened self-interest is the best route to the greater good. The world works best when everyone pursues their self-interest to the greatest extent possible, even to the detriment of others. Or, simply put, what's good for Chris Christie is good for the State.

And I believe that elected officials should put the public interest above self-interest, enlightened or otherwise. What's good for the State is good for Chris Christie.

So the Governor's efforts to minimize the ability of public employees to oppose him is perfectly ethical in his view. And to me it is unethical because it is in the interest of the State to have the most qualified people in office, even if those qualified people didn't vote for Chris Christie.

It's Official: Change Is Coming To Newark

Governor Christie officially let Newark Superintendant of Schools Clifford Janey know that Janey's 3 year contract will not be renewed when it expires next year. In a surprising show of generosity, the Governor is not claiming that this is a termination for cause. Yet.

The Newark school system is directly under the control of the Governor, giving the Governor a unique chance to implement reform. His intention is to make Newark a test case for his education policies and priorities, as part of his on-going effort to build his national profile. And the writing is on the wall, as the Newark Teachers Union, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers (and not the NJEA), has already gone on record as being open to merit pay and to changes in tenure and seniority.

The next step will be to name Janey's replacement. And here the politics will get interesting. Christie will want the support of Newark mayor Cory Booker behind the next superintendant. But there may be some bad blood there, as Booker supported Christie's call for a property tax constitutional amendment just before Christie abandoned that plan. There is a difference between being a steamroller and being a dealmaker, and it may be that the Governor is about to get schooled

If nothing else, it should be educational to watch two local politicians with national reputations come together for the sake of the kids.

The True Lesson From The Race To The Top

By now, everyone in the State has heard that New Jersey is not getting $400 million in Federal education aid and that Bret Schundler got thrown under the school bus. I don't quite understand what all the hubbub is about -- the Governor's decision not to cut a deal wiht the NJEA was what cost us the money. All the rest is political theater, and not very good theater at that. It does make me wonder whether or not the Governor's smearing of Schundler will cost him any points on the far right -- the folks Schundler was intended to help bring into the fold.

The true story from last week is that Washington, D.C. did qualify for $75 million in Race To The Top funds. The District's implementation of a teacher evaluation system that takes test scores into account was cited as one factor that helped the District into the winners' circle. In fact, test scores accounted for 50% of a teacher's evaluation.

This should be cause for great celebration on the right. District Chancellor Michelle Rhee is a favorite of proponents of charter schools, school vouchers and teacher union busting. The agreement between the district and the Washington Teachers Union is being hailed by some as an example of the direction school districts must take in their union negotiations.

The problem is that the District's teacher evalution process has proven to be somewhat controversial. According to the WTU and the American Federation of Teachers, Chancellor Rhee rushed her evaluation system into use before it was fully tested. The WTU is considering legal action pertaining to the firing of 6% of the District's teachers as a result of the allegedly flawed evaluations.

The issue is whether or not using one year's test scores to fire a teacher is an unfair labor practice. And there is data which strongly suggests that teacher evaluations which only take one year's work into account are flawed. The Wall Street Journal reports that "a large proportion of teachers who rate highly one year fall to the bottom of the charts the next year. For example, in a group of elementary-school teachers who ranked in the top 20% in five Florida counties early last decade, more than three in five didn't stay in the top quintile the following year, according to a study published last year in the journal Education Finance and Policy."

Problems with using test scores to evaluate teachers are well known. Students aren't always assigned to teachers randomly. A teacher who gets a higher percentage of lower scoring students due to that teachers' ability to help those students will be rewarded with a lower evaluation score. Elementary school teachers may only have 15 or 20 students, which is a very small pool on which to judge them. And while using test scores from multiple years helps, it does not solve the problem entirely. The Wall Street Journal cites a report from the Department of Education which shows that, even under an evaluation system using three years of data, one in four teachers will be misclassified.

Awareness of the dangers in rushing teacher evaluation systems into practice cuts across the political spectrum. The WSJ quoutes Frederick Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, as saying that "[b]ecause education tends to have this moral-crusade element . . . we tend to rush to use things before they are refined or really fully baked."

The Obama administration has been known to take the position that the perfect should not be the enemy of the good. But at least with respect to teacher evaluations, let's hope that the majority of school districts out there recognize that there is no point to an evaluation process that weeds out the good teachers inadvertently.

The Shadow Republican National Convention: The Republican Governors Association

According to the good folks at Inside Washington and Politico, Haley Barbour is the most powerful Republican in the country right now. That's because, as the head of the Republican Governors Association, Barbour has $40 million to spend on 2010 elections.

It's no secret that Michael Steele is having troubles at the Republican National Convention. Steele has recently taken remarkably progressive positions on gay marriage and abortion. Steele has also been charging speaking fees, which is highly unusual for someone his position; and he recently released a book without coordinating that release with Congressional Republicans. At least partially as a result, Steele and the RNC have been having trouble raising money.

Enter Haley Barbour, Mississippi Governor and former RNC Chairman. A Southern conservative and a friend of big oil, and an outspoken critic of Michael Steele, Barbour has been raising money hand over fist. And the message he's using to raise money? The Republican comeback started in Virginia and New Jersey.

In fact, just last week the RGA announced that it will be releasing a 20+ minute documentary about Chris Christie's successful gubernatorial campaign and his first 8 months in office.

So, in effect,we are seeing a schism in the Republican party at the national level. On the one hand, Michael Steele is trying to broaden the appeal of the party by moving away from the social conservative base and attracting independents and moderates. On the other hand, Haley Barbour is pulling the party's traditional, socially conservative Southern base around him.

And Barbour is using Chris Christie as bait.

Make no mistake -- to paraphrase the RGA, the battle starts here in New Jersey with Chris Christie.

The Cost Of Free Speech

I frequently like to compare events in Minnesota with events in New Jersey, since the two states are both blue states with red governors.

My most recent comparison pertains to the right's efforts to exploit the corporate free speech rights recently delineated by the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. FCC. These efforts are taking the form of independent organizations which solicit corporate donations in support of issues and/ or candidates. Frequently, these organizations are headed by current or former members of a particular organization.

For example, former George W. Bush White House Deputy Secretary of Labor Steven Law is president of a tax exempt group named American Crossroads. Advisors to this group include Karl Rove, former George W. Bush chief of staff and campaign advisor, and Ed Gillespie, Republican National Convention chairman during Bush's presidency.

In New Jersey, since the election of Chris Christie, a new tax exempt organization has started collecting and spending money in support of the Governor's agenda -- Reform Jersey Now. There is a high degree of crossover between the Christie administration and this political advocacy organization. For example, the treasurer of Christie's gubernatorial campaign, John Gravino, is also the treasurer of Reform Jersey Now. Former Christie campaign advisor and current Christie strategist Mike DuHaime is a spokesman for the group. Former Republican Governors Christie Todd Whitman and Donald DiFrancesco are advisors to the group, as is Christie advisor Bill Palatucci. Governor Christie himself was the keynote speaker at an event sponsored by Reform Jersey Now and organized by Ken Langone, the founder of Home Depot.

While it's clear that there is significant overlap among the State Republican party, the Christie administration and Reform Jersey Now, what is not clear is the identity of the donors to the group. State law does not require such disclosure. In the face of pressure from Democrats and from the press, DuHaime has promised to make such disclosure by the end of the year.

For its part, Minnesota has MN Forward, a pro-business political action committee managed by Brian McClung. McClung stepped down from his position as Minnesota Governor Pawlenty's spokesman to run the group. MN Forward claims to be a bi-partisan organization supporting pro-business candidates. It is not a tax exempt organization.

One big difference between Reform Jersey Now and MN Forward is that, under Minnesota law, MN Forward is required to disclose its donors. Thus, it is public knowledge that MN Forward's single largest contributor is Target, which contributed $150,000. Electronics retailer Best Buy donated $100,000.

And when MN Forward gave money to gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, Target found itself in an uncomfortable position. Emmer is pro-business, but he is also adamantly against gay marriage and pro-life. Target's customer base is decidedly progressive.

When news of Target's connection to Emmer became public, Target found its Minnesota headquarters to be the focus of demonstrations. A planned expansion into the San Francisco area may now be in jeopardy.

Target and Best Buy are now in negotiation with the Human Rights Campaign about making donations to progressive candidates, to offset their donations to MN Forward. Which means the companies may find themselves targeted by activists on the right.

All of which has brought a fresh layer of interest in the donors of Reform Jersey Now. It can't be long before State Senator Loretta Weinberg makes the connection between Governor Christie's veto of funding for women's health programs and Reform Jersey Now supporter Ken Langone, who was made a Knight of St. Gregory by Pope Benedict XVI. Or the NJEA and other public employee unions make the connection between Langone and Christie's anti-union agenda. All of which could make life interesting for New York University and Bucknell University, both recipients of largess from alumna Langone. Students tend to be pro-choice and pro-union, and NYU and Bucknell students may well be interested in the political positions of their schools' benefactor.

If DuHaime is good to his word and Reform Jersey Now donors are disclosed by the end of the year, there may be many companies in New Jersey who get to find out the true cost of free speech.

A Quick Note On $175,000

I keep hearing that no one in the state should make more than the Governor, and that the Governor only makes $175,000 a year.

But the Governor also gets to live in Drumthwacket, the Governor's mansion, on the taxpayers' dime. And unless I miss my guess, that mansion comes with a staff, that includes meal preparation. And I'm pretty sure the Governor gets a car and driver on the taxpayers' dime.

So unless and until someone calculates the value of all those non-salary benefits that the Governor gets, I'm done with discussion of the $175,000 cap.

It's The Implementation, Stupid: Lessons from the D.C. School District

As I’ve discussed before, I think it’s interesting to check in on the job Michelle Rhee is doing as Schools Chancellor in Washington D.C. Ms Rhee, who succeeded current Newark, NJ Superintendent Clifford Janey, is a darling of the Wall Street Journal and the far right. While Mr. Janey is seen as the type of “careerist” who is ruining public education, Ms. Rhee is seen as a teacher union buster and school choice advocate who is just what public education needs -- a leader who is doing major reform at low cost.

Ms. Rhee has been making national headlines of late. Six or seven weeks ago, she entered into a new agreement with the Washington Teachers Union allowing for:

1. An end to “lock-step” pay for teachers;
2. The implementation of a voluntary performance-based compensation system; and
3. The end of tenure. Teachers can now be fired more easily, and now can be designated “marginally effective” and placed on probation for 2 years.

In exchange for these concessions, the union got an agreement that teachers rated highly would get more money (including a 21.6% pay increase through 2012 and opportunities for merit pay).

What happened next is open to interpretation. Ms. Rhee implemented a new performance review evaluation system which takes student test scores into account for those teaching reading and math in the 4th through 8th grades. Under that system, 241 teachers (6%) were fired, and an additional 17% were put on notice that if they don't improve next year, they could lose their jobs. Of the 241 fired, 165 were let go because of poor performance; the remainder didn't have proper teaching credentials. 16% of teachers received the highest possible ranking.

According to WTU President George Packer, Rhee’s evaluation system is flawed and unfairly assesses teacher performance. Other critics contend that the evaluation system was rushed into implementation before there was evidence to show it to be effective. The WTU is appealing the firings, and may file an unfair labor practice complaint with the District. The fact that Ms. Rhee said she couldn't break down how many teachers were being dismissed due to low student achievement versus those dismissed for poor performance does suggest that the system has some kinks that need to be worked out.

For my money, I don't understand how an evaluation system adopted after school let out for the summer could possible have led to teacher firings before school started up again in the fall. Were the evaluations completed before the agreement was signed? Is that possible?

The teacher evaluation system in question requires classroom observations, as well as evaluations 5 times a year by school administrators and master teachers. Teachers are critiqued on such things as creating coherent lesson plans and engaging students, and also are advised as to perceived weaknesses. Coaching is available to teachers.

It seems doubtful that the teachers fired this summer got the full benefit of the union's bargain. Sure, the 76 let go for improper teaching credentials are hard to defend (without knowing more -- for all we know before the current contract they were considered to be properly credentialed), but it seems that the remaining 165 let go for poor performance never got their coaching sessions or their chance to improve during the year-long evaluation process. Unless I'm missing something, I just don't see how a year long process got done over the summer when school was not in session.

What does this mean for New Jersey? First, it seems that the Governor is intent on creating the same conditions in New Jersey as those which allowed Ms. Rhee to negotiate her new union agreement. Specifically, 38% of D.C. students are in charter schools; there was also a school voucher system in place for a short period. These factors undermined the bargaining position of the union. Simply put, a strike would have been much less debilitating to the district and only further fueled the growth of charter schools.

All of which sheds new light on the Governor’s own interest in charter schools and voucher systems. The primary goal is to weaken the unions. Improving the educational process is a secondary concern. Remember, unions vote Democratic.

Second, the ability to beat a union into submission is different from the ability to manage labor relations. Once Ms. Rhee had won her contract, the smart move would have been to make sure that she had buy-in on her evaluation process. By so quickly dismissing so many teachers and putting twice as many in the doghouse, Ms. Rhee has accomplished at least two things. She has guaranteed that D.C. will be paying a lot of legal bills for a long time (so much for low cost reform), and she has guaranteed that any union faced with a similar proposed contract in future will fight it even harder than they did before.

But I believe the biggest lesson for New Jersey is the reality of government under idealogues. Ms Rhee negotiated safeguards into the teacher evaluation process and then just disregarded them for what I'm sure she believes is the greater good. In all fairness to Ms. Rhee, I'm not sure she is too concerned about the voting power of the teachers' union in D.C., since D.C. does not elect national legislators, but in the hands of someone who does care (like Chris Christie) this idealogical union busting, sold as being in the best interest of children but then administered so as to weaken the unions as much as possible, could go from problematic to dangerous.

If we're not careful, someone following Ms. Rhee's lead will be firing teachers first and asking questions later, hoping that a more Republican state government will be able to clean up the mess. The mess that students will be stuck with in the interim.

Quote of Note: It's Still The Checks and Balances, Stupid

Governor Christie chose to honor the confirmation of Elena Kagan to the U.S Supreme Court by reminding New Jerseyans that our State Supreme Court remains shy one Justice. Said Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak:

“From nomination by President Obama to Senate confirmation yesterday, it took just 88 days for Elena Kagan to become the 112th Justice of the Supreme Court. Back at home, after 96 days without a hearing, there is no good and valid reason for the failure to give [New Jersey Supreme Court nominee] Anne Patterson the same consideration and deference.”

What Drewniak fails to mention is that there is no good and valid reason why there is a vacancy on the State Supreme Court to begin with.

Governor Christie chose not to re-nominate Justice John Wallace to the Court because the Governor wants to pack the Court with Justices who will overturn Abbott v. Burke and the line of cases that followed it. These cases require the State to re-allocate suburban property taxes to urban school districts. Had he been re-nominated, Wallace would have been able to serve for a little over 2 years before reaching the mandatory retirement age.

In response to charges that Governor Christie was politicizing the court by failing to consider Justice Wallace’s candidacy solely on his qualifications and not on his politics, the Governor claimed to have the right under the State constitution to boot Wallace. The Governor is a firm believer in using every arm of government as a political tool, just as Karl Rove used the Justice Department under Alberto Gonzalez as a political tool.

So how is it that Wallace has not been replaced yet? It seems that the same State constitution that allowed the Governor to sack Justice Wallace lacks a requirement for the Senate to confirm any replacement nominated by the Governor. Senate President Steve Sweeney says he will not consider swearing in a replacement until Wallace’s term has expired. i.e., for about 2 years.

Moreover, it seems that the Constitution was drafted with this type of stand-off in mind. Chief Justice Stuart Rabner has the right to leave Wallace’s seat open or temporarily elevate the most senior Superior Court judge or a retired state Supreme Court judge. In other words, the Constitution includes a check on the Governor’s power over the judiciary.

So, if the Governor wants to exercise the full range of his Constitutional powers, he has no right to cry fowl when the legislature and the judiciary follow suit.

And what of Anne Patterson? At first glance, she seems to be an innocent victim. However, it is clear that she has promised the Governor that she will vote to overturn Abbott v. Burke and its progeny. In other words, she is prepared to decide cases on political factors and not solely on the facts of the case itself. Which means she has proven herself unworthy to sit on any bench anywhere.

The FMAP Train Comes In

Seems like the Governor, and the State, just caught a little bit of a break, thanks to Senate Democrats (and Maine Republicans).

New Jersey's budget depended on about $570 million in emergency Medicaid money -- more than half the states in the country also relied on the money -- which was to be made available by maintaining a temporary increase in the FMAP, or the percentage of Medicaid money the Federal government reimburses to the states. However, just before New Jersey passed its budget in late June, Senate Republicans in D.C. filibustered a bill extending the FMAP increase for another year (as well as extending unemployment benefits), now that national Republicans are all election year deficit hawks.

The filibuster meant that a whole lot of states had holes in their budgets. New Jersey's budget hole was about $570 million. However, Senate Democrats finally got Senators Snowe and Collins to vote for the bill, breaking the filibuster and freeing up the money for the states.

What's interesting is that the Governor continues to show a willingness to use Federal funds in a manner opposed by his national party. Nationally, Republicans are proposing to rescind ObamaCare; in New Jersey, the Governor is relying on ObamaCare to pay for pharmaceuticals for the elderly, the disabled and the HIV+. Nationally, the Republicans want the Federal government to spend less; in New Jersey, the Governor is taking the increased FMAP money without reservation.

By contrast, Tim Pawlenty wouldn't take Federal money to finance Minnesota's health care programs for the poor. Pawlenty would not allow an increased number of Minnesotans to enter Medicaid before they would otherwise be able (in 2014) because it would have been an approval of the type of big government with which Pawlenty does not agree.

Perhaps all it means is that when Christie seeks higher office, he will be running against Washington. Or as a "maverick," if that term has not been tarnished beyond repair.

In any event, since the budget already assumes the FMAP money will be available, the action by Senate Democrats won't fund anything new. It will just keep next year's deficit down.

UPDATE: The FMAP train came in about $200 million short, which means there's still a pretty sizable hole in the budget.