Christie To Kill ARC Project- Tunnel Vision For The Future; His Own

Commentary

There was once a time when New Jersey made things. We had auto assembly plants, breweries, factories that made electronic components, and New Jersey built some of America's first super highways, like US 1, the Garden State Parkway and the New Jersey Turnpike. We had "cloverleaves" and bridge projects, and Trenton used to make, and the world did take.

We used to have a film industry here as well. Actually, the first films were produced by Thomas Edison, and there were studios in Fort Lee, before sunny California beckoned the fledgling movie moguls. In more recent years TV became an important industry in New Jersey with The Sopranos and most recently Law and Order; SVU.

Terence Winter and Martin Scorsese wanted to film HBO's Boardwalk Empire in Asbury Park. However, the tax credit given for film production was discontinued by the new administration of Governor Chris Christie, the tough talking guy who's the nation's Republicans have fallen in love with- probably because they don't have to deal with him on a daily basis. Anyway, Boardwalk Empire moved it's operation to Brooklyn, and SVU crossed the Hudson into New York after spending it's first 11 seasons being filmed in New Jersey. New York offers a tax credit for film production; NJ doesn't. Say goodbye to New Jersey's film industry.

On May 3, 2009 the largest public works project in the United States was begun in North Bergen, a new railroad tunnel, the first in nearly a century to connect New Jersey and New York. The project was known as Access to the Region's Core, or ARC. The tunnel would burrow 100 feet below the Hudson River and end at a new 34th Street train station in Manhattan. At the station there would be access to 14 subway lines, PATH trains, and the Long Island Railroad. The full story behind the tunnel and the history of previous construction can be found here.

The tunnel project would provide thousands of construction jobs in Northern New Jersey, as many as 40,000 permanent job after the completion of the tunnel project, would cut the commute time for some riders in half, and add increased property value to tens of thousands of New Jersey homes. Candidate Chris Christie supported the tunnel project and reaffirmed his commitment to it after his election.

But today, Governor Chris Christie, citing cost over runs of $1.1 billion to $5.3 billion has decided to cancel the ARC project for good. He initially canceled the project on October 7, but then conferred with US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, and went on to further review the funding over the next two weeks, in between his stops across America campaigning for Republican candidates in this year's mid term elections.

Some will call Chris Christie a man of vision. But I for one see him a man of only one vision- of himself as the Republican challenger for the presidency of the United States in 2012.

Christie appears to be adamant in obtaining federal money to cover any cost overruns; in using this approach he puts the onus on the Feds for the collapse of the ARC project while enhancing his status as a tax cutting, spending slashing, fire breathing star of the GOP. He can flip flop on his commitment to the tunnel project because it died because the Obama administration won't give New Jersey anymore money....so he'll say.

And while federal authorities have offered to find alternate financing or even scale back the project, Chris Christie appears to be entrenched and inflexible in his position, despite the benefits the completion of the ARC project would have. The commuter, already saddled with higher fees and less service since Christie took office, is getting socked yet again.

Here's what I find most disturbing. When the state of New Jersey said it would not fund the $1.5 billion New Meadowlands Stadium, the ownership of the Giants and Jets found ways to get it financed and built. I find it it impossible to believe that New Jersey, with the resources available from both the public and private sector, couldn't find a way to cover any potential overruns. If the overrun was low at $1.1 billion, you mean to say the state, the Feds, and the Port Authority couldn't find a way to get the cash and get it done now? Because the bottomline is new tunnels will be needed, and needed soon. At what point do the existing one hundred year old tunnels become so unsafe that they have to be closed, leaving New Jersey, New York, and AMTRAK in an impossible situation managing the masses that commute or use the train for travel along the Eastern Seaboard.

In this two week window of review since the first closure of the ARC project, it appears that Governor Christie spent little time in seeking alternate financing to get the job done. It's pretty hard to do your job properly when the chief executive of New Jersey is at a GOP dinner in Indiana..... or in in Connecticut campaigning for Linda McMahon.... or in Florida, stumping for Marco Rubio. In the past six weeks or so when this crisis was bubbling to a surface, we could find Christie in Pennsylvania speaking for numerous candidates, or in California campaigning for Meg Whitman (and ripping into a protester in the audience....there's nothing like being confrontational to someone YOU think is confrontational to calm things down).

The Chris Christie Ego Tour 2010 seems to be winding down with the midterms on Tuesday. And much like his fiasco regarding the loss of $400 million in federal RACE TO THE TOP funding because of a clerical error- and Christie's unwillingness to compromise (or even APPEAR to compromise) with the NJEA, his decision to sink the ARC project seems to be driven by political ambition over the real needs of the state of New Jersey. This is a mistake that will impact not only New Jersey, but the whole region as well.

We....all of us....deserve so much better than this.

Christie Fires Schundler; The Fallout Continues

On Friday morning New Jersey Governor Chris Christie fired Education Commissioner Bret Schundler in the wake of the controversy regarding the denial of $400 million in RACE TO THE TOP money for Garden State schools because of a clerical error. The HOME NEWS TRIBUNE's editorial board contended that Schundler lied to Christie. My Letter To The Editor below says there is no smoking gun saying that Schundler lied, to the best of anyone's knowledge.


"Education Commissioner Bret Schundler got caught in an apparent lie- worth $400 million- and got canned by Gov. Chris Christie as a result".

This is how your editorial regarding Christie's firing of Bret Schundler in the Saturday (Aug 28) edition of the Home News Tribune began. I have a real problem with the wording of that statement.....it should read "Bret Schundler was fired partly because Governor Christie says Schundler was caught in an apparent lie".

After New Jersey lost out on the RACE TO THE TOP millions, Christie decided to blame Washington bureaucrats and the President of the United States for New Jersey finishing out of the money. When the tape surfaced that showed the New Jersey's representatives in the application process were at fault, Christie said that Schundler gave him bad information of what happened during the process.

Now, according to other media sources- broadcast, online, and in print-  Schundler denies that he gave the governor bad information. According to those sources Schundler told Christie not to make the claims against Washington and President Obama....but Christie did so anyway. Schundler has emails that support his claims, but other than that it's a "he said- he said" scenario.

Schundler had to go; with this $400 million clerical error somebody had to take the fall, and the ball was in Schundler's court. But your newspaper has no impirical evidence whatsoever that Schundler lied to the Governor. Christie made the situation worse with his over the top and foolish fixing of blame on the Obama administration when the fault was with his own team. The Governor once again played tough talking prosecutor and made sure the other guy- Bret Schundler- was painted in the worst possible light.

The bottomline- a very embarrassing performance by all involved. And maybe with some investigating- and with time- the truth about what really happened will surface.

Update! According to The Auditor in Sunday's Star-Ledger, the United States Department of Education held a workshop last year regarding the second round application for RACE TO THE TOP funding. Tips were given on the correct way to submit the application, as well as reminders to proofread, and that no new information could be submitted after the June 1 deadline.

The workshop was held on April 21 in Minneapolis. In all, 37 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico sent representatives to the workshop.

New Jersey did not, and finished eleventh, out of the money

The ten states that finished ahead of New Jersey and received funds attended the workshop.

According to The Star-Ledger Governor Christie's office has declined comment.

The Christie Administration's $400,000,000 Clerical Error; "It's Obama's Fault!"

As a practicing Roman Catholic, I was taught that the Pope, in matters of faith, is considered to be infallible....that is, the judgment of the Pontiff is always correct regarding matters of theology.

And as a New Jersey resident, I should feel doubly blessed....for we hath One Among Us, also a Catholic, who in his own mind claims infalliblity as well. He can be found in Trenton, the city that "makes and the world takes"....I knew about pork roll, but I didn't know so much baloney came from Trenton as well.

Harry Truman had a sign on his desk that exclaimed The Buck Stops Here! It's something Republican Governor Chris Christie should have remembered before he started finger pointing, shifting blame, or looking for an underling to throw under the boss when a clerical error by his administration cost New Jersey public schools $400,000,000 in grant money. This is happening at a time when state aid to municipalities has been slashed, several thousands of teachers are being laid off, and classroom and sports programs are discontinued. The State of New Jersey and it's schoolchildren needed that money.

And the Christie Administration let them down.

You've probably heard the story already. The Christie Administration applied for funds under the Race To the Top initiative; New Jersey hoped to get $400 million to aid its ailing schools. On Tuesday the announcement was made that nine states and the District of Columbia would be awarded Race To The Top money. New Jersey came in eleventh, and lost out on the cash.

The application for the grant was specific; it required budgetary data from the years 2008 and 2009. The application delivered to Washington had data for 2010 and 2011. The error in the application cost points in the application, dropping New Jersey to the #11 spot. and no money.

And, in the words of the Star-Ledger Editorial Board, the administration of Christopher James Christie, called by some "the future of the Republican Party" did do the following.....

"It (the error) may have been the most expensive clerical error in the history of mankind."

The full editorial of the Star-Ledger can be found here. And I agree with their statement. The mistake belonged to New Jersey; nine states and the District of Columbia got it right.... and we, the state of New Jersey, did not.

(Click for the August 25, 2010 front page of the Star-Ledger ).

Governor Christie then turned political, and needed to finger someone else. Forget about being a statesman and leader...a screwup like this tarnishes his political present and future.

So Christie needed to fix blame, and said the following.........

"When the president comes back to New Jersey, he's going to have to explain to the people of the state of New Jersey why he's depriving them of $400 million that this application earned because one of his bureaucrats in Washington couldn't pick up the phone and ask a question, couldn't go on the Internet and find information, or wouldn't accept the verbal representation" of the state's education commissioner during a follow-up interview,

What?

Christie's team messes up, and it's the President's fault?

Or let's try the rest of federal government. It seems to work for Boehner, Bachmann, Palin, Gingrich, and company. Here's more from Chris Christie.

""Does anybody in Washington, D.C. have a lick of common sense? Pick up the phone and ask us for the number."

Yes, it was a lot of paperwork, a ridiculous amount.... but the winners did it right. New Jersey didn't. And as the Star-Ledger mentioned in their editorial about Jim Furyk's disqualification from the Barclay's Golf Tournament because he arrived five minutes late.....those are the rules. If New Jersey got a mulligan for it's error, then every state that needed to do corrections to get millions of dollars would be doing so, and that would not only result in chaos, but it would be unfair.

So far Christie hasn't thrown anybody under the bus from his administration, but that could change. Here's an item from newjerseynewsroom.com.

"Gov. Chris Christie's Dog Days of August political nightmare continued Thursday as a new report surfaced that the $400 million federal education funding mistake apparently occurred when the governor nixed an agreement on support of aid application between his education commissioner and the NJEA, a statewide teachers' union."

That's right, they initially had the right figures, and had they submitted the original application, New Jersey could have gotten $400 million. Education Commissioner Bret Schundler worked out a deal with the NJEA and the state. But Governor Christie killed the deal. The application was redone, this time with the wrong information.....and it cost New Jersey $400 million.

There's more to come; the Democratic controlled New Jersey Assembly has said that an investigation is in order....and most New Jersey residents seem to agree.

Update!- Friday August 27 9:00am .....Last night news of a video from the US Department of Education broke. The video, in which representative from New Jersey led by NJ Education Commissioner Bret Schundler, presented the state's application for the Race To The Top grant. The video (from newjersey.com) clearly shows that New Jersey's delegation was asked by federal officials about the absence of the requested figures for 2008 and 2009, required on the application. The New Jersey representatives admitted that they did not have those figures available. The speaker from the US Department of Education asked if New Jersey could provide those figures....they were given a second chance.

On that second chance, New Jersey's delegation again was unable to provide the required data.

See the video below.

Excerpt of N.J.'s Race to the Top interview shows officials with no budget answer

More updated information may be found at nj.com.

As I type this at least two New York television stations, FOX 5 and PIX 11, have tried to contact Governor Christie for a comment on the video, which proves his claim that federal bureaucrats prevented New Jersey the chance to make corrections was totally false.

Christie's claim that the reviewers refused to accept corrections after the June 1 deadline was also not correct. New Jersey's delegation was given two chances to fix the problem, and was not able to do so.

Christie did respond to a question from a New Jersey radio station last night about the video and it's implications. He said he hadn't seen the video yet.

Update! Friday August 27 11:41AM NJ..... Education Commissioner Bret Schundler was fired this morning by Governor Chris Christie after Schundler refused to submit his resignation. Full story at nj.com.