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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnM who wrote (243739)	2/1/2014 1:58:57 PM
From: freelyhovering	Respond to of 543619

Kornacki--I also liked it.

To: JohnM who wrote (243739)	2/1/2014 2:09:40 PM
From: Sam	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 543619

Kornacki brought up the Bret Schundler affair of a few years ago, which I had completely forgotten about. It was another case where Christie blamed a top appointment for screwing up, costing the state millions of dollars of federal school money and fired him. The aide talked back, said Christie was dead wrong, and he turned out to be telling the truth, not Christie. That faux pax was buried. This one won't be. Here is an article on the Schundler affair. After Christie Firing, Schundler Fires Back By Barbara Martinez Updated Aug. 28, 2010 12:01 a.m. ET Gov. Chris Christie fired his education chief, Bret Schundler, Friday, barely four days after New Jersey just missed winning $400 million in the federal Race to the Top education competition. Now the two men are embroiled in a bitter back and fourth about who said what to whom, when and why. New Jersey finished in 11th place in the competition, in which states competed for billions of dollars in federal money in exchange for agreeing to make certain systemic changes—such as strengthening teacher accountability policies. New Jersey came in just three points behind Ohio, the last of 10 states awarded monies. The issue dividing the two men comes down to one missing sheet out of a 1,000-page application. The state lost 4.8 points because it submitted financial information about 2010 and 2011, rather than the 2008 and 2009 figures that the application requested. On Wednesday, Mr. Christie publicly railed against the Obama administration over the loss, saying that his education commissioner provided federal interviewers in the competition with the correct numbers in mid-August. "Does anybody in Washington, D.C., have a lick of common sense?" the governor asked during a press conference. On Thursday, however, the U.S. Department of Education released the video of that interview, and there was no sign that Mr. Schundler had provided the additional financial information. The governor's office said Mr. Schundler had misled Mr. Christie about what information the federal interviewers were provided. On Thursday evening, Mr. Christie's chief of staff called Mr. Schundler and requested his resignation. Mr. Schundler indicated that he would resign in the morning, said Michael Drewniak, the governor's spokesman. But on Friday morning, "he refused to sign the resignation letter and was subsequently terminated," Mr. Drewniak said. Mr. Schundler said he gave the governor accurate information: "He's blaming me for misinforming him, when on Wednesday morning before he went out" to his press conference, "I said to him, 'No I did not have the data and I did not seek'" to give the federal judges the missing financial information. Mr. Schundler says his "best interpretation, what I like to imagine, is that the governor, when he's on a roll and he's moving so quickly, he was thinking of what he was going to say and he's forgetting what I said two minutes ago." He added: "To me it's hard to understand how when you gave the correct information you end up being asked to resign." Mr. Schundler on Friday provided reporters e-mails that show that his communications with the governor's staff did not include any claims to having given the interviewers the missing financial information, as Mr. Christie claimed Wednesday. Mr. Drewniak called Mr. Schundler's version of events "revisionist history" and an attempt "to cover up misleading the governor." Mr. Schundler was the governor's "only source for what occurred in the Race to the Top presentation," he said. "All of the governor's statements were based on Mr. Schundler's account." Mr. Schundler confirmed that he was asked to resign from his $141,000 job, but "I said it would be much better if they terminated me because I can't afford" to go without unemployment benefits while job hunting. "I have to cover bills," he said. Write to Barbara Martinez at Barbara.Martinez@wsj.com online.wsj.com