NJ Education Report

Star-Ledger columnist Tom Moran considers the impact of Corzine’s “overwhelming support from labor unions.” On NJEA:

The New Jersey Education Association, for example, has sent mailings to its 200,000 members that are crowded with falsehoods. One claims that Christie would end collective bargaining, eliminate pensions, and cut school spending — none of which is true.

“Our members are very excited about this election,” says Barbara Keshishian, the NJEA president.

In the same vein, Fred Siegel & Dan DiSalvo in The Weekly Standard (of all places) deconstruct the growth of public sector unions in America, which they call “political powerhouses” that threaten the financial lot of unorganized tax payers. Their example:

(Carla) Katz not only represents thousands of state employees, she is also the richly rewarded former girlfriend of New Jersey governor Jon Corzine. Katz’s influence on Corzine became clear in 2006 when the impassioned governor spoke to a Trenton rally of roughly 10,000 public workers and shouted out: “We will fight for a fair contract.” Corzine was of course management in that situation, not labor. But with the power of the public sector unions to drive election outcomes, they now sit on both sides of the bargaining table.