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NJEA Goes Viral

February 25, 2010

Laura Waters

The new Facebook page mellifluously entitled “NEW JERSEY TEACHERS UNITED AGAINST GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE’S PAY FREEZE” has this disclaimer prominently displayed: “This page is not sanctioned by the NJEA.” That’s a relief, because the page includes somewhat questionable claims such as “Christie is a disciple of Karl Rove – the chief architect of the George W. Bush administration. He is governor today because Rove picked him to run against Corzine.” Certainly it would be unseemly for a professional organization representing the fine educators of NJ to stoop to such tactics. Not so fast. Here’s a comment from one of its 31,769 fans:

When NJEA warned its members that Chris Christie would take away their pensions, health benefits, and collective bargaining rights, he accused us of lying. Now, a month into his term, he’s trying to do all of these things. Let the record show who the liar was.

Who’s the fan? None other than Steve Wollmer, chief spokesman for NJEA.

Laura Waters

3 Comments

Ronen, February 26, 2010 @ 3:28 am Reply

I'm the admin of that FB page. I'm just a guy in his house. The page is not sanctioned by the NJEA and is not their attempt to go viral. Your insinuations are incorrect, presumptuous and misleading.
Steve Wollmer, February 27, 2010 @ 1:11 am Reply

I'm Steve Wollmer, Communications Director for NJEA, and I joined this page as a fan. Is that a problem. What I said was true. So do you have a problem with (a) the First Amendment, or (b) the truth? This page is like a Town Square, and I felt comfortable joining. Please tell me — and your readers.
Steve Wollmer, February 27, 2010 @ 1:17 am Reply

And P.S. The page is not “sanctioned” by NJEA. This was started by an NJEA member, and IT went viral — NJEA had nothing to do with it. You have to deal with the fact that close to 40,000 people don't like what the Christie administration is doing. Don't blame NJEA. Our members can — and do — think for themselves. They're educators.