New Jersey

Christie And Schundler Fall Out Over Race To The Top Blunder

Eric Kleefeld | August 30, 2010, 12:40PM

So what should we make of the public spat now occurring between Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) and his former Education Commissioner Bret Schundler, who was fired this past Friday as a result of the errors that resulted int he state losing $400 million in Race to the Top money? Christie's side say that he was misled by Schundler's description of the events -- and Schundler says he never told them what they say he did. Let's review the known events that have occurred up to now.

There is no dispute that New Jersey committed an error in its application for the multi-billion dollar program, which awards grant money to states that compete on the basis of their actions on education reform. The question, then, is who made the error, and what did Christie really know about the process?

In early June, Christie overruled an application that Schundler had formulated from a deal with the state teachers union, on the grounds that the deal had been too favorable to the union and went against his own education agenda. "I made the choice to be bold," Christie said, "not only because I want it to be successful but it's because that's what I agree with."

Then last week, it was revealed that because of an error in the new application, which included budget numbers for the wrong years, New Jersey was docked just enough points to lose out on $400 million in federal funds. (Even worse, the Star Ledger reported that the original draft that Schundler and the union agreed to contained the correct information.)

Read more »

ACLU

NJ Library Removes LGBT Book After Complaint From Member Of Glenn Beck's 9/12 Movement

Jillian Rayfield | August 4, 2010, 8:40AM

A public library in Burlington County, New Jersey has ordered all of the copies of "Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology" removed from circulation, after a member of Glenn Beck's 9/12 Project complained about the book's content.

The library cited "child pornography" as its reason for removing the book.

Read more »