BY MICHAEL SYMONS • STATEHOUSE BUREAU • SEPTEMBER 4, 2010
TRENTON — Four hundred million dollars in education reform funds up in smoke. One Cabinet member fired, then called a liar, leading him to release a meticulous chronology defending his part in the events that precipitated his dismissal.
The week-plus episode sparked by New Jersey's near-miss and unfortunate flub in the Race to the Top competition would have been remarkable political theater in any case, but it was particularly fascinating to observers this year because it marked the first significant missteps of Gov. Chris Christie's first year in office.
While the event created a political opening for Democrats, who hope to keep the story going in hearings that begin Tuesday, political analysts said the short-term headache doesn't appear likely to be a long-term, chronic condition for Christie.
Rider University political scientist Ben Dworkin called it "a speed bump" that tarnishes Christie a bit but is
Adena Stevens/For The Star-LedgerFormer education chief Bret Schundler at his home in Jersey City Friday, Aug. 27, 2010 .TRENTON — Assembly Democrats have called upon nearly everyone in the state who might have laid a hand on the failed Race to the Top application — from the governor’s chief of staff down to the person who hand-delivered it to Washington, D.C. — to testify at a hearing Tuesday.
The hearing is an attempt to "dissect" an error that cost the state $400 million in federal education funding and "avoid future missteps," according to a press release the Democrats issued late Friday.
That session, as well as one planned by Senate Democrats, will prolong an issue Gov. Chris Christie had declared over.
Former education commissioner Bret Schundler, who said he made the error while editing the state’s application, was invited to
Master of Myth: What Arne Duncan Says and Does
3 SEPTEMBER 2010
The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived and dishonest – but the myth – persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
—John F. Kennedy
U.S. Secretary of Education has been called the most powerful education secretary in history.
Doug Beghtel/The OregonianBrenda Parker welcomes her kindergarten students to their first day of school at Orchards Elementary School in Vancouver and begins teaching her students how to raise their hand when they have something to say. Kindergarten students will be in class from 9:15 a.m. to 3:35 p.m. like the other students.
