Cerf's Up!!! What's Up with That?

  In the seemingly never-ending saga of Chris Christie versus the teachers and the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), their union ,  the Governor has mounted a frequent, and often bitter attack on the educators in the state. 

   To hear him tell it, the teachers are responsible for the budget deficit in the state, as a direct consequence of their pensions and health benefits.  Why, the primary obstacle to budget reform must be NJEA and its central tenet, teacher tenure.  Abolish both, and not only would the deficit disappear-- POOF-- but also all the problems of low student performance would instantaneously disappear as well.  We could have more charter schools, vouchers to improve school choice, and a sudden jump in student achievement all over the state.

  Never mind that many of the schools in New Jersey already rank among the best in the country, with high achievement, high student graduation rates; these he never mentions.   Only the failing schools, in places like Newark, Camden, and Jersey City -- which by coincidence also seem to be failing cities in so many measures.

   With that as background, we turn now to the latest savior of public education in New Jersey, currently Acting Commissioner of Education,  Christopher Cerf.  In the wake of the Christie foul-ups that led to the loss of $400 million in Race to the Top funds, Christie got rid of Bret Schundler, then Commissioner of Education, and nominated Cerf, whose background included a variety of political appointments, as well as time with the New York city schools chancellor's office.  As of late Feb. 2011, his appointment has not been confirmed by the Legislature-- and in light of recent revelations, that may never occur.

   See, it's this way:  in February, the Newark Star Ledger revealed that Cerf's home address in Montclair, New Jersey, was on record as the location of an educational consulting firm that just happened to be recommended for work on reforming the Newark school systems.  Faster than you can say, "Conflict of Interest?",  Cerf started spinning:

Cerf acknowledged Tuesday that he had a hand in the creation of the firm, but said he was no longer connected with it. He said he is now merely lending his address to the consulting firm because it needed a New Jersey mailing address. 

  "When this little consulting company [Global Education Advisors] was formed, I was part of the creation of it," he said. "I severed my relationship to it literally right after its formation. I have never received any compensation from it."

   He said he never did anything with the company. "I have no presence or association with it. I have never taken a nickel from it," he said. "I never actually did anything with it, so I’m not in any way, shape or form related to it."

   He asked The Star-Ledger not to publish this story because he said he did not think it was very important.

  Even though Cerf didn't think it was very important, he immediately sat down with the Star Ledger in an attempt at damage control.

   What is particularly curious about this kerfuffle is that it isn't the first time Cerf has not been as "pure as Caesar's wife."  When he was working for the NY chancellor, it was revealed that Cerf had not disclosed his equity in the for-profit Edison School Ventures, as required by law.

   Little is known about Global Education Advisors, despite their obvious talent for procuring a consulting contract.  According to Cerf, the company is run by Rajeev Bajaj, who also seems to be president of Sangari Global Ventures, which lists Cerf's brother, Randall, as its CFO.  And most of the work of SGV has been delivering instructional materials in Latin America.

   So, to return to the question in the title, Mr. Cerf, What's Up with That?

  

    

Loose Lips Quash Sales and Lower Bond Rating?

Bankruptcy Remarks and Bond Sale

     In early January, 2010 Gov. Christie told a town-hall meeting in Paramus, N.J., that health care costs  “will bankrupt” the state. About 20 minutes, in another part of the state, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority cut its tax-exempt school-related bond offering by more than half to $712.3 million.

     “It doesn't help to try and sell a $1 billion deal on the same day the governor is talking about the state going bankrupt due to health care costs,” said Mike Pietronico, who oversees $360 million as chief executive officer of Miller Tabak Asset Management in New York.

      While it is unclear exactly what affect the governor's harsh words had on the state's attempted sale of bonds, it does suggest that it might have been wise to avoid a topic like bankruptcy on the same day as a sale of this magnitude. The state cited “market conditions.”   It was an ugly day in the muni market. For another thing, everybody knows that healthcare costs are a huge issue everywhere. And beyond that, people also know that words like "bankruptcy" may be a bit hyperbolic.

      Still, all the talk of muni bankruptcies aren't making muni bond salesmen happy.  Bloomberg

quotes head of bond trading at Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management in New York, Gary Pollack, as saying "He is scaring some people when he says the state is going bankrupt... it wasn't timed well.

     Less than a month later (Feb. 10, 2010),  the governor declared that the state was on the “edge of bankruptcy”  seizing broad powers to freeze aid to more than 500 school districts and cut from higher education, hospitals and the Public Advocate.

     Standard & Poor’s downgraded New Jersey’s general-obligation rating to AA-, from AA, and dropped the ratings on some other state debts even lower. The changes will increase the interest rates that the state must pay when it borrows money.

Standard & Poor’s has given lower ratings to just two states, California and Illinois; four others stand with New Jersey at AA-, which is the fourth-highest rating. The firm rates New York and Connecticut a notch higher, at AA.

    A Standard & Poor’s credit analyst, Jeffrey Panger, cited New Jersey’s under financed pension and employee benefit funds, and his firm’s shift to putting more emphasis on such obligations.  The state reported last year that its pension system had $54 billion less than it needed to meet future obligations, one of the biggest such deficits in the country, and experts have said the state could run out of money within a decade. The fund for retiree health care is even further behind.

    Democrats said Wednesday that the governor was responsible for the downgrade, for failing to put money into pensions last year. They noted that last year they agreed to pension and benefit reductions for newly hired employees.

      “It’s time the governor took responsibility for his own actions and stopped trying to blame others,” said  Assemblyman Louis D. Greenwald, chairman of the budget committee. 

See also Nj.com and bloomberg.

The Boss and Mr. Big Thing

Chris Christie is a many with several curious attributes, including his blustering style, his mercurial temper, his occasional deviations from the more cautious political line. But on the issue of his devotion to Bruce Springsteen, he somehow manages to juggle two paradoxical ideas at the same time. On the one hand, Christie opposes many of Springsteen's central tenets, including opportunity, equal rights, the dignity of work, and yet by his own reckoning, he has been attending Springsteen concerts since he was 13, with a total now exceeding 120 [that's no typo, one hundred and twenty!]

This fanaticism-- there is no other word for it-- can best be attributed to three factors: the broad, lasting appeal of Springsteen's music. Christie's seemingly insatiable appetite and financial capacity to feed that appetite. And finally, what psychologists would call compartmentalism, the ability to separate ideas into distinct parts or categories; in this instance, the ability to enjoy Springsteen's music while somehow remaining oblivious to his message and themes.

Such is Christie's devotion to Springsteen-- and his disconnect from the themes of the music-- that he actually hoped to have Bruce play for his Inaugural Ball. When that request was summarily rejected, his organizers opted for the next best thing: a Springsteen Tribute Band (a.k.a. An imitation). With no disrespect to the musicians who performed at that event (The B Street Band from Belmar, New Jersey), this choice epitomizes so much of Christie's and the Republican's words: full of falsities.

So the Big Thing got to fantasize about being there with Bruce, the Big Man, Little Steve, and the others at his Coming Out Party.
Born to Run                Badlands                 (sorry about the ads. Not my fault!)

Almost every other major artist has had fans (cf. Dead Heads) who consider their devotion an important facet of who they are. Christie's income level and many personal and professional connections have enabled him to by-pass the more established avenues to obtain prized tickets to sold-out shows. But it is his compartmentalism that makes his Springsteen fixation so curious.

Christie is not alone in this sort of compartmentalism, although you would think that after having seen over one hundred shows, he might eventually begin to hear the messages behind the music.

September 19, 1984, long before Christie was in the public limelight, at a campaign stop in Hammonton, New Jersey, Ronald Reagan added the following to his usual stump speech:

"America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts; it rests in the message of hope in songs so many young Americans admire: New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen. And helping you make those dreams come true is what this job of mine is all about." [N.B. There is nothing to insinuate that a 22 year old Young Republican from New Jersey like Christie had any role in this misappropriation.]

Shortly thereafter, Springsteen responded, "The President was mentioning my name the other day, and I kinda got to wondering what his favorite album musta been. I don't think it was the Nebraska album. I don't think he's been listening to this one."

In Springsteen’s own words, the song "Born in the U.S.A." is about "a working-class man" [in the midst of a] "spiritual crisis, in which man is left lost...It's like he has nothing left to tie him into society anymore. He's isolated from the government. Isolated from his family...to the point where nothing makes sense."

Similarly, many of those attending the 2004 Vote for Change Shows in Meadowlands exhibited the ability to ignore Springsteen's themes.

“Many said the music mattered more than his messages."... "We support Bush, and we support Bruce," said Dan George, a law enforcement officer from Netcong, N.J., wearing a T-shirt that said, "Bruce fan. Bush fan." "We're going to have a great time tonight," he said.

Springsteen also showed his support for Christie's gubernatorial opponent, Jon Corzine, on the issue of gay marriage: "I've long believed in and have always spoken out for the rights of same sex couples and fully agree with Governor Corzine when he writes that 'The marriage-equality issue should be recognized for what it truly is -- a civil rights issue that must be approved to assure that every citizen is treated equally under the law."

Prior to getting behind candidates, Springsteen was a stickler for staying on point, whether it be joblessness, the environment, veterans affairs or his most enduring cause, hunger. (Local food banks have had collection stations at his concerts since the early 1980s and he always alerts his audience that they are present). Post-Katrina, he made his first performance ever at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, a political statement unto itself and, like many of his points and causes, strictly American.

Consider these words spoken to Ted Koppel in explanation of his 2004 support of then Democratic candidate for President, John Kerry:

"I stayed a step away from partisan politics because I felt it was always important to have an independent voice. I wanted my fans to feel like they could trust that. But you build up credibility. ... And I think there comes a time when you feel, all right, I've built this up and it's time to spend some of this. And I think this is one of the most critical elections of my adult life, certainly. Very basic questions of American identity are at issue. Who we are. What do we stand for? When do we fight? As a nation, over the past four years, we've drifted away from, I think, very mainstream American values."

In 2008, Springsteen endorsed Barack Obama issuing this statement via his website:

According to Springsteen's statement, Senator Obama "speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems. A country that's interested in its collective destiny and in the potential of its gathered spirit. A place where '. . . nobody crowds you, and nobody goes it alone.'"
"I have now seen and heard enough to know where I stand," Springsteen said Wednesday on his website.

And yet, still it seems, Chris Christie loves The Boss. Compartmentalism, surely!

A Waist Is a Terrible Thing to Mind

   Okay, let's face it, there is no getting around the fact that sooner or later, any discussion of Chris Christie will stumble over some reference to girth and poundage, whether by design or accident.  I mean, who can read about Christie "cutting the fat from the budget," "tightening the belt," or "throwing his weight around in a meeting" and not inwardly chuckle while striving to come up with an all-too-easy punchline?  Not from someone who says he wants to "Do Big Things."  Right, Big Guy?

  So we were pleased to read this story entitled "Gov. Christie says he's losing weight the old fashioned way"

   Now granted, there are those who will immediately tell you that "diets don't work," and for the most part, research has shown that to be true.  Who doesn't know someone who has tried Atkins, grapefruit, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Runway Model, etc., with some success?

   So we wish the Big Guy luck with his personal Biggest Loser Challenge.  Cynics might wonder if this isn't one more step in image enhancement in preparation for the pursuit of higher office, but not this author. No, there are plenty of other reasons to drop a few pounds, including improved health, less strain on the heart, the thrill of driving a Mini Cooper, the freedom to shop in a normal menswear shop, and more.

   So keep us posted...we'd love to have a weekly bulletin issued from the Governor's Office, reporting on the weekly weigh-in.

   Think of how inspirational that would be.  And what an incentive it would be for your weight loss efforts.  Like a weekly Weigh-In at Weight Watchers.

It's About Mr. Bluster

   It's this way:  Chris Christie is the governor of New Jersey, and if you listen to the talking heads on various television programs, you'd think he walks on water.  He is Da Man who is slashing taxes and budgets in the State of New Jersey, standing up to the Teacher's Union, an compassionate champion of education, a friend of big business, and an all around good guy.

   If you look carefully, however, and give his career a thorough examination, you quickly conclude that while he has many strengths, there is plenty of room to be skeptical.


   And even if you love him, really love him, his behavior, rhetoric, style, and demeanor should be cause for concern.  Because the more you know about him, the more you realize that he is a bully, a big bully.

   So welcome to this exploration into the real Big Thing from the Garden State.



   Facts, stories, and opinion pieces about the Big Man from New Jersey, who makes confrontation a daily habit, and has ambitions for bigger things.   It's a Big Thing.

The Race to the Top Fiasco

If ever there was a blunder of gargantuan proportions, it was the series of errors, mistakes, vindicative actions, ineptitudes, accusations, recriminations, and lies all perpetrated as a result of the State of New Jersey's application for funding under the 2010 Federal Government's Race to the Top program.  At a time when Gov. Christie was ruthlessly slashing the state education budget, resulting in layoffs, loss of special programs, etc., these funds were seen as a stimulus for quality education and innovation in many school systems in the state.

   The lead actor for the majority of application process was then Commissioner of Education Bret Schundler whose office completed the 1000 page application which sought input and support from participating education districts AND their teachers' union.   Therein lay the rub.  Gov. Christie's vendetta against the union was such that he ordered last minute changes to this previously negotiated submission, and in the process errors were made which proved to be the undoing of the New Jersey application.

   Herein lies the tale:

Attacks Fly as State Loses $400 Million   (NY Times 8-25-2010)

Christie Blames Schundler for Loss of Race to Top Compromise (nj.com 6-1-2010)

Where NJ Lost Points     (NJ.com 8-25-2010)

Fired Education Commissioner Says Governor Defamed Him    (NY Times 9-1-2010)

Hatred of Union Led to Grant Loss     (NY Times 10-7-2010)

   What is particularly revealing about this entire incident is how the Governor first blamed the Obama Administration and its Dept of Education for their unwillingness to permit correction of the errors, a charge which later proved false.

   Then he directed blame toward his own Commissioner of Education, Bret Schundler, and asked for his resignation, which was not forthcoming, so he was terminated.

   Then when documentary evidence substantiate Schundler's contention that the errors occurred after Christie and Co. made damaging revisions to the application, Christie continued to place blame elsewhere.

The ARC Tunnel Controversy

Depending upon who you ask, or your point of view, the ARC Tunnel was either a long overdue solution for thousands of rail commuters between New Jersey and New York or the next truly humongous public works project whose cost overruns would make a Pentagon Weapons Procurement Officer green with envy.

   The short version is that in conjunction with the Federal Government and the State of New York, the NJ Port Authority were to share the $ 8.7 billion cost of a new train tunnel underneath the Hudson River, permitting increased rail traffic into (and out of) New York city.  The project has been on the books for many years, with plans drawn, right of way and access properties leased, and preliminary entrance work begun.  But Gov. Christie decided that there was a possibility that cost overruns might spiral out of control, and the state would be unable to pay its share.  That's the simplified version.  As you will read, so much depends on who you believe, which source of funding your tap, how you might use the

relieved funds for some alternative bills, etc.

Christie Halts Tunnel     (NY Times 10-7-2010)

Won't Repay Feds for Tunnel    Christie doesn't want to repay $271 already spent by the state on the project

Christie Kills the Tunnel Once and for All   (NYTimes 10-27-2010)  Despite last minute meetings and concessions from NY and DC officials, Christie again says, "No."

NJ Transit Hires DC Law Firm to Fight Payment of ARC Funds    (nj.com 11-9-2010)

You can default on a $271 million payment without a few repercussions, thus requiring you to hire a high priced DC legal team to fight to keep all the money, no strings attached.

  To be continued...