Yesterday, Chris Christie received the endorsement of eight Democratic members of the Elizabeth Board of Education, as well as several local Democratic Party leaders. The Elizabeth Board of Education members are frustrated with Governor Corzine's failure to protect education funds or provide transparency and accountability in education policy, as well as an overall inability to guarantee priority funding for critical education programs as the reasons they are supporting Chris Christie.
Governor Jon Corzine heavily favored stop-gap measures to fill the gaping holes in his FY 2010 budget, including funding roughly 10 percent of the education budget with one-time federal stimulus funds. This reckless accounting puts New Jersey children's education at risk by funding the education budget with $1 billion that will not be there next year.
"Many of the Board members endorsing Chris today are Democrats, but we all know that when it comes to providing a quality education and a hopeful future for our children, party and politics aren't a factor," said Francisco Gonzalez, President of the Elizabeth Board of Education. "Governor Corzine has failed our kids in the last four years when it comes to education policy in our state and it is time for a change in leadership if we're going to ensure our children receive the quality education they deserve."
The members of the Board endorsing Chris Christie for governor are: Francisco Gonzalez (President), Carlos Trujillo (Vice President), Pastor Raul Burgos, Armando DaSilva, Rafael Fajardo, Marie Munn, Fernando Nazco and Elcy Castillo-Ospina. In addition, three local Democratic Party leaders joined the Board members in their endorsement: Tony Monteiro, former Elizabeth City Councilman and former Elizabeth Board of Education member, Bob Jaspan, former Elizabeth City Councilman, and Donald Goncalves, former Union County freeholder.
"We are proud to be standing by Chris and giving him our strongest endorsement," said Carlos Trujillo, Vice President of the Elizabeth Board of Education. "New Jersey's government is broken and Governor Corzine has failed to provide any solutions for the host of problems facing our state and our schools. We know Chris shares our belief that our number one priority must be giving our children every possible tool they need to be successful in the future. Chris is a proven and determined leader who has shown he has the guts needed to fix our education system and demand accountability at all levels."
1 comment:
These guys are not real dems…they register as dems to run for office in an all dem city. If you check their voter records you’ll find most of them were registered republicans at one point.
What’s funny about Christie “the corruption buster” accepting this BOE endorsement is that courts have found the Elizabeth BOE corrupt. Since 2006 the Star Ledger has reported on audits and investigations regarding corruption in the Elizabeth BOE system. In August 2009 the Star Ledger reported that an appellate court found the Elizabeth BOE guilt of using Abbott/taxpayer funding for political propaganda and advancement. The ruling allowed the State to take back more than $88,000 from the Elizabeth BOE budget.
Interesting how all these years under investigation and Christie “the corruption buster” never initiated his own investigation against the Elizabeth BOE. It’s not like he never heard of the Elizabeth BOE, go to their website and you can find pictures of Christie and these BOE members arm in arm at several events.
This is just another example of the hypocrisy that is the Christie campaign. How could you claim to be anti-corruption and accept an endorsement from an organization that as recently as last month was found guilty of fraud, mismanagement, and corruption. I guess Christie “the corruption buster” turns a blind eye to corruption when it benefits his run for office.
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