Gov. Christopher Christie continued his war on teachers’ unions this month. The state Attorney General’s office has begun a series of investigations to look at union representatives in each school district to determine if they are violating any state laws in regards to being paid as teachers as well as collecting a salary from the union.
State investigators have popped up in several towns, including Bayonne, asking for information concerning union officials who represent teachers and others.
This steps up the campaign to break what Christie sees as a stranglehold on the education system by teachers’ unions, in an effort to push unions into making concessions that will lower the costs of operating schools statewide. But it also sends a message that Christie is willing to use every tool – including possible criminal charges – in this war to break the backs of the unions.
This is similar to the historic arrest of 44 people last year in the massive anti-corruption campaign by the U.S. Attorney’s office that helped propel Christie into the State House.
But this raid on the state teachers’ unions has serious political ramifications, since school districts are currently seen as the last remaining vestiges of patronage.
With local governments cutting down, school districts – which have multiple sources of financing from federal, state, and other grants as well as local taxes – have become the pools from which political supporters are rewarded with jobs and promotions.
This is particularly true in complicated urban districts, which also just happen to be primarily Democratic. By breaking the back of these Democratic patronage mills, Christie also achieves a political triumph by crippling the Democratic political machines in key districts, which could possibly lead to undoing the stalemate between his office and the state legislature controlled by Democrats.
Is the lawsuit a political ploy?
Dr. Felix E. Roque, leader of Together We Can – the recall movement in West New York – may be totally off base with the lawsuit he filed in late July against his arch rival, West New York Mayor Sal Vega, and other town commissioners. But you have to give him credit for trying.
Failing to get his recall of Vega off the ground this year, Roque has begun his campaign to unseat Vega next year by filing a lawsuit that suggests Vega defamed him in an advertisement.
So many bad things get said about so many people in politics, it is difficult to say at what point an advertisement crosses the legal line, especially because libel laws tend to lean towards free speech when it comes to political ads.
But the suit will generate interest and allow Roque to rally his troops and keep the momentum of his recall election alive when the movement might have otherwise faded away.
Rogue’s accusations are not new. Vega’s campaign against Union City Mayor Brian Stack in the state Senate race three years ago had similar questionable overtones, but did not result in a lawsuit.
Keeping campaign workers and supporters enthused is one of the great challenges all candidates face when they are a year or so out from an election. This was the strategy employed by Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop a year or so before the 2009 mayoral election. Instead of a lawsuit, Fulop orchestrated a referendum question that allowed him to build his campaign and get his workers some practical experience in the field. In the end, Mayor Jerramiah Healy’s political war chest was just too potent for Fulop to beat.
A recently begun effort to recall Healy, however, has the same overtones, even if the Fulop camp isn’t taking credit for the campaign. The idea is to send Healy a message not to run, in case the mayor decides he might like to run for another term in 2013.
United against what?
While most of the municipal ward elections in Hoboken won’t be held until May of 2011, many people are looking to the special November election coming up for the 4th Ward in Hoboken. They are looking at the reelection campaign of Councilman Michael Lenz to know what to expect for the future.
Political people opposed to Lenz and the administration of Mayor Dawn Zimmer may not think they have a winning horse in the race against Lenz, but they believe this election is a test of solidarity. If the various political factions can agree on a candidate to oppose Lenz, they might also be able to bridge a future coalition that might wrestle control of the City Council away from Zimmer next May.
Remarkably, everything Zimmer does – positive or negative – can be used against her. Last week, she gave raises to two of her aides at the same time she announced police layoffs, and the critics went wild. This week, a council member said confidentially that Hoboken municipal government appears to have a budget surplus of about $19 million. You would think this would be news to celebrate, showing how fiscally prudent the Zimmer administration has been. But no, critics are asking: how can she be laying off cops if she has a surplus? Talk about a no-win situation.