Is this a case of good cop/bad cop? And exactly what message are these guys — Gov. Christie and Commissioner Schundler — trying to send to voters?
Author: hankkalet
Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie.
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Hank Kalet 
There is no doubt that Christie is a very savvy, totally Machiavellian politician. He's not only got the angry vindictive fat man complex but also the prosecutor-gone-wild syndrome. Making a big deal of that e-mail, almost implying that there is fiscal chicanery at the NJEA, without any proof, but hey, that's how some amoral arrogant prosecutors operate. Who needs proof when you are trying to crucify someone.They may be playing bad cop, worse cop or possibly Christie had second thoughts when he got such a bad reaction from school officials for his really outrageous comment about voting no on budgets where teachers don't take wage freezes. About a third of the districts are still in contract negotiations and they may or may not decide on wage freezes.Christie is the worst but lots of low information voters are cheering him on, the press is largely giving him a pass, so far, and of course the right wing media hate mongers love him to death, especially the vile NJ101.5.When Commissioner Schundler claims that school district salaries are rising three times faster than the rate of inflation, that’s an outright falsehood. Over the past five years, the average rate of inflation was 2.76 percent. Over the past five years, the average teacher salary increased by 2.86 percent. Schundler is misleading the public on this issue. But what else is new from an administration and cabal based on lies, half truths, innuendos, cherry picked facts, falsehoods, red herrings and straw men galore.