Christie Speech

Christie is doing some crazy things in NJ (see below), but I LOVE this short speech he gave at a Town Hall Meeting in Robbinsville, NJ yesterday, in which he called out the unions for being the bullies that they are ("the teachers' union is about the accumulation and exercise of raw power…The bully's the one that's standing when everyone's on the ground bleeding").  You can watch it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ksLlAi3iIc&feature=player_embedded, and here is a partial transcript I did: 

 

My argument with not with teachers in New Jersey.  My argument is with the union who collects $730 a year from every teacher and school employee in the union in mandatory dues.  And if you don't want to join the union, here's your option: you can pay 85% of $730 to be out.  It's like the Hotel California [laughter].  You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.  That raises for the teachers' union…get ready…$130 million a year.  What do they spend that money on?  An army of lobbyists in the State House.  Believe me, every time there's a bill that regards public education, there are five lobbyists from the teachers' union sitting in there, staring down those legislators, in case they dare to disagree.  What do they spend their money on?  $6 million – you've seen it and heard it – $6 million in negative advertising against me since March 16^th.  Think about that.  That's a little over two months and they've spent $6 million on New York TV and radio, Philadelphia TV and radio, to attack me.  That's dues money that is coming from their teachers, mandatory, no choice, and from all of you, because their salaries come from property taxes and your state income taxes.  Now if you don't think this is a screwy system, I don't know what is. 

 

And so I don't argue with teachers.  I think in the main, there's bad lawyers, there's bad doctors, there's bad accountants, there's bad auto mechanics, and there's bad teachers too.  But luckily, in each one of those categories, they're the minority.  The overwhelming majority of teachers are really good people who care deeply about their kids and want to do a good job.  But the teachers' union is about the accumulation and exercise of raw power.  They call me a bully but I don't understand what they mean.  'Cause this is how I define a bully: you see, I just got to the schoolyard in January, and I walked into the schoolyard and I saw a whole bunch of people on the ground bleeding.  And I saw one standing.  THAT'S the bully!  The bully's the one that's standing when everyone's on the ground bleeding.  And what they've been used to is governors coming in and looking at that scene and saying, "Hmmm, do I want to be on the ground bleeding, or do I want to be upright, not bleeding?"  And most governors have said, "I want to be upright and not bleeding."  I said, "You punch them, I punch you."  [applause] That's the fight.  The fight is about who is going to run public education in New Jersey: the parents and the people they elect, or the mindless, faceless union leaders who decide that they're going to be the ones who run it because they have the money and the authority to bully around school boards and local councils.  So listen, I know I don't make myself the most popular guy in the world by having this fight, but if we don't win this fight, there are no other fights left.  This is the fight we gotta fight.  This is the fight we have to win for our kids.  So when they say it's for the kids…4-5% increases, free health insurance for life…it ain't about the kids.  This is about the kids.