.@GovChristie He-Man Woman Haters Club

Greetings from Orlando! Home of the NEA RA 2015! 

While many of us were down here preparing for the Representative Assembly, on Tuesday, the Essex Co. Education Association organized a protest rally outside Gov. Christie's POTUS campaign kickoff at Livingston High School. Since then, the 'other' #TellingItLikeItIs campaign has been flooding Twitter and Facebook with memes and stories of life under Emperor Gov. Christie. This one caught my attention:






















While his record on the economy, jobs and the environment is atrocious, Gov. Christie has forged his reputation on verbally abusing voters—especially women. 

"Something may be going down tonight, but it ain't jobs, sweetheart."

Here's the video: 



Straight out of central casting: 

Rude, crude, sexist, dumb oaf, in a bar, beer in hand, surrounded by back-slapping good 'ole boys. Half-time's over, now back to the game. So he grabs a frazzled waitress and pulls her onto his lap. 

"More wings, sweetie. Make 'em hot, like you."

Laughs, guffaws and cat calls from his buddies as the waitress pries herself out of his grip and scurries away, clearly embarrassed.

In some way, shape or form, this happens every day in every city in America. It's one thing when some random jerk does it; it's quite another when the sitting governor of your state does it. But what's more disturbing is when this behavior gets a favorable reaction from the crowd. Writing for The Washington Post, Matt Katz reported:

The comment shocked some pundits who thought it was sexist. But I was in the crowd, and that line got more applause than any other. 

Welcome to the age of pro wrestling politics.

I'm sure it had something to do with Mormon Mitt Romney taking a pass on him for his VPOTUS candidate. But I don't understand why any woman in NJ could vote for Christie for a second term and endorse this behavior.  

But Gov. Christie is an equal opportunity offender. Just look at what he's said about some NJ female elected officials (additional reporting at Blue Jersey):

• Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg deserves to be beaten with a baseball bat.
• (Then) Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver lies.
• Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (then Assemblywoman) is responsible for someone's murder.
• Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle is a jerk.

Something tells me that more than a few therapists around the Garden State would love to get him on their couch for a few sessions. 

If you're a Baby Boomer like me, you no doubt know this classic Little Rascals episode:




Like Spanky, Gov. Christie has issues with women and leads with an iron fist. Like Alfalfa, the GOP does his bidding even though they don't always agree with him, lest the sergeant at arms (Christie's wrath) rain down on them. While Spanky fills Darla's sandwiches with soap, Christie fills women's lives with more struggles. Whether it's vetoing Planned Parenthood funding or equal pay for women or slashing school funding or launching a full-out assault on teachers—the majority of whom are women—Christie has made it clear that if you're a woman without deep pockets and a big checkbook, he really has no use for you.  

As I sit in a convention center with approximately 9,000 other education professionals from all across the country, the majority of whom are women, as we listen to a moving tribute to the victims of the terrorist shooting at the AME Church, as we debate and discuss issues of institutional racism, marriage equality, voting rights and others concerning social justice, as our leaders—all minorities, all women: President Lily Eskelsen (Latina), Vice President Becky Pringle and Secretary Treasurer Princess Moss (African Americans)—give impassioned speeches about personal empowerment, standing up for our students and our profession, I wonder what the 2017 RA would look like should Christie be elected president. And I shudder.

Elections have consequences. Women should never have to suffer the consequences of Gov. Christie's policies again. 

Register to vote and do it!

An open letter to Rowan University President, Dr. Ali A. Houshmand

Dear Dr. Houshmand,

I understand that you have invited Gov. Chris Christie to be the keynote speaker at next month’s commencement ceremonies and that you are bestowing an honorary degree on him. Why?

As you well know, Rowan University started out as a teachers college, and in fact in 1937, the school’s name was changed to New Jersey State Teachers College at Glassboro. Your school’s own website describes it thus:

"The college gained a national reputation as a leader in the field of reading education and physical therapy when it opened a clinic for children with reading disabilities in 1935... The college was one of the first in the country to recognize these needs and was in the forefront of the special education movement." (emphasis mine)

Correct me if I am wrong, but no other New Jersey governor has treated public education, students and teachers with such vile contempt as Gov. Christie. No other New Jersey governor that I know of has denigrated, demonized and tried to destroy one of the best public education systems in the country the way Gov. Christie has. He has cut billions from education funding, which has resulted in 10,000 educators losing their jobs. He has contributed to and expanded the racial and socioeconomic segregation of our urban school districts with policies like One Newark. He has accused teachers of being ‘greedy, selfish and disgraceful’ and using our students as ‘drug mules’. If you need more proof, here it is, and as blogger, TeacherBiz said in her post on this issue, if that’s not enough, just Google it.

It would be bad enough if this were an isolated political bent, but it’s not. Gov. Christie’s attacks on public education are part of a well-organized, highly funded nationwide campaign to privatize public education, destroy teachers unions and turn the teaching profession into a low-paid, high-turnover test proctor service. If you are not aware of this, then again, I must ask, ‘Why?’ As an educator and president of one of the state’s premier teachers colleges, how can you not know what is happening in K-12 education, how can you not be up in arms about it, and how can you bestow honors on someone hell-bent on destroying one of the bedrocks of a democracy, and something that New Jersey does better than almost every other state in the country?  

To bestow an honorary degree on Gov. Christie would be a slap in the face to all the hard working education majors graduating that day, not to mention all the alumni of the school of education, every education professional working in New Jersey, and every single child who attends a New Jersey public school. It also sends a powerful message that you support his destructive public education policies. Do you really want that as part of your legacy?

Christina and Joseph Nappi have started a Change.org petition calling on you to reconsider your decision. Mr. Nappi also wrote a letter to the South Jersey Times imploring you to reconsider. The petition and letter are picking up steam on social media. I urge you to please reconsider this decision. I urge you to take a stand for public education and against the corporatization of one of the last vestiges of a strong democracy. Unless and until educators stand up against the privatization juggernaut, our children don’t stand a chance. You can lead the way.

Thank you.

How does Gov. Christie sleep at night?

As governor, Chris Christie has done a lot of truly awful things to the people of New Jersey in the past 5 years, but even more egregious than promulgating the myth of ‘failing schools’, demonizing teachers and other public employees, leaving Sandy victims sinking without a life boat, calling a Navy Seal an ‘idiot’, telling the press to ‘take a bat out’ on a 78-year old grandmother (who just happens to be the Senate Majority leader), turning his back on the poor, minorities, the middle and working classes, seniors, the LGBT community, commuters, and the homeless, surrounding himself (there are still no dots connecting him) with irresponsible, vindictive, selfish and, dare I say anti-semitic, staff who would put millions of George Washington Bridge commuters at risk for juvenile, political sport, is the report out of the New York Times and picked up by Rachel Maddow Tuesday that he actually gave away pieces of the World Trade Center as political carrots to the top 20 mayors on his  ‘must-get’ endorsements list.

Governor Christie cares so much about winning that he’s willing to trade off pieces of hallowed ground—a burial site—for political favors. It's like FDR giving away pieces of The USS Arizona.

Everyone who lives in the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut metro area has a 6-degrees of separation story about 9/11. Everyone knows someone who knew someone who lost someone or saved someone. When that anniversary rolls around, millions of emotional scabs get ripped off. On any given day, the site of the two reflecting pools, edged with the names of all the victims is quiet and somber. Flowers and other mementos are left on the perfectly engraved names by friends and family who never forget and who will never fully heal. For all intents and purposes, it’s a sacred site for many who never got closure, whose loved one’s remains were never found. And every piece of wreckage should be treated as if it, in some way, is imbued with their spirit.

Ever walk past FDNY Ten House? Engine Company 10 Ladder Company 10 is right across the street from the World Trade Center site. They lost 5 members on 9/11. On the front wall of the newly re-built firehouse is this enormous bronze tribute to the fallen heroes of that day: New York's bravest.  Wonder how they feel knowing that the governor of New Jersey has treated their fallen brothers and sisters with such disrespect?

                                

Three years ago while on the campaign trail, I stopped at a firehouse in the 16^th district where, unbeknownst to me, a piece of the World Trade Center had been presented a few days earlier. (I'm trying to find out whether that mayor was on Christie’s list.) I walked into the room and saw a hulking piece of twisted steel and immediately knew what it was. That’s the kind of unconscious hold those buildings had on the tens of millions of us who took them for granted every day. They were our beacon on the Turnpike, guiding us home from a long day’s journey or a long day’s commute. They were the watchtowers of the tri-state, standing guard over commuters and travelers alike. They were our Mt. Everest and K-2. They simply were… Until they weren’t.

I took this picture back in the '80s. It's been on my refrigerator for years.

And in a slow motion split second, they were replaced with smoke and ash and fire, and screaming and running, and tangled piles of twisted steel and broken glass, broken bodies and broken hearts, fighter jets chasing after ghosts, the acrid smell of jet fuel mixed with so much death… and all that fluttering paper.

And then came the eerie silence that enveloped us like a tomb. With so many airports, the sound of airplanes is like white noise to those of us living in this part of the country. When it stopped for several days afterward, the silence was deafening. And with it came the smoldering pile, the shattered lives, the numbness, the nation at war, and the thousands of brave men and women who would sacrifice their lives—and continue to do so—in a war that was started in the wrong country for the wrong reasons.

I grew up in the shadow of the World Trade Center. I watched it get built every day as I walked to St. Stephen’s School along Chestnut Street in Kearny, rising higher and higher over the New York skyline before the view of lower Manhattan was partially obscured by the garbage dumps that claimed the meadowlands.

My very first day of teaching ever was 9/11. I sat at the front door of the school signing students out all day. From where I sat, I had a clear view of rt. 78, and I watched as police, fire and rescue vehicles raced east to an unknown fate. I wonder how many of those brave men and women made it back home to hug their spouse or their children?

Governor Christie gave away pieces of our collective souls to win political favor, to win an election. How can anyone in their right mind call this leadership? How does Gov. Christie sleep at night?

Excuse me, as Rachel Maddow suggested, I have to go take a shower.

Note: I did an online search to find the list of mayors, and emailed Matt Flegenheimer, one of the writers of the NYT story, to see if he has a copy. As of this posting I have not heard back.