Today’s moment of conservative zen comes from New Jersey, where Gov. Chris Christie is taking on the greedy public sector fat cats head on.Posted on 11/13/2010 9:19:12 AM PST by Kaslin
Gov. Christie zeroes in on all the zeroes in educational executive salaries. It's a target-rich environment.
Today’s moment of conservative zen comes from New Jersey, where Gov. Chris Christie is taking on the greedy public sector fat cats head on.
About the only thing that could make that clip any better would be a few uses of the word “jackwagon.” But we’ll let that slide.
For a little background, go here:
The day before the meeting Seitz is quoted in the Daily Record as saying, “Because of the proposed salary caps, I have to look at my future and the financial welfare of my family. I certainly would have options if I didn’t feel the compensation in this district, or New Jersey, is appropriate.”
The governor reacted to Seitz’s veiled threats to leave New Jersey and go to a nearby state where there is no state salary. “I will say in response to Mr. Seitz, ‘Let me help you pack.’ We have real problems in our state that we have to fix and we don’t have the time, nor the money, nor the patience any longer for people who put themselves before our citizens,” Christie railed.
Christie is brilliant to individualize the issue by making an example of Seitz. The fact is, public sector salaries have gotten out of control and the educational system is a prime example. And the problem isn’t unique to New Jersey by any means. For starters, 7 of the top 10 richest counties in the United States surround — literally — Washington, D.C. That’s no coincidence. And taxpayer money is increasingly being used for lobbying — to spend more taxpayer money. Is it any wonder that our country is in the mess it’s in?
As for educational salaries, I’ll see Christie’s Lee Seitz, and raise him a Jesus Chavez.
Who’s Jesus Chavez? He’s the superintendent of the Round Rock Independent School District in central Texas, with about 42,000 students. And he makes a lotta money.
Round Rock Superintendent Dr. Jesus Chavez has 14 years experience and is the only superintendent who agreed to talk to KVUE about superintendent salaries. His base salary is $250,000 a year.
That works out to just shy of six bucks per student. Don’t worry, though. He doesn’t think superintendents make too much.
“I don’t think superintendents get paid too much,” he said. “There is a shortage of superintendents, principals and other top level administrators. So the market and the qualifications that one brings makes it competitive.”
Shortage or not, this is ridiculous and arrogant. Parents, the vast majority of whom earn far less than Dr. Chavez, are routinely asked to kick in school supplies paid for with their own money. Schools hold fundraisers to pay for even basic classroom supplies. Yet atop the educational pyramid sit folks like Chavez, among the wealthiest in their regions. The superintendent of the Austin ISD makes a whopping $276,000 in base salary. In the case of educational executives, the rich seem to get richer while teachers and classrooms get shortchanged. Parents get hit on both ends, through rising property taxes to pay these salaries and through being hit up to pay for supplies directly.
If you cut Dr. Chavez’s salary in half, he would still be far ahead of the local median salary (which is itself probably inflated a bit by the presence of Dell’s and other high tech headquarters), and that money could pay for two or three additional teachers. Multiply that by all the other fat cats at the top of the educational food chain and pretty soon you’ve made a real difference in class sizes.
Or, you know, you could just turn those savings back over to the taxpayers who are paying these exorbitant salaries in the first place. Doing so might even be economically stimulative.
Christie in Rudy drag would look like a Botero painting.
No, he is not...he's for cap and trade, criticized the AZ Immigration Law, mum on the Ground Zero Mosque....he is AGAINST The Tea Party movement....does that sound like amy conservative you know? He is with the GOP Establishment and is working to stop the Tea Party Movement.
I'd take a President Christie over a President Obama every day of the week and twice on Sunday is the real point
I had to google that and I need to say thanks for expanding my world world of bizarre art works ...................
I think !!! LOL
I love Boteros. His sculptures are truly amazing, too. He, however, is “a perfect Latin American idiot,” to quote the book.
I do not won’t a McRino type as president and Christie is just that. He has fooled many conservatives and are calling him a fat Reagan...don’t kid yourself...he is NO Reagan. Let us truly elect a conservative Republican not a faux conservative as Christie is...you can fool some of the people some of the time but not all of the time. Thank God...we have until 2016 to prove to true conservatives how bad Christie is.
I am under no illusion Christie is not the next Reagan
But, in reality, since the country is about 30% to 35 % conservative at BEST, we will have to consider the lesser of two evils
I can tell you I would have not voted for McCain last time if Palin was not on the ticket. McCain is the embodiment of a bad RINO. I think Christie is heads and shoulders above McCain
Christie may yet surprise many people, after all he ran as Governor of NJ and that state is a blue as they come
"Beware the greedy hand of government, thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry." -- Thomas Paine
That is because, unlike honest businesses, governments can pull out their guns and force everybody else to go under with them.
Now that was old school!
“Being in this country without proper documentation is not a crime.” - NJ US Attorney Chris Christie April 2008
Doesn’t look like Chris wants to help illegals pack.
As a past public ‘servant’ My suggestion to Christi would be to pare the regulatory services to a bar minimum and carefully cut the other side of government i.e. actual public service. Of course this approach could be applcable up through all levels of government in all branches. Defund the czars.
I go with you on this one!
Small government advances the conservative agenda. While Christie may not be very conservative, his focus on shrinking the government advances Conservative thought and ideals.
And? If, as his actions prove, a fiscal conservative that is hell-bent on cutting the government down to size...
...then how will he be able to enact anything to take your guns?
After all, any law that would do something like that requires the funding and manpower to *MAKE* it happen.
And he ain’t about to pay for something like that!
“It’s more American Idol than Lincoln-Douglas.”
Douglas was no match vs the skinny tall guy either.
“The Republican party will do its utmost to derail and defeat true conservative candidates—even to the point of attacking them publicly in the heat of a general election campaign.”
Such as Rubio, Toomey, all the new House GOP winners, etc right?
Nope. Only the real duds lost such as friggin %%$#&! Paladino, Miss I’m not a witch and the fake wrestling CEO
Liberals in both parties will always try to defeat us. That’s a given.
You can’t just put up a trained monkey that repeats conservative talking points and expect it to win. You need to put up quality candidates like Rubio and Toomey. We didn’t put up quality candidates in NY, DE, etc and that’s why they lost.
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