By Chief Political Correspondent Michael Aron
A second grade teacher on maternity leave touched off the most interesting exchange at Gov. Christie’s town hall in Kearny this morning.
She didn’t identify herself but told Christie that she loves her job and tells her kids that if they want to make a friend they have to be a friend. And then she wondered why the governor’s relations with her union have gotten “so personal and ugly.”
Christie said she needed to understand the evolution of his relationship with the NJEA. The union spent millions of dollars trying to defeat him in the election of 2009 and has spent another $20 million since spreading false notions about his education policies, he said.
The woman interjected, “So let’s find a way. Maybe we can find a way in the future that the name-calling — let’s put it aside …. because you and I are having no trouble talking right now.”
Christie agreed but said he’ll stop attacking the union when the union stops attacking him. “I’m more than happy to say enough is enough on that,” he said, “but you gotta be part of the solution.”
In all, the exchange took about ten minutes and was clearly the most riveting part of the 90-minute town hall.
The woman left the building immediately after the exchange and declined to give her name to the reporters who trailed her out the door like a pack of wolves.
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