By Chief Political Correspondent Michael Aron
NJ Today
On a visit to a Long Beach Island elementary school, Gov. Chris Christie was asked about Barbara Buono’s call for universal pre-kindergarten education.
“I’d like to hand out hundred dollar bills on the corner, too,” Christie said.
Christie, who once called pre-K education “babysitting” wouldn’t say what he thinks of the concept, just the cost.
“Sen. Buono’s proposal was short on one main area, which is how’s she gonna pay for it? The plan she put out yesterday at a minimum — not counting the higher ed piece, which she was completely vague about — just in the K-12 piece is $3 billion,” Christie said.
Buono yesterday said she’d pay for her plan by bringing back the so-called millionaire’s tax, which Christie scoffed at.
“The millionaire’s tax by their estimate raises $650 million. And she put forward a $3 billion program,” Christie said.
He said the only way she could pay for her pie-in-the-sky plan was to hike the income tax on all New Jerseyans.
“Think about what the rates for income taxes would have to go up to to generate 30 percent more in revenue, another $3 billion to pay for her plan. So her plan is ridiculous,” Christie said.
Buono this afternoon responded by saying Christie coddles corporations, millionaires and himself.
“There’s so much waste in this budget. I’ll commit to you that I won’t waste untold millions of dollars on deciding to have a special election just to advantage my own political self-interests,” Buono said.
The Beach Haven school was founded 101 years ago and today was its first day open since Superstorm Sandy. Renovations cost $2 million.
Christie said by next week, just one school out of 2,500 that closed after Sandy will remain un-opened.
And he praised officials up and down the ladder for their response.
“Getting students back in the school in a place they’re familiar with, a place they’re comfortable in, a place that they know,” Christie said.
On another education matter, we asked Christie whether he and Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf intend to renew the contract of Superintendent Cami Anderson in the state-run Newark school district given the level of community criticism she faces.
“Yes, we do, and we are gonna renew it because she’s done a great job. And I don’t care about the community criticism. We run the school district in Newark, not them,” Christie said.
So in these first two days after Labor Day, the campaign dialogue has moved forward. Buono has proposed spending more on education and higher education, and Christie is now mocking what he sees as her inability to pay for it.