A $400 Million Lie

Republican Chris Christie, New Jersey's well-known and oft-praised governor, fired the state's education commissioner on Friday. While the governor has made deep budget cuts a regular part of his administrative style, this announcement came for a very different reason than just protecting the bottom line.

Bret Schundler, the education commissioner, apparently gave inaccurate information to the federal government's Department of Education after they requested additional documentation in the state's bid for Race to the Top aid. At first, Governor Christie defended the state's actions, alleging that the government was refusing to help the cash-poor state, but after the Feds released video footage showing a meeting between Schundler and DOE officials where Schundler explicitly refused to provide information on budget matters for specific fiscal years, Christie fired Schundler. Schundler's with-holdings cost the state nearly $400 million in possible Race to the Top funds.

To explain the sudden change in his position on how the state handled the Race to the Top campaign, Christie released a statement saying that he "ordered an end to Bret Schundler's service as New Jersey's Education Commissioner" after Schundler refused to take blame or resign for his blatant withholding of information to the DOE. What's more: Schundler is said to have refused to resign because he wanted to collect unemployment benefits! Schundler was paid $141,000 as Education Commissioner - that's a far cry from the near $400 he'll receive weekly on unemployment.

So who's at fault here? Did Christie know about Schundler's mishandling of the Race to the Top campaign? Did he only fire Schundler to protect his own image and the other members of his administration? Seems like an awfully costly mistake.

Photo Credit: MPD01605