Friday: Christie "Town Hall" in Parsippany

by: Rosi Efthim

Thu Dec 02, 2010 at 04:46:00 PM EST

Go. Chris Christie "Town Hall"
Friday, 2:30pm
Morris County Public Safety Academy
500 Hanover Ave., Parsippany

For the most part, attendance at Gov. Christie's "Town Hall" meetings (air quotes for heavily stacked GOP audiences) has been a 2-track thing: GOP & Christie supporters get word first, public and press get little advance notice. Hell, if it wasn't for the intrepid Deciminyan catching up with Christie in Moorestown & Gloucester County we might really feel left out. This, with the new media-savvy video propagandizing of Christie YouTube "moments" help Christie forward the idea that when he addresses the citizenry, they either lap up every word or are humiliated by a governor smarter and better than they are (the same effect right-wing radio hosts produce by editing which callers get on air and using the mute button to overtalk anyone who doesn't think they're a "great American").

Parsippany might just be a showdown. School Superintendent Lee Seitz is the governor's latest piñata, Christie calling him the "poster boy for greed and arrogance" (another YouTube moment), even as the town school board twice approves his contract extension over salary caps not yet in place and over the governor's objection. But even on the Parsippany School Board the issue doesn't rest easy. Board member Michael Strumolo is against the district spending money on a lawsuit against the state, and it is Strumolo who invited Christie, via Morris GOP Chair John Sette.

It's a real issue, one I have some sympathy for the governor on. Some superintendent salaries are mammoth, and the extension of this one was negotiated well before the cap goes into effect, lending some real question to whether Seitz and the school board conspired to game the system other districts will have live by. At issue, local control of schools versus controlling costs and symbolic restraints on some, not all, public employees. And at issue, inconsistent rules on which districts have to follow rules and which don't (Christie's hometown Superintendent Kristopher Harrison dodges the cap). Where do you come down on this, Blue Jersey?

So, any Blue Jerseyans planning to check out Christie's "Town Hall" Friday? If you go, please let us know what you think. Better yet, bring a video camera & tripod.

Rosi Efthim :: Friday: Christie "Town Hall" in Parsippany

Tags: Patch, took kit, School Superintendent, Parsippany School Board, Lee Seitz, Town hall, Parsippany, (All Tags)

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Friday: Christie "Town Hall" in Parsippany | 2 comments

I'm not sure... (0.00 / 0)

what motive the board would have to renegotiate his contract early. If the caps are in place, he's not going to get a better deal in NJ.

I kind of think its like the income tax chasing away the millionaires from NJ myth. (and that's a hell of a lot more money involved)

I seriously doubt that other states are offering NJ superintendents such great deals for these jobs that we will suffer 'talent drain'. (and from what I believe, it's the teachers that make the difference and not so much the supers)

"Where ever you go, there you are." - Buckaroo Bonzai

by: William Weber (WjcW) @ Thu Dec 02, 2010 at 22:06:23 PM UTC

Parsippany and corruption (0.00 / 0)

Parsippany has always been a hotbed for corruption. This is the same town who kept re-electing the same Republican mayor, Frank Priore, until Christie's predecessor as US Attorney, Michael Chertoff, put him away behind bars for taking kickbacks from developers.

Why is the Board so desperate to keep this guy? Maybe its the same reason the Toms River school board kept giving their super, Mike Ritacco, whatever compensation he desired. If Lee Seitz was a "mensch" and really cared about the kids instead of his bank account, he would either take a pay cut or move on to another job. Instead he's going to put the Board through an extended lawsuit costing the district tens of thousands of dollars that otherwise could be used to hire another teacher.

We went through a similar ordeal in Barnegat. We had a super making the same kind of money as Seitz, with a close relationship to the board that benefited some board members as well as the super. You know, alot of mutual backscratching. When taxpayers got wise to all the shenanigans, thanks to the help of a local blogger, they not only defeated the school budget but defeated all the incumbent board members. A new board hired a new super for HALF what the old super was making, and so far he has been doing a terrific job under extremely difficult conditions.

Hopefully the folks in Parsippany will follow the example of Barnegat and not go the way of Toms River.

http://christiegonewild.blogsp...

by: ken bank @ Fri Dec 03, 2010 at 00:08:42 AM UTC