Forgetting Who We Work For - Part Deux

Last week, I blogged about the debacle regarding road and rail projects and the Transportation Trust Fund.  I reminded politicians on both sides that they work for us, and their lack of urgency in coming to terms with a multi-billion dollar issue is a failure their part to do the governing we pay them to do.  They ended up kicking the can down the road – postponing a real solution until the end of the year, but at least the road crews are back at work.

Now, there’s an even more egregious instance where one of our elected officials seems to have forgotten who he is working for.

I don’t begrudge Governor Christie for hitting the campaign trail.  Elected officials of both parties do this, and with today’s telecommunications infrastructure, a leader can be almost as effective (or ineffective) from Des Moines as he can be from Trenton.  But I am very angry at the way our leader uses sarcasm to belittle New Jersey’s citizens.    While campaigning in Iowa, Governor Christie mocked students and teachers by using a whiny voice saying “Mom, Dad, I can’t study.  I can’t work.  My grades are suffering because Mrs. Smith, she’s not getting her pay raise this year.”  Perhaps the governor thinks that our students are too dumb to read newspapers, but how is a student supposed to respect his or her hard-working teacher when the governor doesn’t?  The governor went on to categorize disagreements with his approach as “garbage.”  Since when is legitimate disagreement “garbage?”

Following that comment, the governor added, “…and you wonder why I’m in Iowa?”  Yes, governor – I wonder how your denigration of the Garden State will help attract business and tourists.  You are the ambassador from New Jersey to the rest of the world.  Keep your disagreements in Trenton – after all, you already have the legislature wrapped around your pinky.  But when on the road, you should be promoting New Jersey, not smearing it.  That’s what we pay you to do.