NJ Gov. Fires Education Commissioner

According to the Associated Press, New Jersey governor Chris Christie has fired education commissioner Bret Schundler because of a reporting mistake on the state's application for federal Race to the Top money:

The dismissal of Commissioner Bret Schundler comes after New Jersey became the top runner-up for the Race to the Top grants, missing out by only a few points. The Star-Ledger of Newark later reported that budget figures for the wrong years were supplied in one section of the application.

Christie defended Schundler on Wednesday, saying he gave the federal government the missing information during a meeting in Washington this month. But a video released Thursday by the federal Education Department shows that wasn't the case.

"I was extremely disappointed to learn that the videotape of the Race to the Top presentation was not consistent with the information provided to me by the New Jersey Department of Education and which I then conveyed to the people of New Jersey," Christie said in a statement Friday. "As a result, I ordered an end to Bret Schundler's service as New Jersey's Education Commissioner and as a member of my administration."

But the Wall Street Journalreports that Schundler claims to have not misled the governor:

"He's blaming me for misinforming him, when on Wednesday morning before he went out" to his press conference, "I said to him, 'No I did not have the data and I did not seek'" to give the federal judges the missing financial information.

Mr. Schundler says his "best interpretation, what I like to imagine, is that the governor, when he's on a roll and he's moving so quickly, he was thinking of what he was going to say and he's forgetting what I said two minutes ago."

According to Christie's spokesman Mike Drewniak, Schundler was fired after he refused to resign.

"The chief of staff called Bret Schundler last night and requested his resignation, at which point in time Mr. Schundler indicated he would resign in the morning," Drewniak said. "This morning, he refused to sign the resignation letter and was subsequently terminated."

But Schundler says he asked to be fired. “I asked if they would mind writing a termination letter, instead of a resignation letter, because I do have a mortgage to pay, and I do have a daughter who’s just started college,” he said in an interview. “And I, frankly, will need the unemployment insurance benefits until I find another job. ... And they said fine. They said sure.”

Schundler is an outspoken proponent of educational reform and charter schools. He rose to prominence after being elected the mayor of Jersey City as a Republican in an historically Democratic stronghold. He later won the Republican nomination for New Jersey governor, but lost in the general election.