New Jersey Gov. stated Sunday that the nationwide academics’ union deserved “a punch in the face”.
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“Oh, the national teachers union”, Christie replied without hesitation.
“They’re not for education for our children”, he tells Jake Tapper.
He continued to say the group was not for education of the youth, but for greater membership, benefits and salaries for themselves.
He added: “I’ve been saying that since 2009. I’ve been saying that since 2009, I’ve got the scars to show it and I’ll never stop saying it because they don’t change their stripes”.
Wendell Steinhauer, president of the New Jersey Education Association, said in a statement Christie “should resign as governor immediately” after the Republican presidential hopeful assailed teacher unions for putting the interests of adults ahead of students.
Steinhauer had been working with Christie’s administration on a compromise regarding pension payments.
The New Jersey governor isn’t the only Republican candidate for president to invoke his opposition to unions in a national context. Efforts to come up with an alternate plan in the budget-strapped state have stalled.
He’s also well known for getting into verbal spats with teachers at public events. In a November 2013 campaign appearance, he was seen scolding a teacher named Melissa Tomlinson when she challenged him on the notion that the state’s schools were failing: “I am exhausted of you people”.
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Christie placed ninth in the latest national polls and appears to have secured his podium on the main debate stage this Thursday but his approval rating with Garden State voters stands at only 30 percent.
