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The
New York Times headline is very polite:
Christie’s Talk Is Blunt, but Not Always Straight
The reporting itself, by Richard Peréz-Peña, speaks to something less polite:
New Jersey’s public-sector unions routinely pressure the State Legislature to give them what they fail to win in contract talks. Most government workers pay nothing for health insurance. Concessions by school employees would have prevented any cuts in school programs last year.
Statements like those are at the core of Gov. Chris Christie’s campaign to cut state spending by getting tougher on unions. They are not, however, accurate.
They are, in fact, lies.
In fact, on the occasions when the Legislature granted the unions new benefits, it was for pensions, which were not subject to collective bargaining — and it has not happened in eight years. In reality, state employees have paid 1.5 percent of their salaries toward health insurance since 2007, in addition to co-payments and deductibles, and since last spring, many local government workers, including teachers, do as well. The few dozen school districts where employees agreed to concessions last year still saw layoffs and cuts in academic programs.
Lies about unions. Lies about how working people live. Lies calculated to manipulate the public into supporting making the lives of working people even more difficult. Class warfare.
Montclair State University political science professor Brigid Harrison is quoted as saying that despite Christie's problems telling the truth, people do believe him. They believe his lies. Peréz-Peña says Christie has cultivated an image of himself as a blunt talker. Which, it turns out, also is a lie.