The New York Times, March 10, 2011, Thursday

Copyright 2011 The New York Times Company
The New York Times

March 10, 2011, Thursday

Scrutinizing a Governor's Statements

BYLINE: By RICHARD PEREZ-PENA

Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey has built a national reputation as a straight talker who will answer tough ques-tions. But a close look at his public statements over the past year shows that some do not stand up to scrutiny. Here are a selection of statements, and an examination of their truthfulness. RICHARD PEREZ-PENA

ON PUBLIC-SECTOR UNIONS AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING:

STATEMENT ''They go around the collective bargaining when they don't get what they want, everything that they want, and they go to the Legislature to do it, and use their political power and their money to be able to buy the Legis-lature to get what they want -- and governors, too, in the past.''

February interview with The New York Times

EXPLANATION Mr. Christie's aides said he was referring to more than a dozen laws that the unions had requested: all were pension changes, the most recent in 2003. Under New Jersey law, pension changes can be made only by the Legislature, and in the years his aides said the governor had been referring to, pensions were not addressed at the bar-gaining table (this provision was changed in 2007). ''I don't know of any instance where the unions circumvented col-lective bargaining and just got what they wanted legislatively,'' said Jeffrey H. Keefe, associate professor in Rutgers University's School of Management and Labor Relations. In recent years, he said, ''it's been the reverse, where they forced things on the unions legislatively,'' like raising the retirement age and cutting benefits for new workers.

STATEMENT ''There are dozens of states in this country that don't have collective bargaining for public workers at all.'' Such states are ''all over the country.''

News conference last week

EXPLANATION Rebecca Givan, assistant professor at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, said there were eight states that did not have any collective bargaining for government employees; all of them except Arizona are in the South. Four or five other states permit collective bargaining for the police, firefighters, or both, but not for other public workers. Still other states have collective bargaining for local government workers, but not for state employees.

STATEMENT The governor often says the last round of contract talks, under his Democratic predecessor, Jon S. Corzine, was not adversarial, and says Mr. Corzine promised state workers a good deal.

EXPLANATION The talks, in 2006 and 2007, were heated. There were protests against Governor Corzine at the State House, and the unions made several concessions, which included a higher retirement age, an increase in employee pension contributions, and workers' contributions toward health insurance.

ON HEALTH BENEFITS:

STATEMENT ''Now health benefits for public-sector workers in New Jersey, for a long time, up until this past spring, were free, and I mean free.''
Town hall forum last week in Hillsborough

EXPLANATION State workers have contributed 1.5 percent of their salaries toward insurance premiums since 2007. Some local government employees contributed before last year, as well, though most did not.

STATEMENT ''The overwhelming number of teachers pay nothing'' for health benefits.
September town hall meeting in Raritan

STATEMENT ''The majority of teachers in New Jersey pay nothing for health care.''
February interview with The Times

EXPLANATION It was certainly true a year ago that most teachers did not pay part of their insurance premiums -- though virtually all had co-payments and deductibles -- but it is not clear whether it remains true.

Last year, Mr. Christie signed a law requiring that all new labor contracts with local governments deduct 1.5 per-cent of salaries for health insurance. The New Jersey School Boards Association said that in this school year, 238 of the state's 591 districts -- including five of the six largest -- require employees to contribute to coverage. Those districts employ about 44 percent of the state's public school teachers. And some other districts require certain employees, like teachers who do not have tenure, to help pay for their coverage.

ON SCHOOL BUDGETS:

STATEMENT Last year, on several occasions, Mr. Christie called for school employees to accept a one-year wage freeze and a voluntary health care deduction, saying such concessions would save the state $750 million to $800 million, eliminating the need for layoffs or cuts in academic programs.

EXPLANATION The State Office of Legislative Services and school administrators around New Jersey said the concessions would not make up the entire budget gap, and in the few dozen districts where employees agreed to concessions, there were still cuts.

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LOAD-DATE: March 10, 2011