Christie shuns charter dispute: “I am not a king”

Gov. Christie, who held a town-hall meeting in Voorhees Wednesday to sell his plans for New Jersey for 2012, was bombarded with questions about a charter school opening in Cherry Hill.

Christie said he'd prefer that charter schools open only in struggling school districts rather than compete with high-performing public schools, such as those in Voorhees and Cherry Hill. But he said the law prevents him from barring the Regis Academy from opening.

"I am not a king, despite the fact that I would love to be," Christie said after an outburst from Alan Ehrlach, a Cherry Hill resident. "I have to operate within the law."

Christie urged the four people who spoke up about the Regis Academy to call their legislators and ask them to pass a law that narrows the areas charter schools can operate in. He would sign a law, but he can't make the legislature pass it, he said.

The Regis Academy, which would be located in Cherry Hill and serve kindergarten through eighth-grade students from Cherry Hill, Voorhees, Lawnside, and Somerdale, has already been approved by the state Department of Education.

But has drawn fierce opposition from officials and residents in some of these suburban towns.

"Our schools are extremely successful," Melissa Sable, 44, a teacher who lives in Voorhees. She asked Christie why Christie wasn't doing anything to stop the school from opening and taking taxpayer dollars away from the public schools. Christie again said the law prevents him from restricting where charter schools open.

The movement to take charters beyond their traditional urban setting into the suburbs, where residents expect a quality school system in return for higher property taxes, has turned New Jersey into a battleground.

Cherry Hill has taken the rare step of challenging Regis' charter approval.

The projected $1.9 million in state aid redirected to Regis would detract from the education available to the township's other public students, the district said. The state appellate court is expected to issue its decision by March.

In remarks before taking questions at the Voorhees Town Center mall, he pushed for a 10 percent state income-tax cut and other parts of his agenda, drawing bursts of applause from many of the hundreds crammed into a public space outside a Macy's store. He also pressed for changes to the teacher tenure system.

Christie hit the road Wednesday to sell his ideas, starting his morning at NBC's Today show and MSNBC's Morning Joe.

Although state Democrats are curious to hear where Christie will find the $1 billion to pay for his proposed income tax cut, the morning show hosts preferred to quiz him on his vice presidential aspirations.

Christie is campaigning hard for Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who is leading the pack of GOP presidential candidates heading into the South Carolina primary Saturday.

Christie said Romney hasn't asked him to be VP.

"I have said all along I want to be governor of New Jersey," Christie said on NBC. "If you're a betting guy, bet on me being governor of New Jersey after 2012. I think it is rude and wrong to say you wouldn't do something you haven't been asked to do."

The income tax cut was Christie's most surprising announcement Tuesday. Democrats, who rule both chambers in Trenton, immediately slammed him for focusing on a tax cut that would bring far greater benefits to the rich.

"Gov. Christie's income tax plan may sound nice, but it would save a family earning $50,000 per year just $80.50 and a family earning $100,000 per year just $275, all while millionaires get a $7,265.75 tax break," Assemblyman Majority Leader Louis Greenwald, (D., Camden), said in a statement. "Under this tax cut, middle-class families don't save enough for a week's worth of groceries, while millionaires save enough to go on an exotic vacation."

If the income tax cut goes anywhere in the legislature, Christie's plan would be to phase it in over three years. But the governor has not yet explained where he would find the money.

Others wondered why Christie chose to trim income taxes and not take new steps to help rein in property taxes. New Jersey has some of the highest property tax rates in the nation.

"For middle-class New Jersey, the governor's proposed income tax cut would almost certainly be immediately swallowed by rising property taxes," said Sen. Paul A. Sarlo (D., Bergen), chairman of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.

In his address Tuesday, Christie also said he wants to restore cuts he made in 2010 to the earned income tax credit, which goes to the working poor. Christie had cited budget constraints in trimming the tax credit.

Beyond economic issues, Christie said education and correction reforms remain priorities. He repeated calls for education reforms that were debated but not approved last year.

He said he'd support a constitutional amendment to enable denial of bail to violent criminals, and he proposed diverting nonviolent offenders to drug treatment centers rather than prison.