The New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) and its ideological allies are still whining about Governor Chris Christie’s little league chopper ride.
There’s plenty of hyper-partisan disinformation flying around (pun intended) as a result and, with plenty of weekend cookouts pending across the Garden State, I figured it was incumbent upon Save Jersey to arm its loyal readers with the proper facts. What follows is proper chopper perspective by the numbers that you won’t find in any single Star-Ledger hit piece, Save Jerseyans. Your liberal Uncle Ralph or pain-in-the-butt Democrat neighbor won’t stand a chance!
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33 … the amount of times Chris Christie used a State Police helicopter in his first 1.5 years in office (click here for a complete list).
272 … the number of times Jim McGreevey used a state-owned helicopter during his first 10 months in office.
$2,700 – $3,000 … the price of only two “Millionaires for Christie” beach banner flights paid for by the NJEA over the Jersey Coast this weekend.
$3,383.79 … the total amount Governor Christie and the NJGOP reimbursed the state for Christie’s round-trip helicopter ride to his son’s baseball game.
$0 … the actual cost of Christie’s chopper flight to New Jersey taxpayers.
$100,000 … the estimated taxpayer bill for President and Mrs. Obama’s infamous 2009 overnight dinner date to NYC.
$175,000 … Governor Christie’s public salary per year.
$250,000 … the taxpayer cost for Michelle Obama’s strictly-social Spanish Holiday in 2010.
$263,000 … the NJEA president’s annual compensation.
$3,000,000 … the amount spent annually on uniforms for CWA state workers who don’t utilize uniforms.
$6,600,000 … the approximate cost of anti-Christie advertising paid for by the NJEA’s union dues in 2010.
$40,000,000 … the cost to taxpayers of Jon Corzine’s ’09 CWA contract deal designed to prevent an embarrassing labor union protest at his reelection rally with VP Joe Biden.
$130,000,000 … revenue garned by the NJEA annually from union dues which, don’t forget, are 100% derived from property taxpayer-financed teacher paychecks.
$600,000,000 … the Democrats’ estimate of the tax burden generated by a NJEA-supported “Millionaire Tax” on New Jersey business owners. This estimate naturally doesn’t account for the cost of lost jobs, relocating businesses, and other negative side effects of higher taxes directly impacting revenue if enacted.
Thank you for keeping this story alive. It will be great fodder come election time.