Chris Christie Says Story About Teacher Confrontation Was Misrepresented

NJ.com:

Gov. Chris Christie today downplayed a confrontation he had with a public school teacher during a campaign stop this weekend, saying the story has been misrepresented. 

“All you guys did was listen to her side of the story — which was grossly inaccurate,” the governor said during a campaign appearance at the Nutley Diner this morning. 

On Saturday, Melissa Tomlinson — a teacher at Buena Regional Middle School — showed up at a Christie campaign rally in Somers Point to protest the Republican governor’s education policies. 

She said she approached the governor and asked him, “Why are you portraying our schools as ‘failure factories?’” She said Christie cut off the conversation and responded: “What do you want? I’m tired of you people.” 

The governor today denied saying that. 

“She said, ‘Why do you call schools “failure factories”?’” Christie recalled. “I said, ‘Because they are.’ She said to me, ‘Well, it’s because you cut funding.’ I said, ‘No. In fact, there’s more state funding for education today than any other time.’

“I never said, ‘I’m tired of you people,’” he continued. “What I said was, ‘It’s never enough for you people. No matter how much money I give, it’s never enough for you people.’” 

A picture of Christie pointing his finger at the teacher during the conversation spread throughout social media websites this weekend. The story also sparked a wave of backlash on Christie's Facebook page.

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