Host Of Christie Presidential Announcement Is Not So Supportive

Gov. Christie announced his presidential candidacy Tuesday at the high school he attended. But not everyone in the Livingston School District is embracing the host role.

Jim O’Neill, the district’s interim superintendent, said in a Philadelphia Inquirer report that “most of my political and educational views are about 180 degrees from the governor’s.”

O’Neill, who didn’t plan to attend the announcement, has been a critic of the Republican governor’s policies on charter schools and the state’s management of school districts, according to the report.

While O’Neill said the school has an “obligation” to host Christie’s event, according to the Inquirer, others have felt differently. “I’m getting all kinds of hate e-mails . . . from teachers, retired teachers, and other public employees,” O’Neill said in the report.

>>Related: BREAKING: Christie Announces Run For President

O’Neill and Christie have never met, but they are connected over the interim superintendent’s opposition to Christie’s superintendent salary cap plan and the governor’s hometown link to Livingston, according to nj.com.

The fact that Christie announced his bid at Livingston High School does not mean O’Neill and the governor have agreed on a truce. O’Neill told nj.com:

“It is my personal opinion that the governor adopts policies that he believes will serve his political agenda regardless of whether or not they are good or necessary.”