CAMBRIDGE, Mass (Reuters) – New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a tough talking school reformer, said on Friday that even a hint of compromise from the state teachers union could turn him into Mr. Nice Guy.
“I am prepared to ratchet down the rhetoric if I could get any indication that there is any interest in changing the failed system,” said Christie in a speech at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education.
Until he detects some give from the teachers union, “a political thuggery operation” that rules through fear and intimidation, Christie said he will keep playing the kind of hardball that has already made him rising star among Republicans.
Christie, who has been mentioned as a Republican presidential contender, denies he plans to run for the White House in 2012.
He first drew national attention as a corruption-busting U.S. attorney and has proved a popular governor in a traditionally Democratic state since taking office
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