North Ward Democratic leader Steve Adubato laughed off the PolitickerNJ.com question about whether he could be the next Department of Education commissioner.
“It’s not going to happen,” he said.
But Gov. Chris Christie’s famous post Election Day appearance at the North Ward Center – Adubato’s base of operations in Newark’s North Ward, where he founded several celebrated charter schools, including the Robert Treat Academy – underscored the close connection of the governor and the diehard Newarker.
Adubato’s acolyte, state Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz (D-Newark), chairs the Senate Education Committee.
“I’m an educator,” said Adubato. “I’m an educator first and a politician second. I would love to be in charge of what? Urban kids. I would be interested to volunteer to work with urban kids. I will not be the commissioner, but I would like to work with the commissioner. Whoever that is, I hope to volunteer.”
The schools founder and political leader beat the competition this week in an unscientific PolitickerNJ.com poll that asked who should succeed fired state schools chief Bret Schundler. Former Gov. Tom Kean, the former president of Drew University, came in second.
“I would hope that both of us would volunteer, and economically it wouldn’t cost the taxpayer anything,” Adubato said.
