Chris Christie Goes Reagan, Fires All PVSC Commissioners

OK, so it's not exactly like Ronald Reagan firing the entire membership of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO), but New Jersey governor Chris Christie is taking the fight to the public sector, which is where the battles of the future lie:

For decades, the commissioners who ran the state’s largest sewage treatment plant operated it as if they lived in their own kingdom, accountable to no one — not even the governor.

They hired brothers, wives, children and in-laws; cut sweetheart deals for insiders; gave out lucrative, no-bid consulting contracts, and ran up lavish travel expenditures.

Today, Gov. Chris Christie said he had had enough.

He fired nearly all of them.

Taking steps to terminate six of the seven members of the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners, the governor said using the state authority as a "personal spoils system" would no longer be tolerated. He gave the six until Thursday to voluntarily resign or he would move to have them removed for cause.

It's not 11,345 striking air traffic controllers, but it's the 2011 equivalent: Public employees draining taxpayer wallets to create mini-fiefdoms for themselves and their chums.

This is only a skirmish, a probe, a quick-strike to test the strength of the enemy. Much bigger battles, if not all-out war, looms on the horizon.

Kudos to Chris Christie, again, for having the guts to take point on these (politically) perilous missions. Hopefully, many other Republicans leaders are watching, and move forward with sorties of their own...