Jon Corzine

Jon Stevens Corzine
Congressional photo
54th Governor of New Jersey
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 17, 2006
Preceded by	Richard Codey
United States Senator from New Jersey
In office January 3, 2001 – January 17, 2006
Preceded by	Frank Lautenberg
Succeeded by	Robert Menendez
Born	January 1, 1947 (1947-01-01) (age 62) Taylorville, Illinois
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Joanne Dougherty Corzine (1969-2003) (divorced)
Children	Jennifer Corzine Josh Corzine Jeffrey Corzine
Residence	Hoboken, New Jersey
Alma mater	University of Chicago, University of Illinois
Profession	Financial executive
Religion	United Church of Christ[1]
Military service
Service/branch	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1969-1975
Rank	Sergeant
Unit	Reserves

Jon Stevens Corzine (born January 1, 1947) is the Governor of New Jersey and a former United States Senator. He was sworn into office on January 17, 2006, for a four-year term ending in 2010, and he intends to run for re-election in 2009. After being elected Governor in 2006, he stepped down from his role in the Senate. His political campaigns for public office have been notable for their record-setting expenses, which have been self-financed from his professional wealth accumulation during his earlier career. Corzine has promoted a liberal agenda as a politician.

Prior to his political career, Corzine worked in banking and finance. In the early and mid 1970s, he worked for Midwestern banks (Continental-Illinois National Bank in Chicago, Illinois and BancOhio National Bank in Columbus, Ohio) during and after his master of business administration (MBA) studies at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Then in 1975 he moved to New Jersey and began his career with Goldman Sachs. He eventually rose to become Chairman and co-CEO of the firm, but after he became involved in the rescue package for the Long Term Capital Management in 1998, he was squeezed out of the firm. Despite his departure from Goldman Sachs, he earned what has been estimated to be $400 million during the 1999 initial public offering of the company.

Corzine, who was born and raised in central Illinois, was married for thirty-three years to his hometown sweetheart, but separated in 2002 and divorced in 2003. After his separation from his wife, he had a controversial relationship with Carla Katz, an executive in a local branch of the Communications Workers of America. This ended in 2004 and became public during his 2005 campaign for Governor. He resides at Drumthwacket, the New Jersey Governor's official residence in Princeton, New Jersey, and also maintains a private permanent residence in Hoboken.^[2]

Personal life

Early years and education

Corzine was born in central Illinois to Nancy June Hedrick and Roy Allen Corzine. He grew up on a small family farm in Willey Station, Illinois and near Taylorville. After completing high school at Taylorville High School,^[3] where had been the football quarterback and basketball captain,^[4] he attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, and graduated in 1969, earning Phi Beta Kappa honors. While in college, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve and served from 1969 until 1975, attaining the rank of sergeant. In 1970 he enrolled in the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, from which he received a Master of Business Administration degree in 1973.^[5][6]

Marriage and divorce

He married his kindergarten and high school sweetheart,^[7] Joanne Dougherty, in 1969 at the age of 22,^[3] and their 33-year marriage produced three children: Jennifer, Josh, and Jeffrey. The couple separated in 2002 and were divorced in November 2003. In November 2005, Dougherty told The New York Times that Corzine "let his family down, and he'll probably let New Jersey down, too." This quote was used by gubernatorial opponent Doug Forrester in a campaign advertisement.^[8]

Corzine had lived with his wife in Summit. After their separation, Corzine moved to a condominium apartment building in Hoboken, in the same building as quarterback Eli Manning and Jesse Palmer.^[9]

Business career

His first experience in business was in the Bond Department at Continental-Illinois National Bank in Chicago where, starting in 1970, he worked as a portfolio analyst while attending the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business at night.^[4][10] He then moved to BancOhio National Bank, a regional bank in Columbus, Ohio that was acquired by National City Bank. He worked there until 1975 when he moved his family to New Jersey. There he was hired as a bond trader for Goldman Sachs. Over the years, he worked his way up to Chairman and CEO of the company in 1994 and successfully converted the investment firm from a private partnership to a worldwide publicly traded corporation. Corzine's predecessor led Goldman to its first money-losing year in its 129-year history and to its near collapse as a firm.^[11] Being a Democrat, Corzine also chaired a presidential commission for Bill Clinton and served on the U.S. Treasury Department's borrowing committee.^[12] As a Goldman Sachs senior partner, he was summoned to help compose a rescue package for the Long Term Capital Management when they nearly collapsed in the fall of 1998.^[13] According to the U.S. News & World Report, Corzine did not get along with co-CEO Henry Paulson.^[14] When Corzine made the decision to help the bailout Paulson seized control of the firm.^[15] As co-chairman of the firm, he oversaw its expansion into Asia.^[16] When Goldman Sachs went public after Corzine's departure,^[14] Corzine made $400 million.^[17]

Carla Katz

In the spring of 1999, when Jon Corzine was running for the United State Senate, he met Carla Katz, the then president of Local 1034 of the Communications Workers of America, which represents the largest number of state workers in New Jersey. As Katz later recalled, Corzine offered her a job on his Senate campaign, but she declined the offer.^[18] Corzine and Katz were soon dating, and they began appearing in public as a couple in early 2002, shortly after Corzine's separation from his wife Joanne. (The Corzines divorced the following year.) For more than two years Corzine was romantically involved with Katz. She lived with him at his apartment in Hoboken from April 2002 until August 2004.^[19]

After Corzine's breakup with Katz, their lawyers negotiated a financial arrangement in November 2004. According to later press accounts, the settlement for Katz exceeded $6 million, including a large lump sum of cash (in part used to buy her $1.1 million condominium in Hoboken), a college trust fund to educate her children, a 2005 Volvo sport utility vehicle,^[19] and Corzine forgave a $470,000 loan that he had provided Katz in 2002 so that she could buy out her ex-husband's share of their home in Alexandria Township.^[20][19] Katz enrolled in Seton Hall University School of Law on a full scholarship in 2004. Corzine later admitted that he had also given $15,000 to Carla Katz's brother-in-law, Rocco Riccio, a former state employee who had resigned, after being accused of examining income tax returns for political purposes. At the time, Katz was president of the Communications Workers of America Local 1034,^[21] which bargains on behalf of many state employees.^[22]

The following summer of 2005, when Corzine was running in the New Jersey gubernatorial election, news first emerged of his relationship with Katz and the financial package she had received. Corzine was elected governor despite the scandal. In the fall of 2006, during an impasse in contract negotiations between the Corzine administration and the state's seven major state employee unions (including the CWA), Katz contacted the governor by phone and e-mail, personally lobbying for a renewal of the negotiations. Citizens wondered whether the previous romantic relationship between Corzine and Katz might have influenced negotiations between the state and Katz's union. Their relationship and the financial settlement Katz received after their breakup garnered media attention and led to criticism of potential conflicts of interest in labor negotiations while Corzine served as governor.^[19] A state ethics panel, acting on a complaint from Bogota mayor Steve Lonegan, ruled in May 2007 that Katz's contact with Corzine during negotiations did not violate the governor's code of conduct.^[19] Separately, New Jersey Republican State Committee Chairman Tom Wilson filed a lawsuit to release all e-mail correspondence between Corzine and Katz during the contract negotiations. On May 30, 2008, New Jersey Superior Court Judge Paul Innes ruled that at least 745 pages of e-mail records should be made public, but Corzine's lawyers immediately appealed the decision.^[23][24] In May 2008, a judge ruled that Corzine must release e-mails he had exchanged with Katz, but as of July 2008 Corzine had yet to comply and had spent more than $54,000 in taxpayer money resisting.^[25] In July CWA leaders removed Katz from office.

Entry into politics

After being forced from Goldman Sachs in January 1999, Corzine campaigned for one of New Jersey's Senate seats after Frank Lautenberg announced his retirement. Corzine initially trailed by 30 percentage points.^[26] Corzine was elected to the Senate by a four percent margin over his Republican opponent four-term United States Congressman Bob Franks in the November 2000 election and was sworn into the Senate in January 2001. He spent over $62 million of his own money on his campaign, the most expensive Senate campaign in U.S. history – over $33 million of this was spent on the primary election alone, where he defeated former Governor James Florio 58%–42%.^[17][27][28] Franks had been a last minute choice because New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman had been expected to run for the Senate.^[29] The record $62 million amount surpassed Michael Huffington, who spent nearly $28 million in an unsuccessful 1994 Senate race.^[30]

Corzine spent some of his money in controversial ways. He was given negative publicity for busing in Philadelphia homeless shelter and halfway house residents to help boost turnout.^[31] During the campaign, Corzine refused to release his income tax return records to the public. He claimed an interest in doing so, but he cited a prior confidentiality agreement with Goldman, Sachs. Skeptics claimed that he should have followed the example of his predecessor Robert Rubin who converted his equity stake into debt upon leaving Goldman.^[32]

Corzine campaigned in favor of expanding state government, including universal health care, universal gun registration, mandatory public preschool, and more taxpayer funding for college education.^[17][33] He was also a proponent of affirmative action and same-sex marriage.^[26] Corzine was considered so liberal that although his predecessor was also a Democrat, his election was considered a contributing factor to the shift of the Senate to the left.^[34] During Corzine's campaign for the United States Senate, voters first became acquainted with his sense of humor. When introduced to a man who happened to have an Italian name and said he was in the construction business Corzine quipped: “Oh, you make cement shoes!" according to Emanuel Alfano, chairman of the Italian-American One Voice Committee. Alfano also reported that when introduced to a lawyer named David Stein, Corzine said: "He's not Italian, is he? Oh, I guess he's your Jewish lawyer who is here to get the rest of you out of jail."^[35] Corzine denied mentioning religion, but did not deny the quip about Italians, claiming that some of his own ancestors were probably Italian,^[36] or maybe French.^[37]

Also in 2000, Corzine denied having paid off African-American ministers, when in fact the foundation controlled by him and his wife had paid one influential black church $25,000.^[38] Rev. Reginald T. Jackson, director of the Black Ministers Council, had campaigned against a form of racial profiling whereby police officers stop minority drivers and had gotten New Jersey state police superintendent, Carl A. Williams, fired. Corzine had donated to Jackson prior to getting what appears to be a reciprocal endorsement.^[39]

Senate career

Corzine entered Congress in a class of ten new senators, eight of which were Democrats. According to U.S. News & World Report, Corzine, Hillary Clinton and Jean Carnahan were the more notable new Senators in 2000.^[40] During his five year senatorial career, he was present at 1503 of 1673 votes, co-sponsored 1014 bills, sponsored 145 bills (11 of which made it out of committee), and had one sponsored bill enacted.^[41]

In the Senate, Corzine was a member of the Committees on Banking, Intelligence, the Budget, and Energy and Natural Resources. He co-authored the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a piece of legislation designed to crack down on corporate malfeasance. In the aftermath of Enron, he co-sponsored (with Barbara Boxer) legislation, which was later propounded by Ted Kennedy,^[42] that reforms the 401(k) plan to minimize the risk of investment portfolios.^[43][44][45] The plan was opposed by United States President George W. Bush and faced strong opposition in Congress.^[46][47] Restrictions on retirement account allocations were in direct opposition to the contemporaneous movement to self-directed individual retirement accounts for social security.^[48]

He was a sponsor of the Start Healthy, Stay Healthy Act, which expands health care coverage for children and pregnant women. Corzine supported providing a two-year tax break to victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks to help them recover financially and help grant citizenship to victims that were legal resident aliens. He supported tighter gun control laws, outlawing racial profiling, and subsidies for Amtrak. He was also the chief sponsor, along with U.S. Senator Sam Brownback, of the Darfur Accountability Act, which would apply sanctions on the Sudanese government and create a framework for addressing the genocide occurring in the Darfur region.^[49][50] He was also one of 23 senators to vote against the Iraq War Resolution. Corzine also was the prime sponsor, along with U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, of a federal version of John's Law, in memory of Navy Ensign John R. Elliott of New Jersey, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who was killed by a drunken driver. The legislation provides federal highway safety grant incentives to encourage states to impound the cars of DUI suspects. He was an early contributing blogger at The Huffington Post.^[51] In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Corzine and Peter Fitzgerald attempted to mold a more disciplined bailout of the airline industry, but even the redesigned plan was not entirely satisfactory to Corzine.^[52] Corzine opposed the reduction in low-income student eligibility for Pell Grant funding caused by changes in the "expected family contribution".^[53][54]

Corzine attempted to introduce legislation for chemical plant regulation six weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks, but the effort failed. Subsequent efforts by then-Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman in 2002 were also squelched.^[55] Along with Hillary Clinton, he was one of the few senators who attempted to pressure the Bush administration to clamp down on regulation of the chemical and nuclear-power industries.^[56] His efforts helped make New Jersey one of the stricter states in the nation in terms of chemical plant regulation.^[57]

In 2001, he coauthored (with Bob Graham) a tax cut proposal aimed at lowering the marginal tax bracket from 15% to 10% on the first $19,000 of taxable income.^[58] In 2002, he proposed a tax cut that exempted the first $10,000 of income from the $765 of Social Security taxes for both employers and employees.^[59] Despite his liberal tax cut suggestions, he is also a proponent of eliminating double taxation by making dividend payments tax deductible to companies as a form of economic stimulus.^[60]

While in the Senate, he chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 2003–2005.^[61] In this role he was influential in convincing certain potential candidates to not run in order to avoid costly primaries three key states during the 2004 United States Senate elections.^[62] He also played a role in the selection of Senator John Edwards as a running mate for Senator John Kerry.^[63] Oddly, his resolution to congratulate Bruce Springsteen on the 30th Anniversary of Born to Run for his contribution to American culture was derailed in all likelihood due to Springsteen's support of Kerry.^[64]

In 2002, Corzine was one of the Democrats who called for the resignation of United States Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt.^[65]

Campaign for governor

Main article: New Jersey gubernatorial election, 2005

Corzine's candidacy for Governor, like his prior run for the U.S. Senate, broke all prior spending records. He and Republican nominee Doug Forrester combined to spend $73 million on their gubernatorial campaigns by the week before Election day. This included $38 million by Corzine and $19 million by Forrester for the general election. The primaries accounted for the difference.^[66] Since Corzine had spent over $62 million on his 2000 United States Senate elections,^[67] the combined expenditures for Corzine's run for the Senate and Governorship exceeded $100 million.

As a candidate, “Corzine…spread enough money around with the county bosses to lock up the Democratic Party’s nomination for governor and went on to an easy election.”^[68] He got the endorsement of his former girlfriend Carla Katz, the union leader who heads the Communications Workers of America Local 1034, which represents 48% of New Jersey state workers, after having showered her with gifts totaling $6 million.^[69] The main campaign issues were property taxes and the Bush administration. New Jersey had averaged $5,500 in 2004 property taxes, and Corzine tried to link his opponent to Bush.^[70]

The campaign for the post of Governor of New Jersey was successful with 54% of the vote. Forrester, a businessman and a former Mayor of West Windsor Township, in Mercer County, won 43%. Corzine received 1,224,493 votes to Forrester's 985,235. A total of 80,277 votes, or 3%, were scattered among other candidates. Corzine won 13 of New Jersey's 21 counties: Atlantic, Bergen, Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Essex, Gloucester, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, Passaic, Salem, and Union. Corzine won the three most populous counties (Bergen, Essex, and Middlesex), five of the top six, and seven of the top nine.^[71]

Corzine intends to run for re-election in the 2009 New Jersey gubernatorial election.^[72]

Governor

Corzine in New Brunswick, New Jersey on April 8, 2008

After promising to get matters under control, Corzine raised taxes by almost $2 billion during his first six months in office in an attempt to bring the budget under control.^[74] Corzine declined his $175,000 salary in 2006.^[75]

After taking office in January 2006, Corzine's approval numbers were low for a new governor. Many polls seemed to indicate that much of this negative polling was a direct result of the 2006 New Jersey State Government shutdown. An April 26, 2006, poll from Quinnipiac University Polling Institute showed Corzine at a 35% approval with a 42% disapproval.^[76] A February 28, 2007, poll from Quinnipiac University Polling Institute showed Corzine at 50% approval with 34% disapproval.^[77] With a release of a controversial plan to decrease the state's budget deficit, his approval rating fell to 40% in January 2008.^[78] In conjunction with this fall in approval rating, an initiative to recall the Governor was started but failed after gathering less than 100,000 of the required 1.2 million required signatures.^[79]

One of Corzine's first political tests as governor was the threat to New Jersey ports, of shipping operation control by a company from the United Arab Emirates. Although President George W. Bush supported the sale of the business of operating the United States' ports, Corzine was part of a vocal opposition that viewed this transaction as a national security threat.^[80]

As part of his attempt to balance the budget, Corzine has greatly decreased funding to state universities and colleges multiple times. The first of these decreases came with the 2007 budget. Rutgers University was among the hardest hit and as a result has raised tuition, cut hundreds of sections of classes, and several sports teams.^[81] With the latest decrease in funding for 2009, most state institutions have funding that is less than the amount they had a decade ago.^[82]

Corzine has championed expanding government health and education programs. He plans to require every resident to enroll in a health plan and have taxpayers help pick up the tab for low and middle income residents. In June 2008 state legislators voted for the first phase of that program without estimating how much it will ultimately cost taxpayers, and Corzine signed it into law in July.^[83] The next phase of Corzine's health care program, set to come before the legislature in the fall of 2008, is expected to cost $1 billion.^[84]

Corzine, a death penalty opponent,^[85][86] as Governor supported and presided over abolition of the capital punishment in New Jersey and replacing it with life imprisonment. After the legislature passed and he signed it into law, New Jersey became the first state to legislatively eliminate capital punishment since 1965.^[87] Although the bill was not passed until late in 2007, New Jersey had not executed any criminals since 1963. Because the penalty was never used and often reversed upon appeal it was viewed as a form of extended suffering for victims' families by some supporters of its abolition.^[88] In a controversial move just before the enactment of the new law, he commuted the death sentences of all death row inmates to life in prison.^[89] Corzine also has supported early New Jersey efforts at gun control.^[90]

Corzine had long insisted that state employees must bear part of the cost of their health benefits after retirement, but in June 2007 Corzine changed his position, possibly influenced by his former girlfriend and union leader Carla Katz, to give retired state workers more benefits.^[91] In 2008, Corzine approved a law that increased the retirement age from 60 to 62, requires that government workers and teachers earn $7,500 per year to qualify for a pension, eliminates Lincoln's Birthday as a state worker holiday, allows the state to offer incentives not to take health insurance and requires municipal employees work 20 hours per week to get health benefits.^[92]

Corzine (along with Martin O'Malley (MD), Mike Beebe (AR), and Eliot Spitzer (NY)) was one of several United States Governors who was an early supporter of Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign.^[93] He raised $1 million for her campaign.^[94] He, Bill Clinton, Eliot Spitzer, Chuck Schumer, and Charlie Rangel co-hosted Clinton's October 25, 2007 60th-birthday party.^[95] He remained a committed Clinton superdelegate late into the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primary season.^[96] In the event the Democratic National Committee would have decided to recontest the Michigan and Florida primaries, Corzine and Ed Rendell were prepared to spearhead Clinton's fundraising in for those races.^[97] Towards the end of the primary season in April 2008, Corzine made it clear that although he was a Clinton supporter, his superdelegate vote would be determined by the popular vote.^[98] After her win in the April 22, 2008 Pennsylvania Democratic primary and a calculation of popular votes that excluded caucuses and included the controversial Michigan and Florida Democratic primaries, Corzine reaffirmed his support for her.^[99] Once Barack Obama became the presumptive nominee, Corzine became a prominent spokesperson for Obama's plans.^[100]

Corzine was among a group of big (in terms of population) state governors, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, who moved his state Republican and Democratic primaries to February 5, 2008, the date of Super Tuesday, 2008.^[101][102] He was also among a group of prominent politicians (that included Ted Kennedy and Barack Obama) who received political contributions from Norman Hsu that he ended up donating to charity.^[103]

Corzine spent about $200,000 of his own money on advertisements to promote a referendum on the 2007 New Jersey ballot to borrow $450,000 to fund stem cell research. The referendum faced strong opposition and was rejected despite the fact that $270,000 had previously been approved to build stem cell research centers.^[104]

Toll hike plan and protest

Initially, Corzine opposed privatization of the New Jersey Turnpike.^[105] On January 8, 2008, Corzine announced a plan to raise some $38 billion by leasing the Garden State Parkway, the New Jersey Turnpike, and other toll roads for at least 75 years to a new, nominally private, off-the-balance-sheet public benefit corporation that could sell bonds secured by future tolls, which it would be allowed to raise by 50% plus inflation every four years beginning in 2010, after he is safely reelected or out of office.^[106][107] Corzine vowed to get that plan through the state legislature by March, but held off for nearly a month before releasing the details.^[108] Upon learning how the plan would work, New Jersey residents railed against it, comparing it to using one credit card to pay off another, pointing out that it would create hardship for commuters and noting that it would actually increase the state's $32 billion debt.^{[109][110][111]}

On January 19, 2008, Middle Township, New Jersey police arrested former Bogota, New Jersey mayor Steve Lonegan and a radio personality for leading 10 picketers in a protest against Governor Corzine’s toll hike plan in front of a school in Cape May County New Jersey where Corzine was pitching his toll hike plan.^[112][113] The mayor of Middle Township explained that police had acted at the behest of Corzine staffers, but Corzine denied that, and the township police pointed to school officials, who in turn cited “event security guidelines issued by the New Jersey State Police.” The State Police promised to investigate.^[114][115] State Senate minority leader Thomas Kean Jr called for an investigation by the Attorney General.^[116] Less than two weeks later, Corzine was publicly joking about Lonegan's arrest at a January 31 fundraising dinner in Washington, D.C. "Frankly, we can only raise so much by forcing Steve Lonegan to put up bail," quipped Corzine.^[117]

New Jersey government shutdown

Main article: 2006 New Jersey State Government shutdown

Corzine, in attempting to pass the 2007 fiscal year budget, came into conflict with fellow state Democrats in the New Jersey General Assembly, particularly over the proposed increase of the state's sales tax from 6% to 7%. Corzine stated that he would not accept a budget that did not include the sales tax increase. After the legislature failed to pass Governor Corzine's budget by the midnight deadline of July 1, 2006, he signed an executive order^[118] that immediately closed down all non-essential state government services, such as road construction projects. Legislators failed to resolve the situation by July 4 and casinos, among other governmentally-regulated industries, closed their doors at 8:00 am on July 5.^[119] Governor Corzine called the shutdown "deplorable," though he refused to negotiate with legislators and accept alternate plans that did not increase the sales tax. It is estimated that the state lost several millions of dollars of revenue every day the casinos remained closed.^[120]

After six days of the New Jersey state government being shut down Corzine and Assembly Democrats reached an agreement on the state budget. The compromise raised the state sales tax from 6% to 7% with half of the 1% increase going to the state budget and the other half going to property tax relief. On July 8, 2006, the $30 billion state budget, with the sales tax agreement, passed both houses and Governor Corzine signed the budget into law ending the budget impasse.^[121]

Appointments

Corzine continued to serve in the U.S. Senate while running for Governor, which ensured that he could resign from the Senate and appoint a successor if he won and allowed him to retain his Senate seat if he lost. Initial speculation was that he would appoint a Democrat from one of the congressional districts in New Jersey, such as Congressmen Rob Andrews, Rush Holt, or Frank Pallone. Governor Richard Codey had also been touted, though on November 23, 2005, he announced that he was not interested in pursuing the seat. On December 9, 2005, Corzine named U.S. Rep. Bob Menendez, a Democrat, to succeed him.^[122]

One of Corzine's first nominations was that of Zulima Farber as New Jersey Attorney General. Farber had been nominated to serve on the New Jersey Supreme Court by former Governor James E. McGreevey who resigned in August 2004 amidst a plethora of scandals, but McGreevey withdrew the nomination after learning that Farber had bench warrants issued for her arrest due to numerous motor vehicle infractions.^[123][124] Despite criticism, Corzine nominated her as Attorney General. In 2006, she thwarted an audit of a state account from which one of her clients had benefited.^[125] She served for approximately seven months until an ethics investigation concluded that she had improperly influenced local police in Fairview, New Jersey who had stopped her boyfriend Hamlet Gore for a driving with a suspended license and an expired vehicle registration.^[124] Corzine insisted he did not ask for Farber's resignation.^[124][126]

On February 9, 2006, after many scandals regarding financial mishandling had emerged at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Corzine nominated Robert Del Tufo, the former Attorney General of New Jersey and U.S. Attorney, as chairman of the board of trustees. Corzine also nominated Oliver Quinn, Prudential Financial's vice president and chief ethics officer, as vice chairman of the board.^[127]

Motorcade accident

On April 12, 2007, Governor Corzine and an aide were injured in an automobile accident on the Garden State Parkway near Galloway Township while traveling from the New Jersey Conference of Mayors in Atlantic City to Drumthwacket, his residence in Princeton, to meet with radio personality Don Imus and the Rutgers University women's basketball team.^[128]

The New Jersey State Police determined that Corzine's SUV, driven by a state trooper, was traveling in excess of 90 MPH (147 km/h) in a 65 MPH (105 km/h) zone with its emergency lights flashing when the collision occurred.^[129] A pickup truck drifted onto the shoulder and swerved back onto the lane to correct itself, and another pickup truck swerved to avoid the truck and hit the Governor's SUV in the process, causing the SUV to hit the guardrail. The State Police reviewed roadside camera recordings and E-ZPass records to track down the driver of the truck; he was not charged with any violation.^[130][131]

Corzine and the trooper were flown by helicopter to Cooper University Hospital in Camden, a Level I trauma center. The aide was taken by ambulance to Atlantic City Medical Center. Neither the trooper nor the aide was seriously injured, but Corzine suffered broken bones, including an open fracture of the left femur, 11 broken ribs, a broken sternum, a broken collarbone, a fractured lower vertebra, and a facial cut that required plastic surgery.^[132] The Governor was not wearing a seat belt. Friends had long said that they had rarely seen him wear one.^[133] When asked why the state trooper who was driving would not have asked Corzine to put on his seat belt, a staffer said the governor was "not always amenable to suggestion".^[134] The Superintendent of State Police has also noted that the trooper could be charged if the crash was preventable.

By April 23, 2007, Corzine's doctors had upgraded him from critical to stable condition.^[135] He was sedated and unable to speak because of a breathing tube in his throat, and as such, was unable to perform his duties as Governor. In accordance with the New Jersey State Constitution, New Jersey Senate President Richard Codey assumed the position of acting governor from April 12 until May 7, 2007. In 2005, voters approved an amendment to the state constitution to provide for a Lieutenant Governor who would succeed the governor in the event of a vacancy, but that position will not be filled until 2010.^[136]

Corzine left the hospital on April 30, 2007.^[137] He sped to Drumthwacket “in a van clocked at fifteen miles [per hour] over the speed limit.”^[138] New York Post columnist Leonard Greene reported that the Governor's motorcade, while traveling on Interstate 295 en route to his mansion, was clocked by unnamed motorists at a speed of 70 MPH while in a 55 MPH zone.^[139] Corzine recuperated at Drumthwacket, which had been outfitted with a videoconferencing center (at his expense) so he could communicate with legislators.^[140] He issued an apology, paid a $46 ticket (issued at the behest of his staff) for not wearing a seatbelt,^[141] and he appeared in a public service announcement which opened with the words "I’m New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, and I should be dead."^[142]

Electoral history

See also

• New Jersey
• List of Governors of New Jersey
• United States Senate
• List of United States Senators

Notes

References

• Ingle, Bob (2008). The Soprano State. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 10: 0-312-36894-1.
• "Democrats score big". (Nov. 10, 2005). New Straits Times, p. 29.
• Newmarker, Chris (Nov. 5, 2005). "N.J. Governor's Race Hits New Lows". Associated Press.
• "Corzine for a Bruising" May 10, 2006 The Brian Lehrer Show

External links

• New Jersey Office of the Governor Jon Corzine, State site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, National Governors Association
• Follow the Money – Jon S Corzine 2006 campaign contributions
• SourceWatch Congresspedia – Jon S. Corzine profile
• Corzine for Governor, Campaign site
• Corzine easily defeats Forrester WUSA-TV
• Corzine Recovers From Car Crash WCBSTV
• Senator Jon Corzine's Quest for Redemption, New York Magazine

Governors of New Jersey Livingston · Paterson · Howell · Bloomfield · Ogden · W.S. Pennington · M. Dickerson · Williamson · Vroom · Southard · Seeley · P. Dickerson · W. Pennington · Haines · Stratton · Fort · Price · Newell · Olden · Parker · Ward · Randolph · Bedle · McClellan · Ludlow · Abbett · Green · Werts · Griggs · Voorhees · Murphy · Stokes · Fort · Wilson · Fielder · Edge · Edwards · Silzer · Moore · Larson · Hoffman · Edison · Driscoll · Meyner · Hughes · Cahill · Byrne · Kean · Florio · Whitman · DiFrancesco · McGreevey · Codey · Corzine

United States Senators from New Jersey Class 1: Elmer • Rutherfurd • Davenport • Schureman • Ogden • Condit • Lambert • Wilson • Southard • McIlvaine • Bateman • Dickerson • Southard • W. Dayton • R. Stockton • Thomson • Field • J. Wall • Wright • F. T. Frelinghuysen • J. Stockton • Randolph • Sewell • Blodgett • J. Smith • J. Kean • Martine • J. Frelinghuysen • Edwards • H. Kean • Moore • Milton • Barbour • Walsh • H. Smith • Williams • Brady • Lautenberg • Corzine • Menendez Class 2: Paterson • Dickinson • F. Frelinghuysen • Richard Stockton • J. Dayton • Kitchell • Condit • Dickerson • T. Frelinghuysen • G. Wall • Miller • Wright • Ten Eyck • J. Stockton • Catell • F. T. Frelinghuysen • McPherson • Sewell • Dryden • Briggs • Hughes • Baird • Edge • Baird, Jr. • Morrow • Barbour • Smathers • Hawkes • Hendrickson • Case • Bradley • Torricelli • Lautenberg