DeCROCE SAYS CORZINE OWES RESIDENTS AN APOLOGY FOR SUGGESTING THEY MOVE TO NORTH DAKOTA

CORZINE SAYS NORTH DAKOTA IS THE PLACE TO BE, NOT NEW JERSEY, IF YOU WANT A STATE WITH LOW UNEMPLOYMENT

            Calling it “the most incredibly dumb and insensitive remarks every uttered by a governor,” Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce says Jon Corzine owes the people of New Jersey, particularly those who have lost their jobs, an apology for suggesting on television that anyone who wants to live in a state with low unemployment should “live in North Dakota.”

            “There is something seriously wrong with the mindset of anyone who would make such a statement,” asserted DeCroce, R-Morris and Passaic. “That this was said by someone who is singularly responsible for fouling New Jersey’s business climate and giving employers little choice but to lay off workers, close up the shop or move their operations out of state is downright insulting.

            “Under normal circumstances, I would have asked the governor to explain his comment. But I don’t see how a rationale explanation is possible. Corzine needs to apologize and admit he blundered badly by making such an inane statement.”

            Corzine’s remarks about North Dakota came Tuesday during an interview broadcast by NJN News. “If you want to go to a real low unemployment rate, go to North Dakota,” said Corzine.

            “It sounds to me like Corzine is ready to throw in the towel,” added DeCroce. “Essentially, his statement is an admission that he has no clue what to do to trigger job creation and an economic rebirth in New Jersey. But to suggest to people without a job that if they don’t like it in New Jersey, then they should move elsewhere? That’s a defeatist attitude that no chief of state should ever have.”

            DeCroce said Corzine’s flippant remark was especially cruel in light of revelations that New Jersey’s 9.7 percent unemployment rate is the highest it has been in more than 30 years and is quickly approaching double digits.

            What makes Corzine’s comment even more ridiculous, noted DeCroce, is the fact North Dakota’s unemployment rate, which was 4.2 percent in July, according to the last statistical report released by the U.S. Department of Labor is “far from an impossible dream” in New Jersey.

            “In 2000, the final year the governor’s office and the Legislature was controlled by Republicans, New Jersey’s unemployment rate was 3.8 percent,” DeCroce pointed out. “It was 4.2 percent in 2007, the second year of Corzine’s own administration. If we gave employers a reason to stay in New Jersey and expand, instead of taxing them out of business or out of the state as Corzine and the Democrats in the Legislature have done, our unemployment rate can fall to North Dakota’s level. We can shrink it even more. Republicans have shown it can be done in the past.

            “In his typical Wall Street way, the wealthy Jon Corzine has shown once again how out of touch he is with the plight of New Jersey residents,” DeCroce said.

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