Corzine answers with the argument of government

TRENTON – It’s very early, of course. 

But Gov. Jon Corzine at his full-fledged press conference on the fourth floor of the Hughes Justice Center this afternoon, where he was flanked by Chief Justice Stuart Rabner and Attorney General Anne Milgram, suggested the déjà all over again feel of Gerry Ford’s defensive posture campaign against Jimmy Carter one day after Corzine’s presumptive chief rival entered the race for governor.  

In that 1976 presidential contest between Carter and Ford, Carter was out in the hinterlands while Ford tracked the sedate and somber steps of good government, immersed in all the symbolic trappings of his office. 

In this case, in the face of repeated Republican put-downs that Democrats with their overt culture of political patronage and government first ask questions afterwards approach, Corzine projected the image of an executive committed to making the engine run as he announced in the midst of a national recession the creation of a new state-supported mortgage foreclosure mediation program. 

“We want to help people stay in their homes,” said the governor. Milgram, Rabner, Department of Consumer Affairs Director Joe Doria, Public Advocate Ronald Chen and other government officials backed him, while state Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Essex), Assembly Majority Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), and Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer sat approvingly in front of him. 

In an effort to give eligible homeowners access to housing counselors, attorneys and court-trained mediators to help them stay in their foreclosed homes, Corzine in December signed legislation to provide the program with $12.5 million in state funds to DCA and an additional $500,000 to the Department of the Judiciary. 

Memories returned of former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, the GOP establishment’s choice for gov, working a room packed with Republicans last night at the Marco Polo in Summit, the party faithful, who complained about an inoperative and bloated state government incapable of responding to common people and their needs. 

Comically trying to prove the point, Assemblyman Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield) has a joke about the state’s transportation hotline, which to this day – in his punch line - connects people to the recorded voice of Gov. James McGreevey vowing prompt and conscientious service. 

The Democrats and Corzine came back with the rejoinder of officialdom. 

Riding a State Democratic Party Chair Joe Cryan quote from yesterday that wrote off Christie as a Bush-Cheney drone, here was Corzine today with the argument that government can be pro-active in this economic downturn plaguing - his emphasis – not just New Jersey - but the country. 

“A key to New Jersey’s economic recovery is assuring the stability of families, communities, and the neighborhood businesses that depend on them until this national recession subsides,” said Corzine. “By creating a mechanism enabling distressed homeowners and borrowers to work out amicable solutions during these challenging times, we can stabilize the entire financial system and keep people in their homes.” 

Milgram backed him up.  

“The mortgage foreclosure crisis in New Jersey exacts a devastating toll on homeowners, their families, their neighborhoods and communities, which is why the State is committed to doing everything it can to provide New Jersey homeowners with the tools to fight back,” she said. “The mortgage foreclosure mediation program is designed to resolve foreclosure complaints. The difference between calling or not calling our hotline could be the difference between keeping a home or losing a home.”

Later, reporters crowded around the governor, who returned from Iraq yesterday after visiting New Jersey troops stationed there. Taking on the broken government argument, Corzine argued that he has been flexible and activist in response to the financial crisis in terms of pinpointing necessary programs. 

“We’ve reprioritized the budget,” he said. “We put $60 million into these kinds of efforts, cutting in those areas we outlined last Friday. We may consider doing more. We are mindful of these things that stabilize the economy.”  

The governor is scheduled to deliver his State of the State address Jan. 13, and now denied in retirement the symbolic seals and flags of his office, how Christie responds from the hinterlands in a potentially hard-hitting primary with his own Republican economic argument is what his party waits to hear.