Hold Me Accountable

Chris Christie and Jon Corzine as The HoneymoonersRead PolitickerNJ.com's The Year in Review 2007, our annual lists of Winners & Losers of the Year, Politician of the Year, Best & Worst Campaigns, People to Watch, Rising Stars, and much more.

The list of Best Operatives of 2007 is headed by Raiyan Sayed, who managed Jim Whelan's Senate race, and Tom Fitzsimmons, who ran the campaigns of Jennifer Beck for State Senate and Caroline Casagrande and Declan O'Scanlon for Assembly.

Find out why Rodney Frelinghuysen is tougher than he looks, why Don DiFrancesco doesn't shock us, how Joe Roberts made the worst prediction of 2007, and what Jim Devine, Gerald Lange, Malik Cupid, Chris Daul and Chris Thieme have in common.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM POLITICKERNJ.COM

One of Governor Jon Corzine’s goals for 2008 is a new state energy plan – that’s one of the reasons he opted to attend a global warming conference in Portugal the week before the November mid-term elections.  So far, the odds of Corzine achieving a successful energy plan appear slim – because of infighting within his administration.

A meeting of key administration officials last week did not go especially well: Corzine policy advisor Gary Rose wound up having quite a fight with two cabinet members – Environmental Protection Commissioner Lisa Jackson and Board of Public Utilities President Jeanne Fox.  The hot-headed Rose, a my way or the highway kind of guy who came from Goldman Sachs, wound up screaming at the cabinet members before he stormed out of the room.

Critics say he's ineffective, but Gov. Jon Corzine said he has a lot to show for his first two years in office.  In an interview on Wednesday, Corzine pointed out that his administration will shortly release its new school funding formula, while property tax growth has significantly slowed under his watch and rebates have been sent out.   They've created an earned income tax credit, maintained a relatively low unemployment rate and helped shepherd in a syringe exchange program.

Soon, Corzine will come out with what may be his boldest move yet: the secret, controversial asset monetization plan to leverage toll roads to put much needed money in state coffers.  (No, Corzine would not say how much tolls will rise).

According to the online source www.Dictionary.com, the word “paralysis” is defined as a “state of helpless stoppage, inactivity, or inability to act.” We often hear it used to describe medical conditions that cause certain people to be unable to sometimes walk, talk, or otherwise move. In New Jersey, it can be best used to describe Governor Corzine’s Administration.

That’s the word around Trenton and throughout the State: Corzine’s leadership is paralyzed. It is helpless, inactive, and unable to act. It shouldn’t be, but it is. And it’s Jon Corzine’s fault.

Why? Because he is our leader, the one most New Jersey voters elected two years ago after unprecedented campaign spending, to provide us all with strong, decisive, and consistent leadership. But that’s not what we have gotten and many of us see that first hand every day in Trenton. The voters of New Jersey confirmed that feeling in this week’s election, by voting down a very important ballot question pushed by the Governor, one that he spent his own money to push. But Democrats and Republicans voted against it. It shows that his leadership is shot, unfortunately. And we all know it. That’s why people have left the Administration in droves, in virtually every executive branch office and agency. Because the writing is on the wall, and they see nothing but an explosion in red tape and abysmal employee morale, many experienced professionals—most of whom are non-unionized—have left and many more are planning to leave. They want out.

2007 was a Republican year in New Jersey, thanks to some significant local gains, a well played game of defense, the defeat of two ballot referendums, and the growing insignificance of Governor Jon “Hold Me Accountable” Corzine. It is arguably the first Republican year in New Jersey, albeit marginally, since 1997.

Republicans ousted State Senator Ellen Karcher in the 12th, has a net gain of two Assembly seats – defeating two-term Democrat Michael Panter in Monmouth County and winning back the 8th district seat they lost earlier this year when Francis Bodine switched parties to run for the Senate. The GOP won both Assembly seats in District 2, holding Frank Blee’s seat and picking up the one Jim Whelan vacated.

It's the season for ethics complaints.  Jennifer Beck has filed one against Ellen Karcher.  And Karcher has one pending on Beck.  That's typical for an election year; soon candidates will begin sending letters to the U.S. Attorney as well.  They will see a federal probe of what they say they view as criminal actions -- but really, they're just hoping for some press coverage. 

New Jersey Public Officers Salary Review Commission was created in 2000 as a creative way of giving state legislators some cover when it came to granting pay hikes for the Governor, cabinet officials, judges and prosecutors. That way legislators wouldn't be held accountable to the voters -- or the Judges and Prosecutors -- because they could claim they were just following the guidance of the blue ribbon commission. Richard Codey sponsord the legislation in the Senate; Leonard Lance in the Assembly.

Yesterday, Governor Jon "Zero Tolerance" Corzine announced his two appointments: former state Supreme Court Justice James Coleman and lobbyist Hazel Gluck. This puts Gluck in the position of suggesting pay hikes for people she lobbies -- perhaps giving the appearance that this violates the intent of the Codey/Lance bill, which says no one should be appointed who "are in positions that would be affected by the commission's recommendations." The same thing could be said about Codey's appointment, Michael Critchley, a criminal defense attorney from Essex County who often represents allegedly corrupt public officials in court.

Democrats in Atlantic City, clearly nervous about the impact of AWOL Mayor Robert Levy on the fall campaigns for State Senate, Assembly and County Executive, want Governor Jon "Zero Tolerance" Corzine to get involved -- perhaps, it has been suggested, find a way to remove Levy from office.  But if Corzine did that, wouldn't he need to be held accountable for removing a resume embellesher with an unspecified illness while being unwilling to call for the immediate ouster of other indicted officials, like State Senators Sharpe James and Wayne Bryant, and Mayors Mims Hackett and Sammy Rivera?