Jim McGreevey

James E. McGreevey has a new job: blogger. The former Governor has started writing a blog with author/activist David Mixner that is posted on Arianna Huffington's website.

SIRES MEASURE TO CLARIFY DEFINITION OF 'ACTING GOVERNOR' GAINS FINAL HOUSE APPROVAL

by David P. Rebovich

As his fourteen month stint as Acting Governor winds down, Richard Codey is being lionized by politicians, reporters, pundits and a large portion of the general public for the job he has done since succeeding the infamous Jim McGreevey. Codey certainly deserves praise. In the meantime, however, many of these same people are wondering what Codey's successor, Jon Corzine, will do to address the multibillion dollar budget deficit and other huge policy and fiscal problems the McGreevey-era Democrats bequeathed to him. Yes, Codey bears some responsibility for this bequest, too. On these terms one would have to conclude that Codey's legacy as Acting Governor is mixed.

Several Democratic sources are saying that Jon Corzine has settled on Zulima Farber for Attorney General. The 61-year-old Farber would become the first Latina to serve as the state's top law enforcement official. Farber served as an Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor and Assistant Counsel to Governor Brendan Byrne, and in Governor Jim Florio's cabinet as Public Advocate. She was considered a leading candidate for Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court in 2003, but Governor James E. McGreevey made a last minute switch and nominated John Wallace to the post. (01/03/06)

By Steve Adubato, Ph.D.

"If we scrub this budget and we can't close the budget holes and get the dollars for the Transportation Trust Fund, then we'll review that ... I vowed not to do it (raise the gas tax) at $3.00 a gallon, that's for sure. When it's down at the levels we're in right now, I said I hadn't taken it off the table."

Those were the words of Governor-elect Jon Corzine, spoken this past week at a conference hosted by the New Jersey Business and Industry Association. Some will point to the fact that on October 11 in the heat of a gubernatorial campaign, Corzine stated, "There will be no gas tax hike in a Corzine administration."

Conventional wisdom says that the governor-to-be is flirting with the possibility of not keeping a campaign pledge. I say, "good." At what point are we going to realize that all kinds of things are said in a campaign that have absolutely nothing to do with the reality and hard work of governing and everything to do with the crazy world of trying to get elected.

Gas prices are lower than where they were in the second week of October. The much bigger fact is that the Transportation Trust Fund is in dire straits and running out of money fast. The Fund is critical to paying for essential highway construction and mass transit projects that keep our state safe and thriving economically. The Transportation Trust Fund has to be renewed by July 1. If not, the state stands to lose over $1 billion from the federal government in matching grants. What we are talking about are roads, bridges and critical mass transit improvements not moving forward.

None of this stuff is sexy, but all of it is vitally important. The governor-elect knows this and is smart enough to realize that since the campaign is over, he has to be the state's chief executive -- the guy who has to make the really hard decisions, who can’t be trying to make everyone happy. (That was my biggest criticism of Jim McGreevey.)

I'm thrilled that Jon Corzine may be rethinking his position on the gas tax. It's not that I want us to be taxed anymore; it's just that our current 10.5 cents per gallon gas tax is one of the lowest in the nation. Yet, our transportation needs are great. Jon Corzine understands that if he ducks this issue by not working with the legislature to provide a stable source of revenue to go directly into the Transportation Trust Fund, he is playing with fire. He also seems prepared to take the criticism leveled at him for his most recent comments on the gas tax.

But that's the absurdity of talking about campaign "promises" and the even greater absurdity of some candidates who sign "no tax increase pledges." Things change. They evolve. And any public official that doesn’t evolve in the decision making process doesn’t deserve the opportunity to lead. We’re not talking about changing your position on abortion or the death penalty based on public opinion polls. Those questions are ones of morality than anything else. What we are talking about with the gas tax is a nuts and bolts hard core policy and operational issue involving transportation and economic development. Corzine is not saying he supports a gas tax, but only that he is open to it as a last resort. Any other position would be irresponsible.

And speaking of economics, let’s stop kidding ourselves about the budget situation. This deficit in state government is massive, and the things that will have to be done to balance this budget in a responsible way won’t make many people happy. Again, as Corzine stated at this week’s business conference, "We’ve got some serious financial challenges ahead ... and there are not the kinds of gimmicks and alternatives to turn to that have been done, unfortunately, for a very long period of time ... we have just come to the end of the line."

Jon Corzine is not being an alarmist. He is just talking about the bottom line in a sobering fashion. The bottom line on the gas tax is that it is going to have to be raised, whether we like it or not. But the alternative of letting roads, bridges and transit systems decay and fall apart is simply unacceptable.

I am encouraged by the governor-elect’s comments this week and I am hoping they reflect his sense that more and more he is going to have to tell a variety of audiences not what they want to hear, but what they need to hear. It’s the job he ran for and the job he won. Anyone who tries to make a big deal about Corzine’s evolving position on the gas tax is engaging in partisan political gamesmanship that New Jersey can no longer afford to play. And that’s the bottom line.

By Carl J. Mayer

The first tests of Governor-elect Corzine's leadership will begin before he takes office.

One of the keys will be who Corzine appoints to lead the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

New Jersey has more environmental problems than any other state in the country, thus this position is vitally important.

The current Commissioner Bradley Campbell has failed to safeguard New Jersey's environment and wildlife and needs to be replaced by someone who will actually protect the environment of the state rather than do the bidding of developers and special interest groups.

Herewith the top five reasons Corzine ought not to re-appoint Campbell:

5. Campbell recently approved New Jersey's first bear hunt in almost 35 years. You can’t be an environmental leader and work to destroy wildlife. Yosemite Park has thousands of people and bears in close proximity; they routinely manage by using non-lethal methods.

4. Commissioner Campbell not only approved the slaughter of Deer in New Jersey in 2001, but he approved a vicious method called “Net and Bolt� that is condemned by the Humane Society and virtually every other animal welfare organization in the country. Under "Net and Bolt" animals are wrestled to the ground after being trapped under a net and then an eight-inch steel rod is exploded into their heads, causing a gruesome, painful death.

3. Campbell is controlled by the bosses who have corrupted New Jersey politics for decades. The best example of this is the proposed development of Petty Island in South Jersey. News outlets reported earlier this year that Campbell opposed preserving this island – home to nesting bald eagles – in favor of developing it after he was lobbied by notorious political boss George Norcross (currently under investigation by the U.S. Attorney). The development will be done by Cherokee Partners – a firm that has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Norcross and Campbell’s party.

2. Campbell is a McGreevey appointee and was close to the Governor and the corrupt bosses that control politics in New Jersey. Outside his office, Campbell had a framed picture of Jim McGreevey, addressed to Campbell that said: "Thanks Brad." Corzine cannot call himself a reformer if he re-appoints McGreevey holdovers.

1. Campbell approved the worst environmental law in the modern history of New Jersey and maybe the country. This so called "fast-track" bill allows developers to bypass the ordinary legal and environmental protections afforded land in New Jersey and continue to build uncontrollably. The Sierra Club and the entire environmental community opposed this measure because it endangers the remaining 20% of New Jersey that is open space. It was passed in a back-room deal, written behind closed doors, with the exclusive input of industry and without the environmental community.

I personally have witnessed Campbell’s failed management style.

In 2001 I represented, as a lawyer, the Animal Legal Defense Fund and various groups in New Jersey that wanted to stop the "Net and Bolt torture of animals. We had a meeting with a Commissioner Campbell at his office.

Rather than listen to any of the facts or evidence regarding the costliness and ineffectiveness of killing deer, Commissioner Campbell spent the entire meeting ranting and raving about how “Net and Bolt’ was actually humane, despite all evidence to the contrary.

Campbell has a history of these outbursts. When Governor McGreevey was on statewide radio call in show, I called the show and pointed out that McGreevey had himself called the “Net and Bolt� deer slaughter “heinous� and he agreed that it was.

Minutes later I received a call from Campbell screaming about how I dare call the Governor and threatening to cancel a previously arranged meeting.

You can’t run a government agency by calling environmental advocates and shouting at them. You can’t be an environmental leader and favor torturing wildlife and loosening controls on developers.

Campbell tried this. It didn’t work. He must go and Corzine should find a new leader to protect the environment of New Jersey.

Carl J. Mayer, a lawyer, runs the blog devoted to ending corruption in New Jersey: www.newjerseyuntouchables.org.

Woodbridge Republican Municipal Chairman Joseph Paone's appointment as a state Administrative Law Judge last week comes as a bit of a consolation prize, perhaps because one of his advocates is in prison. In 2004, Paone told The Star-Ledger that he had asked James E. McGreevey pal David D'Amiano to help him win an appointment to the Superior Court. D'Amiano (aka Federal Prisoner #10852-050) is now serving his McGreevey-related corruption sentence at a federal prison in New Jersey.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a possible candidate for the 2008 Presidential election, will be in New Jersey on December 13th to raise money for Paul Aronsohn, Jim McGreevey's former press secretary who is running for Congress in the fifth district. Aronsohn will face off against '04 nominee Dorothea Ann Wolfe, the former Bergen County Utilities Authority Chairwoman, who wants a second shot at Republican Congressman Scott Garrett. If he runs, Richardson, a former Congressman, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Secretary of Energy, would become the first major Latino contender for the Presidency.

Former Governor James E. McGreevey is on Capitol Hill today, but at least one person he saw says the visit wasn't about business. "Just came by to say hello," an aide to Senator Frank Lautenberg told PoliticsNJ.com.

U.S. News & World Report is reporting that Republican strategists want to use former New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey as a role model, suggesting that the fallout from the Abramoff-Scanlon lobbying scandal can be reduced if tainted GOP Congressmen resign before the 2006 election. "They should step aside now," said one adviser with ties to the House Republican leadership and the White House. "If they leave now, we could still hold their seat." When McGreevey resigned in August 2004, his approval rating was an upside down 38%-47%. His interim successor has a 68%-16% approval rating and Democrats kept the governorship by a 200,000 vote margin.