New York Times

With less than a week to go before the election, the two-year-old specter of asset monetization has been raised again – and Gov. Corzine hopes to put the subject to rest as soon as possible.  

In a press conference with reporters this morning, Corzine said that a New York Times report that says he told the paper that he was considered revisiting a scaled back version of the program was inaccurate.  

Below is a transcript of this morning’s news conference pertaining to the Times story, provided by the Corzine campaign (emphasis theirs):  

Q: Do you believe that a toll plan should be brought back?

GOVERNOR CORZINE: “NO! No toll increases, no leasing.  Off the table.  Not gonna happen. PERIOD!”

Q: Did they get it wrong?

GOVERNOR CORZINE: “They got it wrong because they focused on the fact that we may raise money out of our rest stops on properties that surround the turnpike. No toll increases...no leasing of the turnpike.  Off the table, not happening PERIOD! And you know I think if you read that article you will also see that Mr. Christie has backed away from every single promise that he talked about during the campaign, particularly during the primary, about how he was gonna roll back the sales tax, how we was gonna increase rebates, how he was gonna put more money into school funding.  All of those things are out the window.  

Only one thing is he standing with--he's gonna keep tax cuts for people who make over 400,000...the very wealthy. That is going to drive property tax increases for every single middle class New Jerseyan.  That's what the Star Ledger said, that's what multiple analysts who have looked at that suggestion. Tax cuts for the wealthy don't work if you want to support the middle class.  And that's the only promise he maintained in that particular article.”

Contacted by PolitickerNJ.com, the Times stood by the accuracy of its story. 

QUIGLEY: CHRISTIE ADMITS DEMOCRATIC APPROACH
TO BALANCING BUDGET THE RIGHT WAY TO ATTACK
STATE'S FISCAL PROBLEMS

(Jersey City) – Assemblywoman Joan Quigley today welcomed Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Chris Christie back to reality with the news that he has realized his economic proposals would doom the state to fiscal ruin.

WISNIEWSKI: CHRISTIE EVEN MORE OF A MYSTERY
THAN BEFORE

(Sayreville) - Even with his endorsement of Democratic fiscal policy in today's editions of the New York Times, Assemblyman John Wisniewski said Chris Christie is even more of a mystery to voters than he was before today's flip-flop.

STATEMENT FROM SENATE PRESIDENT CODEY
ON CHRISTIE’S CONTRADICTIONS

 
(TRENTON) - Senate President Richard J. Codey (D- Essex) released the following statement today:

“Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie finally admitted yesterday in the New York Times what we have already known, his entire campaign has been based on empty promises and failed economic policies.  Christie now says he will not restore property tax rebates, will not roll back the sales tax, will use "one-shot" revenues to close the budget deficit, and will not reduce income taxes.  Christie is learning quickly that it's one thing to make promises as the candidate for governor and another thing to have to explain how you would implement these promises once you are in charge.

“The truth is the only economic policies that Chris Christie is staying true to are the same failed economic policies that George Bush employed that got the country into this mess, and now Christie wants to bring them to New Jersey.”

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Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine leads Republican Christopher Christie 40%-39% with independent Christopher Daggett at 14% among likely voters, according to a New York Times poll released today.  Without leaners, Corzine is ahead 40%-37%, with Daggett still at 14%.

Corzine's lead over Christie is within the poll's margin of error,

The paper led not with the horse race numbers, however, but with data showing that the public is skeptical about both major party candidates.

Wrote reporter David Halbfinger: "the decision facing New Jersey voters is startlingly bleak." 

Voters "do not like Mr. Corzine, think he has done a poor job and have little faith that he will revive the state's ailing economy or gain control of soaring property taxes, the two issues they say they care about the most... But the electorate is just as skeptical of Mr. Christie, who has been hit with a blizzard of Mr. Corzine's attack ads but has failed to get across a positive message."

The New York Times sent a reporter to Trenton to cover the Governor's 2009 State of the State address.

Some encouraging new from the New York Times: the paper of record that has closed its Trenton news bureau and pulled their New Jersey reporting team, sent one of their top-flight reporters, David Chen, to the statehouse yesterday to cover Gov. Jon Corzine’s State of the State Address.  This is the NYT’s second story on the New Jersey governor this week; on Sunday, freelancer Dunstan McNichol wrote about Corzine’s future prospects.  Chen ran the Trenton bureau for the NYT before being assigned to New York City Hall.

Richard Benfield, a member of the New York Times editorial board and the editor of the New Jersey section, is retiring after a long career in journalism.  Hs spent nineteen years as editorial page editor for The Record, and headed The Record’s Trenton and Washington bureaus.  His op-ed on suburban political bosses – specifically Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero, ran on the New York Times’ national opinion page on January 1 and is a must-read for New Jerseyans.

"New Jersey voters deserved a better race this year than the nearly invisible contest between Senator Frank Lautenberg and Richard Zimmer, his Republican challenger," begins the New York Times' endorsement of U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

Although accurate, a generous interpretation of this seemingly hypocritical charge is that it is in fact a veiled criticism of their own paper's decision to ignore the U.S. Senate race in New Jersey. Not once has the Times written a story about the general election contest between Frank Lautenberg and Dick Zimmer. (By comparison, Cynthia Burton at the Philadelphia Inquirer has written 11 pieces on the race.)

To add insult to injury, Zimmer told PolitickerNJ: "One of the editors of the New York Times who interviewed me for their editorial thought I was still a member of Congress."

To view more cartoons by Politicker.com editorial cartoonist Rob Tornoe, click here.