Jones Lang LaSalle
January 18, 2006
Corzine Pledges a 'New Era' for New Jersey
By DAVID W. CHEN
TRENTON, Jan. 17 - Warning that New Jersey government had lost "the people's confidence," Jon S. Corzine was sworn in on Tuesday as the state's 52nd elected governor and pledged to usher in a "new era" marked by ethics reform and fiscal restraint.
Offering a sober message in blunt language, Mr. Corzine, a former Wall Street executive, said the state faced deep financial problems, and he complained that past failures of leadership had relegated key aspects of the government to the control of the state and federal courts. He also pledged wide-ranging ethics reform, including an elected state comptroller to monitor the government.
And Mr. Corzine, who stepped down as the state's senior United States senator to become governor, said he readily accepted the challenges.
"Hold me accountable," he said, echoing a line from his election night speech.
"It is simply inexcusable that we have a state government that again and again ranks low in public trust and esteem," he said at the Trenton War Memorial, with dozens of state officials on the stage and some former Senate colleagues, Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut and Paul S. Sarbanes of Maryland, in the audience.
"In the face of all our state can be, our self-government too often falls short of what it should be," he said.
In an inaugural address that was praised both by his fellow Democrats and the Republicans who fought so bitterly to defeat him last fall, Mr. Corzine, 59, urged state and local officials to put politics in the back seat, and quoted Woodrow Wilson as saying, "If you think too much about being re-elected, it's very difficult to be worth re-electing."
He called on his "fellow public servants to join in an effort to end the toxic mix of politics, money and public business." He promised in his 22-minute speech that he would be guided by one principle only: "What is best for New Jersey."
In the past, incoming New Jersey governors often used their inaugural addresses to map out their visions, and float a plan or two. In 1994, Christie Whitman called for an immediate cut in the income tax.
This time, there were no such twists, as Mr. Corzine hewed to the same broad themes of austerity and ethics that he honed during his campaign over the businessman Douglas R. Forrester. The day was purposely muted: There was no parade, and the inaugural ball at Princeton University's Jadwin Gym featured a buffet, not a sit-down dinner. Mr. Corzine chose his daughter, Jennifer, for the first dance, to the strains of "What a Wonderful World."
A former head of Goldman Sachs, a top Wall Street investment bank, Mr. Corzine spent more than $100 million of his own money to win election to the United States Senate and now to the governor's office. Unlike most of the politicians he must now deal with, he bypassed the standard political stations of the cross, never having served as a mayor, a county freeholder or a state legislator.
He is different in another way, too, as the state's first divorced governor in half a century and the only unmarried governor in the country. He was flanked by his mother, three children and other family members.
And though he served in the Senate for the last five years, he arrived here as something of an outsider who, though he has lived in New Jersey for the past three decades, spent his career in Manhattan on the trading floor and in the executive suite.
"I am a New Jerseyan by choice; I was born somewhere else," he said, referring to his roots in rural Illinois. "I love our state and her people, and I want our state to be known for the high ideals of its people."
He continued, "Let us resolve that having been through a period of turmoil, we will not go back to business as usual. We can and must move with a new determination into a new era of honesty, responsibility and prosperity with a government that earns the people's trust and trusts the people with the truth."
To back that up, Mr. Corzine issued his first executive order later in the day, requiring an additional 625 people on 30 state boards to file financial disclosure forms with the State Ethics Commission.
On paper, at least, Mr. Corzine starts with some advantages. As the state government's only official elected statewide, he occupies a state office considered the most powerful in America, equipped with a line-item veto and extensive power to appoint officials, including the attorney general and the treasurer.
Both the State Senate and the Assembly are solidly in Democratic control, though Mr. Corzine has had some awkward moments with the man he is replacing, former acting Gov. Richard J. Codey, who is the president of the Senate. Mr. Codey became governor after the sudden resignation of James E. McGreevey in 2004 because of an extramarital affair with a male aide and had considered running for a full term. But Mr. Codey stepped aside when Mr. Corzine indicated that he would spend whatever was necessary to win.
The challenges the Democrats face are daunting. New Jersey is facing a potential $5 billion deficit that could grow to $6 billion if Mr. Corzine gives residents, as he has promised, some property tax relief. Pension and health-benefit costs are climbing. A special fund to pay for transportation projects is about to run out of money. The state has also exhausted the money it borrowed to meet a court order to build schools, though it is still short of its goal. And New Jersey's troubled child welfare system is operating under the threat of being put into receivership by a federal judge.
"The process of re-establishing our financial integrity will not be painless," Mr. Corzine warned. In promising to rein in spending, he did not rule out raising taxes. But above all, he urged patience.
Several Republican leaders said they worried how Mr. Corzine would accomplish his goals and looked forward to dissecting his forthcoming budget. But on the whole, they applauded.
"I liked it; he just said what needed to be done," said State Senator William L. Gormley, a Republican from Atlantic City. "I'd label it a Joe Friday speech - just the facts, ma'am, just the facts."
Democrats also praised the speech. "I thought it was a challenge to us all," said State Senator Raymond J. Lesniak, a powerful Democrat from Union County. "To the extent that there was some scolding, maybe we needed some scolding."
But Senator Sharpe James, who is also Newark's mayor, said, "A majority of the men and women of the Senate and Assembly already agree with his hue and cry for reform and do not deserve to be painted with the same brush of mismanagement, neglect and being concerned only about re-election."
For all of the weightiness of the proceedings, there was still some spontaneity. Mr. Corzine opened his speech with a quip about how Mr. Codey had warned him about the 19-gun salute that traditionally preceded inaugurations.
"Beware, one day they'll be shooting at you," he said Mr. Codey told him.
But it was Mr. Codey - the state's most popular politician, according to polls - who delivered the biggest applause line. When the outgoing secretary of state, Regena L. Thomas, mistakenly called him "Speaker," Mr. Codey corrected her and noted that he was still the Senate president.
"I thought I lost another job," he joked, to laughter from the inaugural audience.
David Kocieniewski and Richard Lezin Jones contributed reporting for this article.
January 18, 2006
Corzine Pledges a 'New Era' for New Jersey
By DAVID W. CHEN
TRENTON, Jan. 17 - Warning that New Jersey government had lost "the people's confidence," Jon S. Corzine was sworn in on Tuesday as the state's 52nd elected governor and pledged to usher in a "new era" marked by ethics reform and fiscal restraint.
Offering a sober message in blunt language, Mr. Corzine, a former Wall Street executive, said the state faced deep financial problems, and he complained that past failures of leadership had relegated key aspects of the government to the control of the state and federal courts. He also pledged wide-ranging ethics reform, including an elected state comptroller to monitor the government.
And Mr. Corzine, who stepped down as the state's senior United States senator to become governor, said he readily accepted the challenges.
"Hold me accountable," he said, echoing a line from his election night speech.
"It is simply inexcusable that we have a state government that again and again ranks low in public trust and esteem," he said at the Trenton War Memorial, with dozens of state officials on the stage and some former Senate colleagues, Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut and Paul S. Sarbanes of Maryland, in the audience.
"In the face of all our state can be, our self-government too often falls short of what it should be," he said.
In an inaugural address that was praised both by his fellow Democrats and the Republicans who fought so bitterly to defeat him last fall, Mr. Corzine, 59, urged state and local officials to put politics in the back seat, and quoted Woodrow Wilson as saying, "If you think too much about being re-elected, it's very difficult to be worth re-electing."
He called on his "fellow public servants to join in an effort to end the toxic mix of politics, money and public business." He promised in his 22-minute speech that he would be guided by one principle only: "What is best for New Jersey."
In the past, incoming New Jersey governors often used their inaugural addresses to map out their visions, and float a plan or two. In 1994, Christie Whitman called for an immediate cut in the income tax.
This time, there were no such twists, as Mr. Corzine hewed to the same broad themes of austerity and ethics that he honed during his campaign over the businessman Douglas R. Forrester. The day was purposely muted: There was no parade, and the inaugural ball at Princeton University's Jadwin Gym featured a buffet, not a sit-down dinner. Mr. Corzine chose his daughter, Jennifer, for the first dance, to the strains of "What a Wonderful World."
A former head of Goldman Sachs, a top Wall Street investment bank, Mr. Corzine spent more than $100 million of his own money to win election to the United States Senate and now to the governor's office. Unlike most of the politicians he must now deal with, he bypassed the standard political stations of the cross, never having served as a mayor, a county freeholder or a state legislator.
He is different in another way, too, as the state's first divorced governor in half a century and the only unmarried governor in the country. He was flanked by his mother, three children and other family members.
And though he served in the Senate for the last five years, he arrived here as something of an outsider who, though he has lived in New Jersey for the past three decades, spent his career in Manhattan on the trading floor and in the executive suite.
"I am a New Jerseyan by choice; I was born somewhere else," he said, referring to his roots in rural Illinois. "I love our state and her people, and I want our state to be known for the high ideals of its people."
He continued, "Let us resolve that having been through a period of turmoil, we will not go back to business as usual. We can and must move with a new determination into a new era of honesty, responsibility and prosperity with a government that earns the people's trust and trusts the people with the truth."
To back that up, Mr. Corzine issued his first executive order later in the day, requiring an additional 625 people on 30 state boards to file financial disclosure forms with the State Ethics Commission.
On paper, at least, Mr. Corzine starts with some advantages. As the state government's only official elected statewide, he occupies a state office considered the most powerful in America, equipped with a line-item veto and extensive power to appoint officials, including the attorney general and the treasurer.
Both the State Senate and the Assembly are solidly in Democratic control, though Mr. Corzine has had some awkward moments with the man he is replacing, former acting Gov. Richard J. Codey, who is the president of the Senate. Mr. Codey became governor after the sudden resignation of James E. McGreevey in 2004 because of an extramarital affair with a male aide and had considered running for a full term. But Mr. Codey stepped aside when Mr. Corzine indicated that he would spend whatever was necessary to win.
The challenges the Democrats face are daunting. New Jersey is facing a potential $5 billion deficit that could grow to $6 billion if Mr. Corzine gives residents, as he has promised, some property tax relief. Pension and health-benefit costs are climbing. A special fund to pay for transportation projects is about to run out of money. The state has also exhausted the money it borrowed to meet a court order to build schools, though it is still short of its goal. And New Jersey's troubled child welfare system is operating under the threat of being put into receivership by a federal judge.
"The process of re-establishing our financial integrity will not be painless," Mr. Corzine warned. In promising to rein in spending, he did not rule out raising taxes. But above all, he urged patience.
Several Republican leaders said they worried how Mr. Corzine would accomplish his goals and looked forward to dissecting his forthcoming budget. But on the whole, they applauded.
"I liked it; he just said what needed to be done," said State Senator William L. Gormley, a Republican from Atlantic City. "I'd label it a Joe Friday speech - just the facts, ma'am, just the facts."
Democrats also praised the speech. "I thought it was a challenge to us all," said State Senator Raymond J. Lesniak, a powerful Democrat from Union County. "To the extent that there was some scolding, maybe we needed some scolding."
But Senator Sharpe James, who is also Newark's mayor, said, "A majority of the men and women of the Senate and Assembly already agree with his hue and cry for reform and do not deserve to be painted with the same brush of mismanagement, neglect and being concerned only about re-election."
For all of the weightiness of the proceedings, there was still some spontaneity. Mr. Corzine opened his speech with a quip about how Mr. Codey had warned him about the 19-gun salute that traditionally preceded inaugurations.
"Beware, one day they'll be shooting at you," he said Mr. Codey told him.
But it was Mr. Codey - the state's most popular politician, according to polls - who delivered the biggest applause line. When the outgoing secretary of state, Regena L. Thomas, mistakenly called him "Speaker," Mr. Codey corrected her and noted that he was still the Senate president.
"I thought I lost another job," he joked, to laughter from the inaugural audience.
David Kocieniewski and Richard Lezin Jones contributed reporting for this article.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 11:15 AM
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