As Easy as ABC, Anybody But Corzine

By Alan Caruba

As a lifetime resident of New Jersey, the rumor circulating that President Obama may appoint Jon Corzine, its former Governor, to replace Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner, is frightening beyond description.

Corzine was a former co-chairman of Goldman Sachs with Hank Paulson. Paulson later served as President Bush’s last Secretary of the Treasury. At this point in our nation’s history, it’s worth noting that a succession of Goldman Sachs alumni in that office has helped to drive the nation into a financial ditch.

When Geithner was under consideration for his present position, there was criticism that he was too closely allied with Wall Street in general and Goldman Sachs in particular, a major beneficiary of the AIG bailout in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

Geithner has presided over the first credit rating downgrade in the nation’s history and should most certainly resign or be fired, but the appointment of Corzine would just continue the disaster that passes for the nation’s financial policies.

Corzine was pushed out of Goldman Sachs in a 1999 palace coup said to have been led by Paulson. He left with millions and began to spend some of them to get himself elected a U.S. Senator from New Jersey. While there, he sponsored 127 bills of which 120 never made it out of committee and only one of which was successfully enacted.

Apparently bored with the pace of life in the Senate, he ran for Governor of New Jersey in 2005, again using his millions to essentially buy the office. His former wife, Joanne Doughtery, his high school sweetheart, famously said that Corzine “let his family down and he’ll probably let New Jersey down, too.”

In a Democrat, blue State, Corzine was defeated by Republican Chris Christie after voters grew tired of him for a variety of reasons, not all of which were political..

A romantic relationship with Carla Katz, president of the Communications Workers of America contributed to the voter’s loss of confidence. They had lived together from 2002 to 2004 and the breakup included a $6 million settlement for Katz. They stayed close enough to raise concerns about Corzine’s political decisions. In March 2009 ethical charges against Katz resulted in her being expelled from her job for having allegedly spent $138,000 of union funds on personal and political expenses.

Corzine also was damaged tangentially by a major corruption probe that led, in July 2009, to the arrests of 44 New Jersey officials, of which 43 were Democrats. His handling of the event began to erode his approval ratings.

While serving as Governor, New Jersey was ranked as the worst business climate of any state by the Tax Foundation. New Jersey had the highest tax burden in the nation. Given President Obama’s and the Congressional Democrat’s demand for higher taxes, appointing Corzine to be the next Secretary of the Treasury would simply be more of the same.

As Governor, Corzine proposed eliminating New Jersey’s property tax rebates that provided some relief for homeowners and, in June 2008, he cut $382.5 million from the program. Earlier, in 2006, he ran into resistance from Democrats in the State Assembly when he wanted to raise the State’s sales tax. He shut down the State for ten days until a compromise was worked out that led to the increase, but allocated half the revenue to provide direct property tax relief.

How likely is it that Corzine could be nominated for Secretary of Treasury? On August 5th, longtime observer of politics in the Garden State, Bob Ingle, a reporter for the Asbury Park Press, noted that Corzine, despite his earlier support for Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primaries, has hosted a fund-raiser for Obama.

“It was no secret Corzine wanted to be Obama’s Treasury Secretary even when he was Governor,” said Ingle, who deemed it “sweet revenge” for the earlier appointment of Paulson.

Pollster Patrick Murray, a professor of political science at Monmouth (NJ) University, “thinks ego and pride are at work” wrote Ingle who quoted Murray saying, “This guy goes not want to end his political career being tagged as a failure.”

That’s not a reason to replace Geithner with Corzine. The nation has already suffered greatly from Obama’s ego and pride.

Putting aside his success at Goldman Sachs until he was pushed out, Corzine should be the last person to be put in charge of the nation’s Treasury Department at this critical time. He is too allied with labor, likes tax increases, and is liberal to the core.

Addendum, August 7
POLITICO Breaking News

-------------------------------------------------
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will stay at his post through the fall and the reelection campaign, a source close to the matter told POLITICO.

© Alan Caruba, 2011

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Chris Christie's Jersey Attitude

By Alan Caruba

It’s the curse of having sat through too many local town council meetings and too many speeches by politicians; it’s taking notes as they speak because you want to keep what’s said fresh in mind. Regular folks don’t do this, but anyone who has spent any time as a reporter will tell you it is a hard habit to break.

So, on Tuesday, January 11, I found myself taking notes as New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, gave his first constitutionally required State of the State speech. He will be back in February with a speech about his budget. It was delivered to the members of the New Jersey Senate and Assembly, mostly Democrats; all of whom had learned in the previous year that the Governor was a jolly, fat buzz-saw who just loves a good fight.

Gov. Christie was preceded by two of the worst Governors in current times, Jim McGreevey who discovered he was gay after he put his boyfriend on the payroll and the whispers in the statehouse became a raging storm. He was followed by Jon Corzine, a limousine liberal. Together they increased taxes and fees 115 times in eight years! In a single term in office, Corzine raised taxes $9 billion!

I am New Jersey born and bred. I have traveled to nearly every other State in the Union with the exception of Alaska, Maine and Vermont. Do you really think I would ever leave a state that was the fictional home of Tony Soprano and the actual birthplace of Frank Sinatra? You gotta be kidding me! Forgetaboutit!

Two days after Gov. Christie took office, the state treasurer informed him that Corzine had left him and everyone else in New Jersey with a $2.2 billion deficit! Did he immediately raise taxes to cover it? No. Instead, he and the treasurer scoured the budget and found $2.2 billion in projected spending. What he did next stunned a state legislature almost as profligate as California’s. He impounded the $2.2 billion by executive order.

Goodbye old world order in New Jersey. Hello Chris Christie new world order in the Garden State. As Gov. Christie put it, to create real change, “you’ve got to show a little attitude.” If there is one thing New Jerseyans have and love, it is attitude!

So it should come as no surprise that, when Gov. Christie turned 18 and was eligible to vote, he voted for Ronald Reagan. In a talk in November at a Goldwater Institute event, he recalled how “then-Governor Reagan spoke to me. He talked about smaller, less intrusive government that was going to open up our country to exploit the entrepreneurial spirit that has always built and made it a unique place.”

“He talked about less spending, so that less money would come to Washington and more money would stay with the people who knew how to spend it best. He talked about a government that didn’t regulate every little bit and piece of your life.”

“And he talked about lowering taxes so that people could feel the economic freedom that comes from not having a government in your pocket every 15 minutes.”

Christie’s State of the State speech reflected the values that Ronald Reagan espoused and, in this centennial year of his birth, I think he would have loved every word of it. “I believe in a culture of truth,” said Gov. Christie. The voters liked what they heard and happily replaced Corzine with a man who had gained recognition by putting corrupt New Jersey politicians in jail.

On Tuesday Gov. Christie told the assembled legislators, “We cannot spend money we don’t have.” Do I dare hope that Chris Christie will someday run for President?

The latter part of his State of the State speech was a dissection of how retrograde the state teacher’s union is and why the state’s pension and benefits system had to be changed because it was hideously under-funded by billions and because he wanted to ensure that policemen, firemen, and other civil service employees would actually have a pension when they retired.

Last year he spoke to an initially hostile meeting of firefighters. By the time he got through they all crowded around him, eager to shake his hand and get their picture taken with him. Christie is no ordinary politician. “This isn’t about politics,” he said, “This is about their lives.”

He is passionate about reforming the school system in New Jersey and would, one suspects, take delight in crushing a teacher’s union that exists for nothing other than political power. Last year, when he urged New Jersey voters to demand 4% to 5% pay cuts, 59% of the school budgets were defeated.

Ronald Reagan stood six foot, two inches tall. He had literally been a movie star! Chris Christie is short. He is fat. And he is completely comfortable with that. He is a good public speaker and when he speaks, you know he really means what he says.

He’s not some cookie-cutter version of Ronald Reagan, his inspiration. He is Gov. Chris Christie and New Jersey is loving every minute of it.

© Alan Caruba, 2011

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NJ Gov. Christie for President!

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