In The Lobby - Content

By JONNY B. GOODE

Dec. 16, 2009

So the post mortems are coming in fast and furious as to why Governor Jon Corzine was so soundly beaten in the State of New Jersey where he started the campaign with an automatic 8-point Blue State edge and the power of incumbency.

The answer is simple: It’s the candidate, stupid.

Our beloved Governor never warmed up to his constituents and never gave anyone a reason to get behind his cause. His handlers ran a terrible government and then ran a terrible campaign. In four years he never could accomplish anything of substance to excite the masses.

He eliminated the death penalty. Wow. In a state without any executions in the past 30 years. Changed the school funding formula and watched the Boards of Education spend the money instead of translating into property tax relief. Try explaining that in a 10 second sound bite. Civil unions? Anyone check the number of Catholic voters?

He alienated the media, the legislature, the lobbyists and just about every constituency and advocacy group except the public employee and trade union groups, which turned on him anyway because they pay property taxes too.

And this was not a Florio debacle like in the early 1990's. That was a hatred not only for the candidate but also for the Democratic party as a whole as Senators, Assemblypersons, Freeholders, Mayors and Councilpersons lost across the Board just because they had a (D) after their name. Entire governing bodies changed hands politically overnight.

2009 was strictly a hatred for one man -- Jon Corzine.

Only one Assembly seat changed hands and that was just barely. Sure there was a down ticket impact in some towns and counties, but not even close to the likes of what happened from 1990-1993. And that will likely come back very quickly without Corzine to kick around anymore. Quicker than the Dems recaptured the county and local seats during the few years post-Florio. It’s a short-lived Republican phenomenon.

At the end of the day though, there were three main events in the four-year life of Governor Jon Corzine that negatively impacted his candidacy in a huge way-the Shutdown, the Paydown and the Meltdown.

THE SHUTDOWN

Move over, Wall Street genius on the way to fix the State’s financial mess. Not. He couldn't even get his first budget through the Legislature and was outmaneuvered at every step by the Democratic leaders -- Joe Roberts in particular. The difference in numbers at the end to balance the budget was minuscule in the grand scheme of things and at the end of the day it was the Senate Democrats, not the administration, that came up with the ultimate solution.

But not before the damage was done. Shutdowns to parks, road crews, lottery machines, you name it. A big fight with the casinos. Workers losing out on paydays.

Totally avoidable misstep.

All he had to do was check his arrogance and his ego at the door and compromise to get the deal done.

First impressions are everything and right from the start the Governor was perceived as an ineffective leader and in many people’s minds he never recovered. Especially those who were most directly affected by the shutdown.

THE PAYDOWN

Dumbest idea maybe in national state government history.

Advertise a problem with state debt and pension funding and health benefits and then come up with a plan to have only a small segment of the population -- toll road users -- pay for only 1/3 of the problem, the state debt, and only half of that to boot.

Debt that was issued for farm purchases in Hunterdon and schools in Paterson and roads in Bergen that would be paid for by commuter from the shore to the cities and travelers who get on and off the Parkway and Turnpike like local roads.

And despite the great PowerPoint presentation to only half of the State’s counties (it went so bad he had to stop) he never even addresses the other two areas of concern, pensions and health benefits.

And in the most arrogant of ways just a week before the election and after what should have been the most humiliating defeat of his career when the plan flopped miserably, the brilliant genius thought he would bring up the idea again on the campaign trail. He still thinks he was right, but at least now he won't be in the Statehouse to try to resurrect the ill-fated transaction. Couldn't he recognize how truly bad his idea was?

Hike in tolls 800% and replace old debt with new debt. Yeah, that’s a sellable plan.

Any wonder why the three counties with the highest toll-paying population per capita were the three counties where he did arguably the worst a month ago? One could easily argue that the election was list simply on the toll road plan. Middlesex surprised and hurt him, Monmouth soundly defeated him and then Ocean completely destroyed him. The margin in those three counties was more than Christie’s ultimate victory numbers so there is the answer. Maybe he did excite the masses -- the wrong masses in the wrong way.

THE MELTDOWN

Does the guy know yet that he was management, not labor?

“ I will stand with you" became the third major faux pas of his administration that directly led to major disdain on the part of the electorate.

Can he read the polls? People are furious with public employees and their unions that keep sapping out benefits and raises from the public trough.

People expect their government leaders to be reasonable but to fight for taxpayers first, not unions first.

And it’s not like the move paid political dividends. Sure the trade union laborers were out there for him knocking on doors and banging in signs. But, the public employees? The exit polls show that despite his insistent pandering to them, he still lost their votes.

The guy couldn't even get legalized bribe right.

So who advised him on these three bonehead moves? His political campaign mangers? His Statehouse team? His pollsters?

All share the blame.

But at the end of the day it was the pure arrogance of Corzine himself that did him in.

He never dealt with the Legislature as an equal branch of government. He never respected anyone without a Wall Street pedigree. He never realized that he left the Goldman Sachs boardroom and couldn't unilaterally make decisions without concurrence. He never asked for help from those who knew State government and surrounded himself with inexperienced staffers. He constantly added to his campaign team but never rid himself of the group that caused him to be stuck at 42% for the entire campaign season.

He didn't cut a deal to avoid THE SHUTDOWN. He had a horrible idea to effectuate THE PAYDOWN. He forgot his role and caused THE MELTDOWN.

And in a month he will leave office and be remembered as the worst and most ineffective Governor in New Jersey state history.

Florio and Whitman and McGreevey all move up a notch on the rankings on January 19 when Corzine settles in at the bottom. Who would have ever thought one man could make that happen?

For now, let’s all just thank the voters of New Jersey for being smart enough to realize that we could not afford four more years of a Jon Corzine governorship.

He single-handedly turned Blue to Red and has nobody but himself to blame.

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Jonny B. Goode is a pseudonymn.

(The views expressed are those of the author, who is also responsible for the content of the column.)

Published on: 2009-12-15

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