Jon Corzine

Jon Stevens Corzine
File:GovJonCorzine.jpg
54th Governor of New Jersey
In office January 17, 2006 – present
Preceded by	Richard Codey
Personal details
Born	January 1, 1947 Taylorville, Illinois
Political party	Democratic
Profession	Businessman, United States Senator, New Jersey Governor

Jon Stevens Corzine (born January 1, 1947) is the current Democratic Governor of the state of New Jersey. He was sworn into office on January 17, 2006, for a four-year term ending in 2010. He resides in Hoboken. He represented New Jersey in the United States Senate from 2001 - 2006.

Early years and education

Born in central Illinois, Corzine grew up on a small family farm near Taylorville. After completing high school he attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for his undergraduate degree, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, and graduated in 1969. While in college, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserves and served until 1975, rising to the rank of sergeant. After his active duty in 1970 during the Vietnam War (which thwarted his plans for a Ph.D. in Economics at UCLA), he enrolled in the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, and in 1973 he received his Master of Business Administration degree, which launched him into his business career.

Marriage and divorce

He married his high school sweetheart, Joanne Dougherty, and their 33-year marriage produced three children (Jennifer, Josh, and Jeffrey). The couple separated in 2002 and were divorced in November 2003. In November of 2005, Corzine's ex-wife told The New York Times that Corzine "let his family down, and he'll probably let New Jersey down, too." This quote was co-opted by gubernatorial opponent Doug Forrester for use in a campaign advertisement. Forrester later came under fire for using the quote because of its inherently personal nature.

Business career

His first experience in business was in the Bond Department at Continental-Illinois National Bank in Chicago. He then moved to Bank One, a regional bank in Columbus, Ohio. He worked there until 1975 when he moved his family to New Jersey. There he was hired as a bond trader for Goldman Sachs. Over the years, he worked his way up to Chairman and CEO of the company in 1994 and successfully converted the investment firm from a private partnership to a worldwide publicly traded corporation. He received numerous awards and recognition for his job including being in the TIME magazine Top 50 Technology Executives in 1997.

Entry into politics

Leaving Goldman Sachs in January 1999, Corzine campaigned for one of New Jersey's Senate seats after Frank Lautenberg announced his retirement. Corzine was elected to the Senate by a narrow margin over his Republican opponent Bob Franks in November 2000 and was sworn into the Senate in January 2001. He spent $62,802,999 on his campaign, the most expensive Senate campaign in US history - over $35 million of this was spent on the primary election alone, where he ran against former Governor James Florio.

Senate career

In the Senate, Corzine was a member of the Committees on Banking, Intelligence, the Budget, and Energy and Natural Resources. He co-authored the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a piece of legislation designed to crack down on corporate malfeasance. He was a supporter of introducing legislation that reforms the 401(k) plan to minimize the risk of investment portfolios. He was a sponsor of the Start Healthy, Stay Healthy Act which expands health care coverage for children and pregnant women. Corzine supported providing a two-year tax break to September 11, 2001 attacks victims to help them recover financially and help grant citizenship to victims that were legal resident aliens. He supported tighter gun control laws, outlawing racial profiling, and subsidies for Amtrak. He was also the chief sponsor, along with U.S. Senator Sam Brownback, of the Darfur Accountability Act, which would apply sanctions on the Sudanese government and create a framework for addressing the genocide occurring in the Darfur region. He was also one of 23 Senators to vote against the Iraq War Resolution.

Since May 2005 he has been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post.

Campaign for governorship

Main article: New Jersey gubernatorial election, 2005

Corzine won his campaign for the post of Governor of New Jersey with 54 % of the vote. Republican nominee Doug Forrester, a businessman and a former Mayor of West Windsor Township, in Mercer County, won 43 %. Corzine received 1,224,493 votes to Forrester's 985,235. A total of 80,277 votes, or 3 %, were scattered among other candidates.

Corzine won 13 of New Jersey's 21 Counties: Atlantic, Bergen, Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Essex, Gloucester, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, Passaic, Salem, and Union. Corzine won the three most populous Counties (Bergen, Essex and Middlesex), five of the top six and seven of the top nine.

Governor

Acts

One of Corzine's earliest acts as governor was to propose a budget that would decrease New Jersey's deficit. Corzine hopes to accomplish this goal mainly through spending cuts. Corzine has called for an increase in the state sales tax (from 6% to 7%) and an increase in cigarette tax (which would make it the highest of any state in the nation, at $2.75 per pack, but not the highest in the nation altogether, as New York City levies a $1.50/pack tax in addition to New York State's $1.50). Corzine's budget also purposes to cut state financing to higher education by $169 million leading students of New Jersey state universities to expect future tuition hikes. Rutgers University president Richard L. McCormick has stated that "the proposed cuts could leave the University with $100 million less than what it requires to operate". McCormick also specified that "if the University were to compensate for the funding cuts solely by raising tuition, the tuition would increase by 31 percent". [1] [2] Other proposed cuts have been to the Governor's School of New Jersey, which provided unique learning opportunities for select high school students each summer. The program has, however, been revived through private contributions, excluding such programs as visual arts. Not all of the Governor's School cuts will be in effect for the summer of 2006.

Corzine, in attempting to pass his budget, has come into conflict with fellow state Democrats in the General Assembly in particular over the rise of the sales tax. In response Corzine has stated that if a deal were not reached for a state budget that included the rise in the sales tax that he would use his power as governor to halt the NJ lottery and close Liberty State Park. [3]

Appointments

U.S. Senate replacement

Once sworn in as Governor, Corzine was required to appoint someone to fill his vacated seat in the U.S. Senate. There was some discussion of whether this appointment would be merely a caretaker, who would commit not to stand for election to the seat in November 2006. Initial speculation was that he would appoint a Democrat from one of the congressional districts in New Jersey, such as Congressmen Rob Andrews, Rush Holt, or Frank Pallone. Governor Richard Codey had also been touted, though on November 23 2005, he announced that he was not interested in pursuing the seat. On December 9, 2005, the then-Governor-elect named then-U.S. Rep. Bob Menendez to succeed him. [4]

UMDNJ Board

On February 9, 2006, after many scandals regarding financial mishandling had emerged at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Corzine nominated Robert Del Tufo, the former Attorney General of the state and U.S attorney, as chairman of the board of trustees. Corzine also nominated Oliver Quinn, Prudential Financial's vice president and chief ethics officer, as vice chairman of the board. [5]

State Cabinet

• Bradley Abelow, State Treasurer
• Virginia Bauer, Secretary of Commerce, Economic Growth and Tourism
• Donald Bryan, Acting Commissioner of Banking and Insurance (until February 2006)
• Ronald Chen, Public Advocate
• Lucille Davy, Acting Commissioner of Education
• Zulima Farber, Attorney General
• Jeanne Fox, President of the Board of Public Utilities
• Col. Joseph Fuentes, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police
• Steven M. Goldstein, Commissioner of Banking and Insurance (from February 2006)
• Rick R. Rosenberg Jr., Secretary of Education
• George Hayman, Acting Commissioner of Corrections
• Lisa P. Jackson, Commissioner of Environmental Protection
• Dr. Fred Jacobs, Commissioner of Health and Senior Services
• Kris Kolluri, Commissioner of Transportation (from February 2006)
• Charles Kuperus, Secretary of Agriculture
• John Lettiere, Commissioner of Transportation (until February 2006)
• Susan Bass Levin, Commissioner of Community Affairs
• Stuart Rabner, Chief Counsel to the Governor
• Major Gen. Glenn K. Rieth, Adjutant General
• Gary Rose, Director of Economic Growth
• Kevin Ryan, Commissioner of Human Services
• Thomas Shea, Chief of Staff to the Governor
• David Socolow, Acting Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development
• Rolando Torres, Commissioner of Personnel
• Nina Mitchell Wells, Secretary of State.

Trivia

• Corzine is the only governor in the United States who has a beard.
• Corzine shares a birthday with U.S. Senator Robert Menendez.

Electoral history

• 2005 Race for Governor
  • Jon Corzine (D), 54%
  • Doug Forrester (R), 43%
• 2000 Race for U.S. Senate
  • Jon Corzine (D), 50%
  • Bob Franks (R), 47%
• 2000 Race for U.S. Senate (Democratic Primary)
  • Jon Corzine (D), 58%
  • Jim Florio (D), 42%

See also

• New Jersey
• List of Governors of New Jersey
• United States Senate
• List of United States Senators

References

• "Democrats score big". (Nov. 10, 2005). New Straits Times, p. 29.
• Newmarker, Chris (Nov. 5, 2005). "N.J. Governor's Race Hits New Lows". Associated Press.
• "Corzine for a Bruising" May 10, 2006 The Brian Lehrer Show

External links

• New Jersey Office of the Governor
• Corzine easily defeats Forrester
• Official 2005 Gubernatorial Campaign Site
• Corzine News Blog

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