- If there ever was any doubt about politics in America
coming out of a barrel of cash, and then followed by the barrel of a gun,
all such doubt is now eliminated reflecting upon the landslide victory
by Democrat Jon Corzine over Republican opponent Doug Forrester in the
New Jersey gubernatorial elections.
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- Corzine is remembered for his bid for the United States
Senate against Republican Robert Franks, the latter the product of a fractured
NJ GOP. Corzine spent $63 million of the $400 million he amassed as the
eventual top executive for the investment firm Goldman Sachs thereby easily
defeating Franks. And Frank Lautenberg replaced disgraced Democratic Senator
Robert Torricelli who had been proven to illegally accept at least $ 250,000.
Torricelli was "severely admonished" by a Senate Ethics Committee
and resigned rather than continue his re-election campaign. David Chang,
the man who provided the illegal campaign donations, was sentenced to jail.
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- New Jersey has consistently been in the news over the
past several years, made notorious by mandatory auto insurance policies
with the costliest premiums in the country, and now by the highest real
estate property taxes in the nation. The State government's egregious
penchant for corruption and its political culture of "pay-to-play"
consistently confirms New Jersey as one of the most corrupt states in America.
Only Cook County, Illinois, dominated by the Daley political machine,
offers any modicum of challenge in terms of this dubious distinction.
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- A little over a year ago, the several newspapers of the
New Jersey Gannett group ran a multi-part series of articles addressing
corruption in the "Garden State," but elected politicians wiggled
effortlessly out of the spotlight of public exposure. The Corzine-Forrester
race took on an even more critical nature considering the resignation in
disgrace of former Governor James E. McGreevey. His resignation announcing
that he was a homosexual and the target of a blackmail attempt by an Israeli
national that he had appointed to head the State's Homeland Security Office
put New Jersey Democrats in a real bind. State Senate President Richard
Codey assumed the role of Acting Governor, and just like a preceding Republican
Acting Governor and former Senate President, Republican Donald DiFrancesco,
has been made to vanish in the billows of black smoke of corrupt New Jersey
politics.
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- Former Republican Acting Governor DiFrancesco was also
forced to resign rather than face charges that he used his influence to
secure contributions to help him offset personal losses in a business venture.
Codey has not been tarnished by any real serious evidence of corruption
or malfeasance. In fact, it appears from the vantage of this observer
that Codey was easily the best choice. He has repaired political fallout
from the McGreevey debacle and performed to the best of his ability in
managing a state that has acquired a major budget deficit crisis.
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- Forrester also succumbed in the past to yet another Democrat,
now-Senator Frank R. Lautenberg. Forrester was leading in his U. S. Senate
bid two years ago, when Republican Chief Justice, Deborah T. Poritz, allowed
New Jersey law to be broken for her own political reasons and allowed the
replacement of Senator Robert Torricelli by Lautenberg well after the legal
cut-off date. In this way, Poritz retained her position under Democratic
Governor James McGreevey in spite of her appointment by former Republican
Governor Christine Todd Whitman.
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- Corzine reportedly spent another $ 40 million on this
political shootout. Early in the campaign, he spent the money needed to
consolidate the Democratic leadership power base behind him and away from
Codey. The next target for isolation by cash - can there be any doubt?
Goodbye Hillary!
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- Theodore E. Lang
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- 11/09/05
- © THEODORE E. LANG 11/09/05 All rights reserved
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- Ted Lang is a political analyst and freelance writer.
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