Inky endorses Corzine

by: Jason Springer

Sat Oct 17, 2009 at 04:20:18 PM EDT

the Democrat's record shows a capacity to go against the state's traditional politics and improve its government. Given that record and the weak alternatives, The Inquirer endorses JON CORZINE.

Corzine has taken some of the sternest steps in memory to push school and municipal consolidation, while capping property levies. But he has managed only to significantly slow the growth of property taxes, not reduce them.

The governor has also pushed for the nation's strongest campaign-finance laws. But he has been stymied by an unrepentant Legislature and tarnished by his own generous underwriting of party bosses.

Some of Corzine's imperfect victories are nevertheless remarkable for a New Jersey governor - and hard to imagine under the state's usual government by insiders.

The dual-officeholding ban he championed, for instance, is often criticized for excepting current offenders, but it will put an end to a backward practice that was thoroughly entrenched. The governor hasn't fully realized his school funding formula, but it replaces an unsustainable system of heavily subsidizing a few poor school districts - and undoes bad policies long protected by his fellow liberals.