During the Gubernatorial campaign, there were few people who were more outspoken (and hyperbolic) against Governor Corzine than the Sierra Club's Jeff Tittel. He ignored the fact that then-candidate Chris Christie vowed to "gut" the NJ Department of Environmental Protection. He pretended that Christie's views which left no doubt about how low of a priority initiatives such as green energy, clean air and water as well as protecting our natural resources were didn't exist. He minimized Corzine's efforts that made New Jersey consistently in the top 2 or 3 states in the entire nation when it came to the very issues that his Sierra Club held dear.
Whether it was naiveté or a personal grudge or an honest belief that Chris Daggett could win - we won't know. What we do know is that his outspoken and shortsighted (not to mention oftentimes flat wrong) criticism was going to come back and hurt the very organization that he is supposed to be looking out for was as obvious as Christie not being able to keep many of his campaign promises.
While Tittle may very well be precisely on point, this should come as no surprise. Whether Tittel likes it or not, much of this blame falls squarely on his shoulders. He was the one who was reckless in his "strategy" during the campaign - trying to settle some political score instead of looking out for the longer term and the bigger picture. Unfortunately for the rest of New Jerseyans, our air and water very well may be more toxic and less safe due to Tittel's shortsighted and petty behavior a few months ago.
Promoted by Jason Springer: Thanks to the Governor's daughter Jenny for stopping by Blue Jersey to reflect on her father's term leading New Jersey.
At the end of my dad's term, I would like to pay tribute to his work as Governor of New Jersey.
Last week, watching my father walk through the beautiful statehouse in Trenton to deliver his final State of the State address to the NJ Legislature, I was moved by the historic nature of the occasion and by my father's words. My dad called it "his highest honor" to serve the people of New Jersey as Governor.
When I think about Jon Corzine as a father, and as a Governor, compassion is the first word that comes to mind. Listening to his speech, I saw the father I've always known. He even made the same kind of jokes, remarking that it was difficult to write his last State of the State while movers were taking his desk out of the office. He spoke honestly of things he wished he could have finished and admitted to not executing the job "flawlessly". He spoke of the things he cares most deeply about: education, healthcare, child welfare. And he talked of the progress, as he saw it, that had been made during his term as Governor of New Jersey . He spoke just as I've always known him - with a soft-spoken voice, humbly and with a thoughtful passion for making the world better for the future of our children.
I admit I am not in the political field, but I do believe that his nine years in public life speak to the ways in which government can make a real difference in people's lives. My father cut state spending every year and reduced the size of state government for the first time in over six decades. Yet, he maintained funding and greatly improved many government services: reforming the child welfare and foster care systems (which with the help of the legislature has gone from being one of the worst to one of the best in the country), expanding early childhood education, providing for new school construction, reforming school funding, expanding children's health care, building infrastructure and improving highway safety ( the best highway safety record since 1940) as well as increasing funding for homeless shelters and soup kitchens which have been hit by the recession.
The Divison of Elections certified the official voter turnout numbers the other day and we set a record:
Turnout was 46.9% - the lowest on record for a gubernatorial election, down from 48.5% in 2005 and 49.3% in 2001, the only other times less than half of registered voters turned out at the polls.
Looked at another way, though, the turnout of 2,451,704 voters was the most for a governor's race since 1997 and marked a 105,000 voter increase over the election four years ago.
The percentage turnout is affected by the presidential election registration surge typically seen every four years, which was particularly large in 2008. There were 390,000 more registered voters in 2009 than four years - and it's likely that a goodly number were interested in the race for the White House but less jazzed about the run for Drumthwacket.
"He's sending a message that he's willing to take on some of the sacred cows. And he needs to," former Republican Gov. Christie Whitman said. "But we'll see. Reality sometimes gets up and smacks you in the face."
That's right, we will see what reality does to Christie's promises. While she's talking about Christie and his tough rhetoric about taking on just about everyone, that statement applies on so many different levels beyond just Chris Christie and what he has said.
Led by Mr. Barbour, the RGA raised and contributed $7.3 million to the campaign of New Jersey candidate Chris Christie, allowing him to put up enough TV advertising to hold off both a late-surging Gov. Jon Corzine, the Democratic incumbent, and independent Chris Daggett. The result for the crime-busting former U.S. attorney, Mr. Christie, was a big victory in a state won easily by Barack Obama just a year earlier.
And as a result of that win, they made him one of the guests of honor at the annual conference this week:
I have to ask, where did they find that picture of our new Governor? It looks like something the Corzine campaign would have used in one of their ads. For $7.3 million, couldn't they do just a little bit better? It'll be interesting to see how that compares with what labor spent on the election.
In public appearances since Election Day, Christie has been blunt, funny, pugnacious, decisive, and, above all, forceful. He has been comfortable joking with teens and mingling with politicians, in control when dealing with the press, and defiant toward opponents and detractors.
[...]
Christie's public persona is a sharp contrast to that of Gov. Corzine, who often has been fumbling in the spotlight and meandering in his speech, leaving the public and lawmakers to parse his words for possible meanings.
We're supposed to elect a governor based on whether or not we think he can do the job and make life better for our state. Not because he has the "blunt, straightforward" personality of the average guy you'd find getting a cup of coffee at Wawa. No disrespect.
Christie "is very straightforward, very direct, very blunt, and very New Jersey" said State Sen. Bill Baroni (R., Mercer), a close ally. "That bluntness and directness is exactly what we need right now."
Baroni added that "there will be no need to read the tea leaves to figure out what Chris Christie thinks."
Tea leaves. That's funny. Because all through the campaign, Christie kept us guessing about what he would do when elected, substituting the always-reliable "cut spending" bromide for an actual plan. So what spending are you gonna cut, dude? Transportation? Education? What?
Following his attendance yesterday at the Blue Mass in Newark, Governor Corzine took a few questions and the last one he got from a reporter was, "why couldn't you excite your base?" Here's how he responded:
One of Governor-elect Chris Christie's first decisions as Governor will be to decide who will join him in his administration and he's not ruling out some names that garnered attention during the election:
Gov.-elect Christopher Christie told the Star-Ledger that he would not rule out appointments for Ralph Marra and Michele Brown, two of his top colleagues at the U.S. Attorney's office.
"People who have real problems won't be in the administration. People who have problems that are contrived for attempted political advantage won't be hurt by that. That doesn't necessary mean they're going to be in, but if they're not in, that won't be the reason why they're not," Christie told the Star-Ledger's Claire Heininger.
Christie could also be talking about former Morris County Freeholder John Inglesino, who stepped out of the spotlight after he became a campaign issue during the primary election.
You know, we're going to ferret out waste and fraud and abuse in the government. I think you know I'll do that better than anybody. I've got a group of assistant U.S. attorneys sitting down in Newark still doing their job. But let me tell you, they are watching the newspapers. And after we win this election, I'm going to take a whole group of them to Trenton with me and put them in every one of the departments because they saw a lot of waste and abuse being investigated while we were in the U.S. Attorney's office that didn't rise to the level of a crime. So I told them, the good news is, when we get to Trenton we don't have to worry about beyond a reasonable doubt anymore.
We'll have to see how the Governor-elect defines people with real problems and which people have been watching the newspapers.
Promoted by Jason Springer: A very candid take from Senator Weinberg on the race that was. Thank you for the shout out and for running.
Let's get the negatives out of the way first: We lost! Property taxes, unemployment, property taxes, property taxes. That was it in a nutshell.
To some of my colleagues whose egos might be a little out of control: Ray, was it really necessary to trash the Governor within 24 hours? Perhaps if you had joined us just once on one of those 18 hour days on the campaign trail, we might have gotten a couple of more votes out of your home base. Dick, did you have to share that White House anecdote? We could have saved that one for "the book". How about the party officials who couldn't join us for a very graceful concession. And how about that Jeff Tittel? He seemed to go out of his way to be mean and condescending. The Sierra Club endorsement is one thing - your meaness of spirit another altogether. Jeff, it's not ALWAYS about you!
Now to some of the more positive recollections: Our stars who were always there in full force. Thank you to Assemblywomen Annette Quihano, Linda Stender, Grace Spencer, Milla Jassey, and Nellie Pou, Senators Theresa Ruiz, Nia Gill, and Mayor-elect of Camden Dana Redd and to Mayor Colleen Mahr of Fanwood, Mayor Wilda Diaz of Perth Amboy, Mayor-Elect Toni Ricigliano of Edison (who must be related to half her constituents), the "WeDo" women of Passaic County, the Demo women's groups of Bergen County and of Essex County and so many more. To our Congressmen Frank Pallone, Steve Rothman, Donald Payne and Bill Pascrell who joined us many times on the campaign trail. Another "shout out" to our two Senators Lautenberg and Menendez.
Of course, our President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton gave us so much of their time and insight. I'll tell you in my next posting what he suggested to me to follow up. Congresswomen Debbie Wasserman Shultz and Loretta Sanchez joined us on the campaign trail and made women elected officials very proud. Fran Adubato runs a great progam in Newark. The labor community could not have done any more to help us. Charlie Wowkanich, Laurel Brennan, Ray Pocini and the building trades and my personal favorite, Buzz Dressel, were fully involved. The labor
bus with "the painter and insulator guys" was not a bad way to get around.
The campaign was energizing and I thank the Governor for giving me a wonderful opportunity to travel the great state of New Jersey, to meet many terrific NJ citizens, and for giving me a statewide voice to talk about the family values we share. I wouldn't change a moment of it.....oh yes, except the losing part!
I have so many anecdotes to share and hope to do that over the next few weeks. Jason Springer and Jay Lassiter along with those brave breast cancer survivors met me at the street fair rain and all. So we used pink umbrellas and carried the hand-colored pink Corzine/Weinberg signs right up the street.
The various Garden State Equality headquarters were always filled to the rafters and their members worked tirelessly. DFA came through for the Governor and me with a resounding endorsement. Rosi sent emails of encouragement. That picnic in Willingboro where I met 92 year old Miss Lizzie who is still actively engaged in civic life and their wonderful Mayor Jackie Jenkins. All those unairconditioned headquarters where folks worked in the heat of summer and never gave up. THANK YOU.
My friend and colleague, Rocco Mazza, put more than 12,000 miles on his trusty car. Rocco, the GPS and I traveled together for three months sometimes 14 or 18 hours a day. The only thing I got tired of was the voice in the GPS! My own campaign protectors Tory Singleton and Cecelia Fassano, made me feel comfortable every step of the way. Sometimes, there was a little too much "hovering" from the staff, but hey - it was great being part of an effort which had common goals.
Would I change anything? Perhaps better communication on the really good things Jon Corzine did these last four years. Perhaps one or two positive ads spelling these out a little more clearly. But that's all hindsight. I thank Governor Jon Corzine from all of us for working his heart out for New Jersey's residents.
Let's now join together with a newly installed Assembly, a newly organized Senate and figure out what the voices of our party should sound like; how we address the people's mistrust of their elected officials; how we make sure we have together taken a strong stand against corrupting influences in our body politic; and how we work with a Republican Governor on the things necessary to improve the lives of New Jersey residents.
If Chris Christie couldn't get more than 50% of the vote against a highly unpopular incumbent in the worst political environment for incumbents in a long time, then that speaks volumes about him and his campaign.
Corzine was dealt a bad hand with the national economy and he didn't do as much to help himself as he needed to (and not just over the past few months) - whether it be touting his accomplishments, some needless distractions and things that, let's just say could have been handled better. However, Christie now has a boatload of unrealistic and vague campaign promises, a Democratic legislature and an electorate that knows he is more of an ethical hypocrite and a bully than the so-called "white knight" that he tried to portray himself to be.
And everyone is watching.
Let's see how long it is before his first campaign promise is broken. Let's see how long it is before he points fingers at everyone else for his own failures, actions and decisions. Let's see how long it is before the first post-election scandal breaks and how it impacts his ability to govern. Let's see how quickly his own approval ratings are below 40%.
Christie got the win he wished for. Now he has to "put up" and do the real work of a Governor - and not in the secrecy that he did his job as US Attorney. Let's hope that we make it through 4 years without him destroying the State and its middle class - that is if he doesn't have to step down in disgrace first.
Jon Corzine would have won last night if he had listened to me. Four years ago, when the world was young and Jon Corzine was running for office I wrote an open letter to his web log in which I urged him to announce his intention of, upon becoming governor, initiating an Energy Race in the state of New Jersey along the lines of John Kennedy's Space Race.
The right isn't waiting for the election to end before they start making excuses for why they might lose. In the Wall Street Journal yesterday, John Fund kept up the drumbeat of ballot fraud:
The race for governor in New Jersey is so close in final polls that it may well end up in a recount -- the 1981 election did and was decided by less than 1,800 votes. If there is a recount, you can bet disputes about absentee ballots will loom large. Moreover, if serious allegations of fraud emerge, you can also expect less-than-vigorous investigation by the Obama Justice Department -- which showed just how seriously it takes such allegations when it walked away from an open-and-shut voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party in Philadelphia earlier this year.
Plenty of reasons exist for suspecting absentee fraud may play a significant role in tomorrow's Garden State contests. Groups associated with Acorn in neighboring Pennsylvania and New York appear to have moved into the state. An independent candidate for mayor in Camden has already leveled charges that voter fraud is occurring in his city. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party in New Jersey is taking advantage of a new loosely written vote-by-mail law to pressure county clerks not to vigorously use signature checks to evaluate the authenticity of absentee ballots, the only verification procedure allowed.
Pick your poison, is what he's saying. No way that Democrats can be elected without some brand of shananigans. And as for Fund raising either intimidation or fraud, it's unintended irony, given thatparty's history. For him, just toss in a few scare-words - ACORN, Black Panthers - and you can begin to try and delegitimize an election before it even happens. The echo chamber is already tossing these rumors around on Twitter, and Rush Limbaugh is already talking fraud on his show today.
It's not surprising to see a huge increase in "absentee" ballots now. We have a new balloting law that makes it easier to vote from home. All of the campaigns have been focusing resources into letting people know that their voting options are increased and how to successfully vote that way. Both sides. You'd think Fund and the Wall Street Journal would be pleased with efforts to increase the civic engagement of fellow Americans.
If Christie wins, expect no howling of skullduggery in this race. If Corzine wins, well, they've already put their people on notice - with not one scrap of evidence - to say Corzine cheated.
I went over this morning to the staging area in Cherry Hill where labor was gathering to get out the vote. Many elected officials were there including Governor Corzine, Senator Menendez, Congressman Andrews, Senator Sweeney, Speaker Roberts and more:
Here is a shot of the Governor speaking with women before the rally began:
I'll put more photos and some video of the speakers below the fold.
As Jason Springer reports at the Blue Jersey blog, this may not be the only incident of copyright law violation by the Christie campaign. Springer points to a recent ad that features footage with a watermark from Pond5, a company that sells stock video footage. The watermark suggests the Christie campaign used free samples from the company, and did not license the footage, Springer says.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and other union leaders will pay a visit to New Jersey tomorrow, accompanying Corzine as he goes on an Election Day get-out-the-vote bus tour. In addition, union member-to-member outreach tomorrow will involve 15,000 volunteers reaching out to some 225,000 union household voters through 500 phone banks, door-to-door canvassing and 125 worksite leafleting visits. This final push builds on several weeks of volunteer effort by union members educating other union members about Corzine, Christie and the stakes in tomorrow's election.
I plan to be in Cherry Hill when Governor Corzine holds a meet and greet with labor before they head out to get out the vote.
It does appear that the Christie campaign has used stock footage from Pond5 without licensing it, in violation of both our license agreement and copyright law. We have brought this to our legal counsel and will be determining a course of action soon.
Late Update: The video has now been restored on Christie's YouTube page -- apparently in a rush, as it was done with watermarks and all. Bennett told us that at 3:43 p.m. ET, someone associated with the Christie campaign bought permissions for all the relevant videos. "So it looks like they're doing damage control," Bennett said.
I find it hilarious that even though they own the rights now, they still are running the ad with the watermarks. So is this their closing statement on the campaign or copyright infringement?
Just when you thought you were done with the polls, FDU is out with a poll that shows the Governor holding a slim two point lead over Chris Christie:
Polling over the past 11 days by Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind™ shows that Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine and Republican challenger Chris Christie continued down to the wire in a close contest in the race for New Jersey governor. Reporting 1119 interviews of likely voters from Oct. 22 through Nov. 1 shows Corzine maintaining 43% support including leaners, against 41%, including leaners, for Christie, with 8% for independent Chris Daggett, 2% preferring other candidates, and 5% undecided, with a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.
This part of the poll memo confused me as they separated white women from the rest of women:
Democrats often have a significant advantage among women, offsetting a Republican advantage among men, but this year white women split evenly between Corzine and Christie (42-42) while white men prefer Christie by a large margin (55-29).
Does that mean that women and men who weren't white didn't help them make their point? They say that a majority of voters think that no matter what the numbers say now, Jon Corzine will be the Governor once again:
Nonetheless, more than half of voters (56%) say they think Corzine will win the election, against 28% who think that Christie will win. One percent say Daggett will win, and 15% say they don't know who will pull this one out.
Polls only matter if the people who participate actually go and vote. That's all we have left now is the ground game.
Following months of campaigning and after 86 polls since August 2008, the final pollster.com average shows Corzine 42%, Christie 42%, Daggett 10.1%:
I don't know if the race can get much closer than that. If ever people thought their vote didn't matter, now is the time to show them just how much it does.
If Chris Christie is elected governor tomorrow, one of the first things that might hit his desk is a big fat lawsuit for copyright or trademark infringement, essentially the theft of someone's work product. The candidate who has held himself out as the law and order man is already being accused of violating copyrights for ripping off of Monty Python, but take a look at the "closing statement" from the Christie campaign:
You can even see a faint watermark on the screenshot of the video which Youtube pulled automatically. If you watch carefully, you will notice that a majority of the images they used in this ad still have the watermark on it:
What's their closing statement, our candidate was a US Attorney but doesn't understand any parts of the law? Or maybe it's really that they do think there is one set of rules and laws for their candidate, another set for the rest of us.
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John Inglesino became a campaign issue 
