For Governor of New
Jersey
EDITORIAL, NYTimes on
the Web, October 16, 2005
Given the mounting problems in New
Jersey, one can only marvel that anyone of intelligence wants to be governor.
Property taxes are among the highest in the country. The state budget
faces huge deficits and growing pension woes. The school system is in
perpetual trouble. And there is more political sludge and scandal than there are
toxic sites.
It is heartening that Senator Jon Corzine has chosen to run for this daunting
job. A Democrat who entered politics after a career on Wall Street, Mr.
Corzine has shown himself to be a force for America's better instincts in
Washington over the last five years. He had the foresight to oppose the
war in Iraq. He has worked to fend off Republican attacks on Social
Security and voted against President Bush's reckless tax cuts. The former
co-chairman of Goldman Sachs, Mr. Corzine has also provided the Senate with
valuable expertise on the needs of consumers and employees in a post-Enron
world.
Douglas Forrester, Mr. Corzine's opponent, has a scant public record. A
former state pension director and briefly the mayor of a small suburban town,
Mr. Forrester is a very successful businessman whose main company manages
employee health benefit plans. He advertises himself as a moderate
Republican in the manner of former Govs. Thomas Kean and Christie Whitman, but
those credentials are thin on many telling issues. As one example, the
cleanup of polluted sites could easily cost the polluter less and the taxpayer
more under Mr. Forrester. And his reasons for opposing the state's
embryonic stem cell research seem intentionally ambiguous. Mr. Forrester
will only offer the argument that adult cells are more promising than embyronic
cells. This is an argument made by anti-abortion activists, but supported
by few scientists.
Neither candidate has done much to educate voters in a campaign that has become
increasingly a matter of dueling attack ads.
If there is a larger issue in this race, it is the growing role of personal
wealth in politics. Mr. Forrester's net worth is said to be more than $50
million, and Mr. Corzine's could be as much as $260 million. Both have
sidestepped the campaign finance program and have given heavily to party power
brokers. With three weeks to go, the two candidates have already spent
more than $45 million, much of it on increasingly negative ads. Mr.
Corzine, who has outspent his opponent to date, has insisted that his riches
offer independence from special interests. So far, the money seems to have
been more useful in buying the support of local power brokers than in empowering
him to stand up to them.
In Washington, Mr. Corzine has shown the strength of his core progressive
beliefs in the face of political challenge. Voters will demand the same
courage at home. New Jersey deserves nothing less. We endorse
Senator Corzine for governor.
(Emphasis Added.)
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