Why I am voting for Jon Corzine

The competition between Jon Corzine and Doug Forrester to become New Jersey's next Governor is coming down to the wire, and both sides are bringing in their big guns. Some months ago, I disclosed my own support for Corzine's candidacy and Enlighten-NJ is interested in understanding why. Here are my reasons.

First, let's get a few things straight. I am skeptical about both candidates' claims that they will cut New Jersey's property taxes and end political corruption. You can view Corzine's plan here (.pdf) and Forrester's here. Nor do I believe either candidate will root out New Jersey's generations-old patronage practices, known as "pay to play."

My view on the property tax plans is consistent with the Asbury Park Press' analysis of the two plans, and the questions raised by pundit Steve Adubato. APP and Adubato rightly question the cost of each candidate's plan, either in higher levies elsewhere, or in cuts to essential state services. The Press notes also that while Forrester's plan would provide the most relief in theory, it is the most expensive.

I'll go further. I think that Washington's budget woes, made worse by the cost of hurricane cleanup and the ever-rising price tag for the Iraq War, mean that less federal money will be coming to the states for the forseeable future. That means less state aid to municipalities, and the money has to be made up somehow. I have already watched taxpayers in my own community cut off their noses to spite their faces by voting down increases for public education. I expect the quality of life in New Jersey to further deteriorate as the impact of federal cuts trickles down. (Check out the national debt clock for a quick snapshot of how serious things are).

So for me, the question is not, which candidate will spur growth by reducing taxes, but which candidate will make an effort to ensure that we do the best job that we can to protect the most vulnerable during the inevitable belt-tightening of the next few years. When I look at the economic development (Forrester, Corzine) and housing affordability plans (Corzine, (Forrester), that the two candidates offer, I find that Corzine is clearer about how his proposals will be paid for, and that counts with me. When I look at their plans for health care, education, environmental cleanup and jobs creation, I find that Corzine's plans take a comprehensive look at ways of benefitting the people of New Jersey in solving the state's problems, while Forrester's proposals center upon cutting taxes and regulations for business with the hope that they, in turn, will invest in jobs and improved services. While it's obviously important to keep the state's business climate competitive, cutting federal taxes when we face such massive deficits has contributed to the mess we find ourselves in now, and I see no reason to compound that failure at the state level.

Doug Forrester, by all accounts, is a nice guy with a nice family who has worked hard. He was the mayor of West Windsor, New Jersey, in the years just before I moved there in 1983, and it's a lovely place, if you can afford it. It has a great school system, with lots of great enrichment activities if you can afford them. Of course, you have to make sure that you have something for your kids to do after school, especially when they become teenagers, because there are quite a few latch-key teenagers with time and money on their hands who get involved in things they have no business doing, but then that's true everywhere, and that's not Doug Forrester's fault. But it's difficult for me to see how a three-year stint as mayor of a rich town, coupled with a tour of duty in the Kean administration (which left office 15 years ago) equips Forrester to grapple with today's horrific fiscal realities.

Corzine's governmental experience is also thin, but he has been in Washington these last few years, and New Jersey is going to need all of the friends in Washington it can get. Sure, Forrester is likely to get some bucking up from the White House and Congressional Republican party if he wins, but in times of scarcity, I wonder how much of that will translate into real dollars.

So, on balance, I choose Corzine, because I think his proposals are more realistic and his values are more inclusive. Further, I have no desire to see New Jersey follow a fiscal policy strategy that has clearly been disastrous nationally.