Jon Corzine

I asked Joe Biden how Hillary Clinton did. "How did she do?" he said. "She blew the roof off."

Also: Corzine called it "the speech of a lifetime and the foundation for victory in the fall."

A few months ago, after Times reporter David Chen left the Trenton bureau for New York's City Hall, and The Times decided against sending a replacement, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine decided to meet with Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. at the paper's skyscraper on Eighth Avenue.

"I wanted to register a sense of serious disappointment that we weren't seeing the kind of coverage that I think would be good for The New York Times' distribution as well as, certainly, the public," said Governor Corzine in a phone interview with Media Mob.

Essentially, Mr. Sulzberger relayed this message back, according to Gov. Corzine.  read more »

As the Bush administration ends and area governments confront daunting budget gaps, what’s being called the nation’s most important public transportation project, a massive New Jersey Transit tunnel planned under the Hudson River, faces significant hurdles to funding and construction. Delays could send its already $7.6 billion price tag soaring.

Known as Access to the Region’s Core (ARC), it is the largest individual transportation project in the New York area by dollars, and would double the railroad’s capacity, allowing for 80,000 more riders daily, with a new river crossing and a fresh set of platforms by Pennsylvania Station.  read more »

This weekend brought two reminders that what happens in politics is often, more than anything, about the past.

On Friday, Robert Reich formally endorsed Barack Obama, a decision that was greeted as noteworthy since Reich was an old Oxford chum of Bill Clinton’s and served as the 42nd president’s first labor secretary. He also scored a date with a young Hillary Rodham back in 1966, when, as the freshman class president at Dartmouth, he asked Hillary, his counterpart at Wellesley, to meet him for “a presidential summit” in Hanover. (There was no second date.)  read more »

Just days before the deadline to get federal funding for congestion pricing, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine suddenly came out loudly in opposition to the plan.

This morning, WNYC's Soterios Johnson asked Corzine if he had discussed congestion pricing with Michael Bloomberg before that time, and what led him to vocally oppose it so shortly before the deadline.

"We had long discussions with many people in the administration," Corzine said. "And I with the mayor himself, and had no conceptual difference of view with regard to congestion pricing. In fact, New Jersey drivers today are paying that $8 price to come across the George Washington Bridge or come through the tunnels. We had, I thought, an agreement that there wouldn't be any increase in congestion pricing beyond the $8, or, it would be offset by what we were already paying.  read more »

Responding to Jon Corzine's comments today indicating that he would consider switching his support to Barack Obama from Hillary Clinton if the Illinois Senator were to win the popular vote, Mark Penn said in today's Clinton conference call, "All superdelegates are going to look at this race, they are going to look at the popular vote including Michigan and Florida."

Penn's comment serves as an illustration of the increasingly selective metrics the Clinton campaign is trying to sell to superdelegates.  read more »

Understandably, commenters on Eliot Spitzer’s humiliating demise have drawn parallels to another nearby governor felled by a sex scandal, New Jersey’s Jim McGreevey. But the better comparison is between Spitzer and Jon Corzine, one of McGreevey’s successors.

Both Spitzer and Corzine followed the same basic path to their respective state capitols, outsiders who called themselves reformers and railed against business as usual to general public, while simultaneously enjoying the unflinching backing of powerful establishment forces and mighty party machines.

Both men had unusual leverage with party bosses, who quickly calculated that opposing them in party primaries would be futile and costly. Spitzer’s trump card was his priceless reputation as the “sheriff of Wall Street,” which translated into such enormous popularity with the average voter that the 2006 New York election was a coronation from the moment he entered it. And in New Jersey, Corzine had his cash, which he promised to shower on the state’s powerful Democratic organizations if they backed him in his 2005 campaign – or to use against them if they dared oppose him.  read more »

Eliot Spitzer just made his debut on a Hillary Clinton conference call just now, along with New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine and Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, to discuss economic development.

When the line was opened up for questions, the first one was directed at Spitzer, about his plan to allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, a policy he withdrew after Clinton ran into a world of trouble for refusing to criticize it at a debate.  read more »

Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui mailed out a disturbing video to NBC News in which he says things like, "You have vandalized my heart, raped my soul and torched my conscience."

Reactions to the late-term-partial-birth abortion ban from the 2008 candidates was quick and broke along party lines.

Hillary Clinton's favorable ratings sunk in a USA Today/Gallup survey.

John Edwards may be having lunch with Mario Cuomo today.  read more »

NJ Governor Jon Corzine broke his left leg, sternum, collarbone, six ribs and a lower vertebra in a car accident.

Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards declined to tell Gay City News if they support removing the ban on sodomy in the US military.  read more »

Barack Obama got "crucial early support from Chicago's thriving black professional class" on his way to raising what aides say is more than $20 million.

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine endorsed Hillary Clinton.

"Spitzer promised reform, and delivered something completely different," wrote the Post editorial board.

The Times editorial board had a different take, saying Spitzer "made some compromises, but in exchange he won important and fundamental changes."

The Daily News editorial board praised Spitzer's spending on public schools in New York.

So did some education advocates.

The Sun's editorial board blamed the UFT president for the restrictions on charter schools.

Mike Bloomberg also criticized the restrictions on charter schools.

Bill Hammond thinks too much education money went to Long Island.

Andrew Cuomo won a $3.27 million settlement from NYU, St. Johns and other schools stemming from their student loan programs.

State lawmakers spent $170 million on local pet projects.

$3 million went to Joe Bruno's own district.

To live in New York's middle class, a family of four would need to earn $75,000 annually.

Likely 2009 mayoral candidates test-drove their pitches on middle class issues.

Critics of the police surveillance program prior to the Republican National Convention said documents on some police procedures have never been made public.

Bloomberg said he'll veto the metal bat ban.

The city's housing market is on the rise.

And two more victims of the terrorist attacks on September 11th were identified.

-- Azi Paybarah

There is an expression—proven throughout American history—that the road to the White Hou  read more »

A reader draws my attention to the fact that on Eliot Spitzer's official gubernatorial website, there are no links (at least, none that I can find) to the sites of the other elected statewide officials, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.

It's a little different on the state's official site: there's no link there to the comptroller's office, but you can get to the AG's office.

For the sake of random comparison, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine -- who gets to appoint the state treasurer and attorney general -- has links to those offices, and has links to the judiciary and legislature on the front page of his site

And in California, Arnold Schwarzenegger has links to all of California's statewide elected officials.

Is Spitzer trying to tell us something?

-- Azi Paybarah

At 10 a.m., Eliot Spitzer meets with Jon Corzine in Hoboken.

At 10:30 a.m., the East River Development Alliance and elected officials help residents prepare their taxes in Long Island City.

And at 7 p.m., Young Republicans watch a documentary critical of the environmental movement called Mine Your Own Business on West 57th Street

-- Azi Paybarah

PoliticsNJ.com has declared Democrat Dennis McNerney the winner in the race for Bergen County Executive. And you should care, even if you have never heard of McNerney.

Bergen, the densely-populated swath of suburbia that begins on the other side of the George Washington Bridge and extends all the way up to the New York border, is an uncannily reliable barometer of state political trends. Only once -- when the free-spending Jon Corzine purchased a Senate seat for $63 million in 2000-- has a statewide candidate won in New Jersey without also carrying Bergen. (Corzine, who bounced back to carry Bergen in his gubernatorial bid last year, lost the county in '00 by 5,000 votes to Bob Franks.)

So, the fact that McNerney won tonight -- even though it is not at all a surprise to New Jersey political observers --bodes very well for Robert Menendez's chances in the Senate race. After all, if the Democratic candidate for county executive wins Bergen, it stands to reason the Senate candidate has as well. And if that's the case, well, history tells us Menendez is a lock. Almost.

-- Steve Kornacki

Much has been made of the Hudson County political roots of Robert Menendez, New Jersey's appointed U.S. Senator. The gritty collection of 13 densely-packed cities and towns - Jersey City, Union City, and Bayonne to name a few - is home to a mighty, efficient, and not infrequently ruthless Democratic machine over which Menendez held sway until very recently. His turf's dirty - or, if you're the less sensitive type, colorful - reputation explains why Menendez is the first Hudson machine product nominated for statewide office in decades.

But Hudson and two other machine counties - Essex (Newark and environs) and Camden - will play no small role in what looks increasingly like a Menendez victory over Republic Tom Kean Jr. tomorrow.

Just consider the numbers:

In last year's governor's race, Hudson, Essex and Camden accounted for 25 percent of all ballots cast statewide - but 75 percent of Jon Corzine's victory margin over Republican Doug Forrester. Corzine won the race by 10 points, an unexpectedly lopsided tally. Forrester blamed Bush fatigue, but actually the Essex and Hudson election day machinery were key, producing relatively high turnout in their backyards while suburban participation ebbed to an all-time low. The overall effect inflated Corzine's statewide margin.

New Jersey now is considered among the bluest states in the country. No Republican has won a Senate seat in the Garden State in 34 years and it's now been nine years since the party triumphed in any statewide race - Christine Todd Whitman's one-point victory over Jim McGreevey for governor in 1997.

But without the Big Three Democratic counties, the state might be among the most competitive in the country. Just look at the state's 2003 legislative elections. With the outcome of every state Assembly and Senate race in the Big Three counties a foregone conclusion, the machines were barely active on Election Day and Republicans won the majority of all votes cast across the state (even though gerrymandering lost them seats in both chambers).

Yes, New Jersey's independent suburban voters have dramatically soured on the national Republican Party over the last decade, a trend that surely hasn't eased this year. But even if the Kean-Menendez polls were even now, most Republicans would probably still be writing off their standard-bearers chances. In a Democratic machine state, the Republican probably needs to be at least three points ahead going into Election Day to have a prayer.

Jon Corzine has a lot riding on Bob Menendez.

Glenn Thrush confirms our Choire Sicha's keen observation last week about Hillary Clinton dropping down to fighting weight.

Patrick Healy says that Hillary is finally having a little fun the campaign trail.

"She chuckles easily at tough questions, and tends to start her answers with the word "well," which offers an extra half second to collect her thoughts."

Maggie notes that Hillary told churchgoers that children "want discipline."

A NewYork1/Newsday poll shows Alan Hevesi ahead of Chris Callaghan by 10 points, which the Daily News calls a "comfortable" lead.

The Times reminds us that choosing a comptroller is, at least theoretically, about more than who drove who's wife around.

Newsday also says there is time for other events to affect the race.

Ben has more information on the damage control efforts by some Republican operatives in the days before the Mark Foley scandal exploded.

The Times Union endorses Eliot Spitzer for governor.

A Post editorial says scary things about potential Ways and Means chair Charlie Rangel.

The Times looks at how Joe Lieberman's testy relationship with his party has made him a carefree independent.

New York could get more federal dollars if Democrats take control of the House of Representatives.

Jeanine Pirro campaigned upstate and said she's "focused."

And it's a day late, but, as Spin Cycle pointed out yesterday, we still don't know who the Journal News meant to endorse for comptroller in this most remarkable editorial. In case you missed it.

-- Azi Paybarah

NJ Gov. Jon Corzine said he still prefers civil unions instead of gay marriage.

The Wall Street Journal debates the issue here and here.

Tom Kean, Jr 's family is giving him a boost, if not an actual lead, in the polls over Bob Menendez.

Eliot Spitzer withdrew his endorsement of Alan Hevesi, but not before Hevesi did some impressive fund-raising.

Hevesi got endorsed by the Daily News. The Times goes with Christopher Callaghan. [added]

The "accidental labor leader" who took over after Brian McLaughlin was indicted gets profiled.

So does the nicer Andrew Cuomo.

Newsday has more on our post on Peter King's son, who works as a lobbyist.

After donating money to fund research at Cornell, Mike Bloomberg said some people were "bastardizing" science.

Hillary Clinton celebrated her birthday in style.

And John McCain is apparently beefing up his 2008 operation more than Rudy Giuliani.

-- Azi Paybarah

If Chuck Schumer has a dartboard, chances are there’s a picture of Jon Corzine fastened to its bul  read more »

If Chuck Schumer has a dartboard, chances are there’s a picture of Jon Corzine fastened to its  read more »

Across the Hudson, Corzine Gets Results  read more »

Across the Hudson, Corzine Gets Results    read more »

Across the Hudson, Corzine Gets Results  read more »

Across the Hudson, Corzine Gets Results    read more »

The Times reports Richard Codey helped put together the compromise between Jon Corzine and the Assembly speaker in New Jersey, ending the government shutdown.

Joe Lieberman debates his primary opponent, Ned Lamont.

The Sun reports that Republicans allied with John Faso are planning to oust New York Republican State Committee Chairman Stephen Minarik.

—Nicole Brydson

Say what you will about New Jersey, but Trenton is a model of democracy next to Albany. This website actually has a running count of Democratic legislators in the New Jersey Assembly who are defecting from their leadership in the ongoing budget standoff with Governor Jon Corzine. The score so far: Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts 26, Jon Corzine 22.

When's the last time we heard about an rollicking, intra-party argument among the majority Democrats in New York?

Oh, that's right.

-- Josh Benson

Mayor Michael Bloomberg didn’t waste time on the normal pleasantries when he placed an early-m  read more »

It was always obvious that Gov. Pataki wanted the World Trade Center debacle resolved more than Gov. Corzine ever did. Well, how much more?

$250 million more.

According to the framework agreement signed April 26, and obtained by The Real Estate through the Freedom of Information Law, the $250 million subsidy that will go towards building the Freedom Tower will come from the bi-state transportation agency's "commitment to the state of New York under the Port Authority's Regional Transportation Program." (Download full document in PDF here.)

See, the Port Authority, which is about the only agency out there wealthy enough to spend money on things outside its operations, sets aside "discretionary funds"--colloquially known as "pork"--every once in a while that can be used at the discretion of each governor. The money that is going towards the Freedom Tower, according to spokesman Steve Coleman, came from the $500 million divied up after the March 2001 toll increase. New Jersey used its half to buy some new bi-level train cars for New Jersey Transit. Pataki is using his to subsidize the building of the Freedom Tower. (The rest of the tower's $2.1 billion cost is supposed to come from bonds that will be paid off by rents, but we will learn more once the whole deal finally closes in September.)

-Matthew Schuerman

While some estimates as to the final cost of the Ground Zero memorial have reached as high as $800 million, Mayor Bloomberg seemed to put his foot down on inflating costs today.

After speaking with Governor Pataki yesterday and Governor Corzine this morning, the Mayor said "the three of us are in agreement that $500 million is an appropriate amount."

—Jason Horowitz

The Times reports on a a feud between Jon Corzine and Sharpe James; and the legislature overrides most of George Pataki's vetos, but the governor says he will block the property tax rebate. Newsday reports on the Yanks and Mets stadium deals.

The Sun reports that Department of Education Deputy Chancellor Carmen Fariña will retire at the end of the school year.

And the Albany Times Union reports that Chuck Schumer opposes President Bush's VA plan.

—Nicole Brydson

Wait? Can it be? Has everyone finally agreed to a new deal at Ground Zero?

Port Authority Chairman Anthony Coscia and Executive Director Kenneth Ringler in a statement:

"We are pleased that Silverstein Properties has agreed to accept the unified proposal made by the Port Authority, Governor Pataki and Governor Corzine, and Mayor Bloomberg to rebuild the World Trade Center site. "We look forward to Silverstein Properties signing the framework proposal and, once it does, to the Port Authority Board considering the proposal at the regular monthly meeting tomorrow."

-Matthew Schuerman

Governor Pataki, in a statement, gave every indication he accepts Larry Silverstein's conditions:

"I am encouraged that Silverstein Properties has indicated that it has agreed to accept the unified plan of last week. ...

"We look forward to Silverstein Properties signing the plan. As a result of today's discussions, I have asked the Port Authority, upon signature of Silverstein Properties, to bring the conceptual framework agreed upon by myself, Governor Corzine and Mayor Bloomberg, before the Board of Commissioners for adoption tomorrow."

Waiting on word from the Port Authority--the Jersey contingent may still balk.

-Matthew Schuerman

In 1972, when Northern Ireland’s bloody Troubles had a quarter-century still to run, the Belfast-b  read more »

Kelly’s Heroes  read more »

Kelly’s Heroes    read more »

The Politicker got its hands on a letter signed by the entire New York congressional delegation telling New Jersey governor Jon Corzine to keep his hands off Ground Zero.

Corzine, of course, has power at Ground Zero through the bistate Port Authority, which owns the site.  read more »

Here he is talking about the Freedom Tower:

"My first look at the plan financially isn't encouraging to me. They need to be restructured in my view," New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine told reporters.

Gov. Corzine asks the state treasurer to review the new stadium deal for the Jets and the Giants, even though it is supposedly entirely financed by the teams. The Associated Press reports: "Corzine said he is concerned about the financial terms of the deal, brokered by his predecessor, and about whether building a stadium without a roof limits its use." -Matthew Schuerman

Come January, Sen. Frank Lautenberg won't be New Jersey's junior senator anymore: he'll be back in the senior saddle. Perhaps anticipating his ascension, he jumped the gun a bit yesterday.

Approached by WCBS-TV NJ reporter Christine Sloan, Lautenberg agreed to go on camera and discuss Corzine's pick for Senate. Sloan asked: "Have you talked to Jon Corzine about his choice?"

"Well, I talked to Jon. It was his decision but it had my affirmation, absolutely," he replied.

"And that choice?" she asked.

"Bob Menendez," Lautenberg said.

While Lautenberg may have been stating the obvious, he hadn't been cleared to do so. No one from the Corzine or Menendez camps has confirmed the governor-elect's decision yet. The news leaked out on Wednesday, but Corzine won't divulge his big secret until this afternoon, at 2 p.m. in Jersey City.

Oops.

And... a newly-annointed Menendez will appear on "Sunday Edition with Marcia Kramer" (WCBS-TV, channel 2, 11 a.m.).  read more »

(Lautenberg illustration borrowed from Slate, with love.)

Over at MyDD, former Corzine campaign blogger Matt Stoller sums up the reports of friction between Chuck and New Jersey Senator/Governor-elect Jon Corzine, including the blame emanating from Jersey on the subect of who leaked the Menendez announcement.

"No word yet on the next politician Schumer's going to piss off," writes Stoller at www.mydd.com.

Worth noting that I've never actually seen much evidence of Chuck-Jon animus, and Schumer's DSCC spokesman Phil Singer tells The Politicker that the two Senators "get along famously."

Also: "The report that we leaked [the Menendez story] has no basis in reality," he said.

If nothing else, though, the episode offers one more chance (just one more!) to reprint Corzine's line at a DC roast a while back:

"Sharing a media market with Chuck Schumer is like sharing a banana with a monkey.... Take a little bite out of it and he will throw his own feces at you."  read more »

When New Jersey polling stations closed at 8 p.m., Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jon Corzine wa  read more »

If you've been following the madness in Jersey (or at least reading the NYT metro section, you're familiar with the unprecedented, escalating arms race of attack ads between gubernatorial candidates Doug Forrester and Jon Corzine.

Hoping for a last minute infusion of elevated dialogue? Don't hold your breath. You can watch the new Forrester commerical, which is pathbreakingly personal and bare-knuckled, here.

Even the wonks over at PoliticsNJ, who've weathered decades of Garden State shenanigans with placid insight, are reeling:

"The spot represents a strategic roll of the dice for Forrester. It could produce a poll-shifting payoff, just as it might stir a backlash that would bury him for good. But with his other options exhausted and the clock ticking, he may not have all that much to lose.  read more »

"'We've never had an ad this personal in a New Jersey campaign,' said Ingrid Reed of Rutgers University's Eagleton Institute. 'I don't think the Forrester campaign had time to focus group-test it. I have no idea how this will play out.'"

Corzine's televised reply accuses Forrester of using a Bush-Rove smear tactic (strategy sound familiar?) and relying on "the politics of personal destruction."

The complaint against “politics as usual” is as old as politics itself, and generally is no more  read more »

The complaint against “politics as usual” is as old as politics itself, and generally is  read more »

Banker Jaqui Safra, the nephew of the late billionaire banker Edmond Safra, and his longtime girlfri  read more »

Last Sunday, Senator Jon S.  read more »