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Affiliation | Democratic |
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2006-01-02 |
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Name | Jon S. Corzine |
Address | 1025 Maxwell Place Hoboken, New Jersey , United States |
Email | None |
Website | [Link] |
Born |
January 01, 1947
(77 years)
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Contributor | *crickets chirp* |
Last Modifed | WSNJ Aug 11, 2021 12:23pm |
Tags |
Caucasian - Divorced - Marine Corps - Straight -
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Info | Jon Corzine is the former Democratic Governor of the state of New Jersey. He was sworn into office on January 17, 2006. He resides in Hoboken.
Born in central Illinois, Corzine grew up on a small family farm near Taylorville. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and graduated in 1969. While in college, he enlisted in the US Marine Corps Reserve and served until 1975, rising to the rank of sergeant. After his active duty in 1970 during the Vietnam War, he enrolled in the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, and in 1973, he received his MBA degree, which launched him into his business career.
He married his high school sweetheart, Joanne Dougherty, and their 33-year marriage produced three children. The couple separated in 2002 and were divorced in November 2003. In November of 2005, Corzine's ex-wife told The New York Times that Corzine "let his family down, and he'll probably let New Jersey down too." This quote was co-opted by gubernatorial opponent Doug Forrester for use in a campaign ad. Forrester later came under fire for using the quote because of its inherently personal nature.
His business experience was in the Bond Department at Continental-Illinois National Bank in Chicago. He then moved to Bank One, a regional bank in Columbus, Ohio. He worked there until 1975 when he moved his family to New Jersey. There he was hired as a bond trader for Goldman Sachs. Over the years, he worked his way up to Chairman and CEO of the company in 1994 and successfully converted the investment firm from a private partnership to a worldwide publicly traded corporation. He received numerous awards for his job including being in the TIME magazine Top 50 Technology Executives in 1997.
After being forced from Goldman Sachs in January 1999, Corzine campaigned for the open US Senate seat after Frank Lautenberg announced his retirement. Corzine was elected to the Senate by a 4% margin over Republican opponent Bob Franks in the November 2000 election and was sworn into the Senate in January 2001. He spent $62,802,999 on his campaign, the most expensive Senate campaign in US history - over $35 million of this was spent on the primary where he ran against former Gov. James Florio.
In the Senate, Corzine was a member of the Committees on Banking, Intelligence, the Budget, and Energy and Natural Resources. He co-authored the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a piece of legislation designed to crack down on corporate malfeasance. He was a sponsor of the Start Healthy, Stay Healthy Act which expands health care coverage for children and pregnant women. Corzine supported providing a two-year tax break to victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to help them recover financially and help grant citizenship to victims that were legal resident aliens. He supported tighter gun control laws, outlawing racial profiling, and subsidies for Amtrak. He was the chief sponsor, along with U.S. Senator Sam Brownback, of the Darfur Accountability Act, which would apply sanctions on the Sudanese government and create a framework for addressing the genocide occurring in the Darfur region. He was also one of 23 Senators to vote against the Iraq War resolution.
Corzine won his campaign for the post of Governor of New Jersey with 54% of the vote. Republican nominee Doug Forrester, a businessman and former Mayor of West Windsor Township won 43%. Corzine won 13 of New Jersey's 21 Counties.
One of Corzine's earliest acts as governor was to propose a budget that increased both state spending and taxes. Corzine increased the state sales tax, will remove sale tax exemptions in October and has increased the cigarette tax to $2.75 per pack. Corzine also imposed a statewide smoking ban on bars and restaurants in April 2006. Corzine's budget proposed to cut state financing to higher education by $169 million, leading students of New Jersey state universities to expect future tuition hikes.
Corzine, in attempting to pass the budget, came into conflict with fellow Democrats in the General Assembly, particularly over the proposed increase of the state's sales tax. After the legislature failed to pass the budget by the deadline of July 1, 2006, he signed an executive order that closed down all non-essential government services. Legislators failed to resolve the situation by July 4 and casinos, among other governmentally-regulated industries, closed their doors.
After six days, Corzine and Assembly Democrats reached an agreement on the state budget. The compromise raised the state sales tax with half of the increase going to the budget and the other half going to property tax relief. On July 8, 2006, the budget passed both houses and Governor Corzine signed it into law.
Corzine was required to appoint someone to fill his vacated seat in the U.S. Senate. Initial speculation was that he would appoint a Democratic congressman such as Rob Andrews, Rush Holt, or Frank Pallone. Acting Gov. Richard Codey had also been touted, though he announced that he was not interested in pursuing the seat. Corzine named Rep. Bob Menendez, a Democrat, to succeed him.
Adapted from [Link] |
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ENDORSEMENTS |
NJ District 10 - D Primary - Jun 03, 2008 |
D |
Donald M. Payne |
NJ US Senate - D Primary - Jun 03, 2008 |
D |
Frank Lautenberg |
NJ US President - D Primary - Feb 05, 2008 |
D |
Hillary Clinton |
US President - D Primaries - Jun 03, 2008 |
D |
Hillary Clinton |
US President - D Primaries - Jun 03, 2008 |
D |
Hillary Clinton |
NJ State Senate 14 - Nov 06, 2007 |
D |
Seema Singh |
NJ State Senate 37 - D Primary - Jun 05, 2007 |
D |
Loretta Weinberg |
NJ District 13 - D Primary - Jun 06, 2006 |
D |
Albio Sires |
Edison, NJ Mayor - Nov 08, 2005 |
D |
Jun Choi |
Supreme Court - Chief Justice - Sep 29, 2005 |
NPA |
Reject |
NJ State Senate 37 - Appointment - Sep 15, 2005 |
D |
Loretta Weinberg |
US President - D Primaries - Jun 09, 2004 |
D |
John F. Kerry |
EPA Administrator - Oct 28, 2003 |
NPA |
Reject |
Newark Mayor - May 14, 2002 |
D |
Sharpe James |
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