NYT: Corzine Pledges a 'New Era' for New Jersey

[DeepModem Mom]

Corzine Pledges a 'New Era' for New Jersey
By DAVID W. CHEN
Published: January 18, 2006


TRENTON, Jan. 17 - Warning that New Jersey government had lost "the people's confidence," Jon S. Corzine was sworn in on Tuesday as the state's 52nd elected governor and pledged to usher in a "new era" marked by ethics reform and fiscal restraint.

Offering a sober message in blunt language, Mr. Corzine, a former Wall Street executive, said the state faced deep financial problems, and he complained that past failures of leadership had relegated key aspects of the government to the control of the state and federal courts. He also pledged wide-ranging ethics reform, including an elected state comptroller to monitor the government.

And Mr. Corzine, who stepped down as the state's senior United States senator to become governor, said he readily accepted the challenges....

***

In an inaugural address that was praised both by his fellow Democrats and the Republicans who fought so bitterly to defeat him last fall, Mr. Corzine, 59, urged state and local officials to put politics in the back seat, and quoted Woodrow Wilson as saying, "If you think too much about being re-elected, it's very difficult to be worth re-electing."

He called on his "fellow public servants to join in an effort to end the toxic mix of politics, money and public business." He promised in his 22-minute speech that he would be guided by one principle only: "What is best for New Jersey."...


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/18/nyregion/18corzine.html

[Olney Blue]

1. Best wishes, Mr Corzine.

We need you to lead well in NJ!