Jon Corzine

Background:

I was born and raised on a family farm outside Willey's Station, Illinois. My father, an Army veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, was a grain farmer. My mother taught elementary school for thirty years. Because my parents couldn't afford to pay my tuition, I worked my way through college summers as a laborer, and worked nights at the local post office.

After graduating from college, I enlisted in the Marine Reserve Corps, where I served for six years and attained the rank of sergeant. After a brief stint with a bank in Columbus, Ohio, I accepted a job as a junior bond trader with Goldman Sachs and that's when I moved my family to New Jersey.

After leaving Goldman Sachs in 1999, I felt the call to public service and I ran for and was elected to the United States Senate. I led a wide range of initiatives designed to improve the quality of life in New Jersey and the nation. Once in the Senate, I championed legislation to improve education, healthcare, and environmental policies. I put my financial expertise to work, co-authoring the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a major legislative response to scandals at Enron, Tyco, and WorldCom. As a veteran, I have long been a champion of veterans' benefits for both active duty servicemen, Guardsmen and Reservists, and I was one of just 23 senators to vote against the Iraq war.

I entered the New Jersey governor's race in 2005 because I believed that I could lead this State. As Governor, I have continued to build on my reputation as a progressive, yet fiscally-responsible public servant.

Goals:

While I have accomplished much, there is more to be done. Throughout the last four years, I have launched the first-in-the-nation Economic Assistance and Recovery Plan, instituted a new school funding formula, reformed school construction, made meaningful reforms to ease the property tax burden, expanded children's access to healthcare and reformed the child welfare system. I expanded property tax relief for seniors, enacted ethics, fiscal and government reforms, created a comprehensive anti-crime plan and fought to protect our environment and generate clean energy. Some of goals for my second term include:

1. Tackling the effects of the economic crisis, and ensuring that the State is poised to prosper once the recovery takes hold.

2. Creating jobs and putting New Jersey on sound fiscal footing.

3. Providing affordable health care for all.

4. Continuing to invest in education.

5. Keeping college affordable for all New Jerseyans and expanding career training programs for unemployed New Jersey residents.

6. Working hand-in-hand with President Obama to undo the damage of the Bush years.

Issues:

The Garden State economy is issue one, two and three.

Even before the economy began to tumble, I established a strong foundation for economic growth in New Jersey. My administration has positively changed the business climate in New Jersey by streamlining government, tackling property taxes, investing in our public infrastructure, revitalizing our urban centers and investing in new technology. Recognizing the global recession, I further enhanced the economy through comprehensive bipartisan legislation designed to mitigate the worst effects of the economic downturn.

Additionally, I have been working closely with President Obama to take full advantage of the more than $17.5 billion available to New Jersey and its residents through the federal stimulus program. Furthermore, I will ensure that the projected 100,000 jobs through the federal stimulus are created or saved in New Jersey.

Grassroots Support:

Grassroots organizing is an integral component of my campaign.

I believe that grassroots organizing is connecting people on the local level and helping them better their communities through service. My campaign is engaging individuals at the grassroots level through the Yes We Can 2.0 program. The 2.0 Program is designed to supplement traditional field efforts through targeted outreach with newly registered Democratic voters and meaningful activities which I hope will inspire individuals to get involved in their communities. These efforts are working. There are over twenty field offices throughout the State that are hosting volunteer activities everyday such as walking door to door, phone banking and other community events. I am very excited because these events have been bolstered by the participation of nearly 4,000 committed volunteers.

DFA Values:

Throughout my time in office, I have worked to improve women's health and safeguard women's rights. I prioritized early childhood education and reformed the public education system. I established family leave insurance to help working families care for a new child or a sick family member.

I believe that same-sex couples deserve the same rights and benefits as every other family in this state. However, I believe that civil unions have not conferred full equality, and I won't tolerate second class status for any individual in New Jersey. The time has come for marriage equality.

I expanded the State's Bias and Intimidation Statute- New Jersey's hate crimes law- to add protections based on gender identity or expression and strengthened the State's bullying laws.

I abolished the death penalty, along with my colleagues in the Legislature.

I worked tirelessly to promote a referendum on the 2007 New Jersey ballot to borrow $450 million to fund stem cell research. While the referendum was defeated, I have continued to champion stem cell research in New Jersey and I will continue to invest in this life saving research during my second term.

I have been an ardent supporter of gun control laws. As Governor, I passed new legislation to track and remove illegal guns from our communities in order to reduce gun crimes, upgraded penalties for gun possession and trafficking, and enacted new, more stringent reporting requirements.

On the issue of choice, I believe a woman has a constitutionally protected right to decide when to start a family. As Governor, I have supported a woman's right to choose and I will continue to enforce the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade. Further, a woman's socioeconomic status should never affect her ability to access essential health services, including prescription contraceptives.

During the last three and a half years, I have re-prioritized the State budget, proving that government can do more with less. I am the only Governor in 60 years to reduce the size of State government. While I have cut the size of government, I have made it a priority to nurture our children, honor our seniors, protect the most vulnerable among us and work to minimize the tax burden on all New Jerseyans.