Jon Corzine: BlueJersey.com: Before we kick off our campaign, a personal thank you.

BlueJersey.com: Before we kick off our campaign, a personal thank you.
June 1, 2009

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As many of you know, I'm officially kicking off my campaign for re-election tomorrow.

I originally intended to post on Blue Jersey today in an attempt to get you revved up for the campaign ahead, to share with you some inspiring insight into the progressive connection that binds us together, and to praise this community for its dedication to progressive principles -- all in the hopes that you'll consider standing together with me and my team during what promises to be a difficult campaign season.

But the more I thought on it, the truth is that over the last four years Blue Jersey has consistently held my feet to the fire; you've gotten involved and you've made your voice heard when you didn't like a decision I've made, even when it wasn't necessarily what me and my staff wanted to hear.

And, for that, you don't deserve political platitudes. You deserve my thanks.

So much of governing and politics today is so carefully crafted and managed that the question more often asked is "what's the right message?" instead of just, "what's right?"

Not so at Blue Jersey. You push our leaders to do better and, more importantly, to do what's right.

And, in spite of the times we've disagreed, you've been there for me when I've needed you, and you've also given my staff (and me) great satisfaction when we do something that elicits a positive review from this community.

Now, you know that I'm not necessarily known for my rousing speeches, or for being able to slickly rattle off sound bites like some other political candidates. But I think it's important that you know my record and you know what I stand for.

Since day one, I have tried to do the right thing for this state and to stay true to the progressive values that we share:

Instead of standing idly by while some were denying there was even a problem, we did what's right and passed the first in the nation Economic Recovery Program that focused on attracting and keeping businesses in the state, creating jobs through investment in infrastructure, preventing mortgage foreclosures, and protecting the most vulnerable.

We've taken steps to make it easier for businesses to keep jobs in New Jersey. Though the state's unemployment fund had been raided to the tune of $5 billion for 15 years before my term began, we ended the practice, and transferred over $500 million back into the fund in the last two years to keep employers from facing increased unemployment taxes during these difficult times.

Our state is a leader in the fight against climate change. While Bush administration political appointees were censoring NASA scientists' findings about the reality of man's impact on the climate, we signed the Global Warming Response Act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and further reduce them by 80% of 2006 levels by the year 2050. I'm very proud of the remarkable progress achieved by my former Department of Environmental Protection commissioner Lisa Jackson, and I think she'll serve the entire nation well in her new role as head of the Environmental Protection Agency in the Obama administration.

And the list goes on. I believe that I've stood up for the core progressive values that bind this community together: equal rights and opportunity for all, fiscal responsibility, making government work more effectively, providing all our children -- regardless of where they live -- with the opportunity for a good education, and protecting the most vulnerable among us.

Now, that's the policy. Let's talk about the politics.

With only two high profile national races this November, the Republican Party will put a tremendous amount of time, energy, resources and money into this race. In fact, they already have. And if their candidate wins, they will point to this race as a "turning point," "evidence of a resurgence," or a "rebuke of Obama and the Democratic Party."

So while I can't promise you that we'll accomplish all of my initiatives during a second Corzine term, I can promise you that a Republican Governor will NOT continue any of these important programs and initiatives, will NOT stand up for the progressive values that you and I share, and will NOT work with President Obama to keep New Jersey ahead of the curve during the economic recovery.

This state and this community simply cannot afford that, and that's why I'm going to need your help.

How you can help

We need to make sure that the Corzine record is known and that untrue claims and attacks do not go unchallenged on forums, blogs, and news article comments. Winning the online discussion is an important part of our campaign's overall communication strategy, and I'm hoping that we can count on you to get involved to help make that happen.

In addition to writing about this race on Blue Jersey, I want to encourage you to speak out for the campaign as a commenter on other NJ politics forums and news stories and to reach out to your friends and other online writers. (Send those comments and posts to the team and we'll put them up on the campaign website.) You can also follow our campaign on various social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, Ning, Black Planet, AsianAve, MiGente, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

I'm thankful for the support that I've gotten from Blue Jersey, and, just as importantly, for the tough critiques. I hope that I can count on that same passion during the campaign, and if you're interested in getting involved online, please send an email to the interactive team at Netroots@JonCorzine09.com.

I hope that you will help me continue what I started four years ago. I know that if I am able to serve as Governor during good economic times and with a progressive agenda that supports the state's middle class and business growth, we can continue to do what's right for New Jersey.

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