Jon Corzine

Jon Corzine
Senior Senator, New Jersey
In office January 2001–Present
Preceded by	Frank Lautenberg
Succeeded by	Incumbent (2007)
Personal details
Nationality	american
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Joanne Dougherty Corzine (div. 2003)

Jon Stevens Corzine (born January 1, 1947) is an American politician and businessman. He is a member of the Democratic Party and is currently a United States Senator from New Jersey. He began serving in 2001 for the term ending in 2007. He was the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee during the 2004 election cycle. On December 2, 2004, he announced his candidacy for Governor of New Jersey in the 2005 gubernatorial election. He resides in Hoboken.

Early Years and Education

Born in central Illinois, Corzine grew up on a small family farm near Taylorville, Illinois. After completing high school, he applied to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for his undergraduate degree and graduated in 1969. While in college, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves and served until 1975, rising to the rank of sergeant. After his active duty in 1970, he enrolled in the University of Chicago graduate business school. By 1973, he received his MBA, which launched him into his business career.

He married his high-school sweetheart, Joanne Dougherty, in a marriage that lasted 33 years and produced three children (Jennifer, Josh, and Jeffrey) before the couple separated in 2002. They were divorced in November 2003.

Business Career

His first experience in business was a job at Bank Ohio, 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 and recognition for his job including being in the TIME magazine Top 50 Technology Executives in 1997.

Entry into Politics

Leaving Goldman Sachs in January 1999, Corzine campaigned for one of New Jersey's Senate seats after Frank Lautenberg announced his retirement. Corzine was elected to the Senate by a narrow margin over his Republican opponent Bob Franks in November 2000 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, even though New Jersey is a predominantly Democratic state; over $35 million of this was on the primary alone, where he ran against former Governor James Florio. New Jersey is one of the most expensive states to campaign in, because it is dominated by the two high-cost television markets of New York City and Philadelphia.

Senate Career

In the Senate, Corzine is a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the U.S. Senate Committee on Budget, and the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. He co-authored the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a piece of legislation designed to crack down on corporate malfeasance. He is a supporter of introducing legislation that reforms the 401 (k) plan to minimize the risk of investment portfolios. He is 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 September 11, 2001 attacks victims to help them recover financially and help grant citizenship to victims that were legal resident aliens. He supports tighter gun control laws, outlawing racial profiling, and subsidies for Amtrak. He is also the chief sponsor, along with U.S. Senator Sam Brownback, of the Darfur Accountability Act, which would apply sanctions on the Sudanese 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.

Since May 2005 he has been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post.

In August of 2005 the first of two ethics complaints was filed against the Senator because he failed to disclose a $470,000 loan to Carla Katz, a former girlfriend and the President of Communications Workers of America Local 1034, which does business with the state and has endorsed Corzine's candidacy for governor. A second ethics complaint was filed against him in September of 2005. The second complaint charges that the Senator knowingly voted himself and a exclusive group of friends a tax break that was included in a treaty with Japan. In response to the complaint about the loan to Katz, the Corzine campaign has repeatedly claimed that the loan was personal and legal. On the treaty with Japan, the Corzine campaign claimed that, since his investment was in a hedge fund, he had no way of knowing his vote would have tax implications for his own holdings.[1]

Campaign for Governorship

Senator Corzine has already begun his campaign for the post of Governor of New Jersey. If he wins, he will have to appoint someone to replace him in the U.S. Senate. Some have speculated that he will appoint someone from one of the congressional districts in New Jersey, such as Congressmen Bob Menendez, Rush Holt, Frank Pallone, or Rob Andrews, though Acting Governor Richard Codey has also been mentioned. In November 2005, Corzine's opponent for governor, Doug Forrester, ran an attack ad featuring negative quotes from Joanne, such as, "All I could think was that Jon did let his family down, and he'll probably let New Jersey down, too." [2]

Trivia

He is currently the only United States Senator to sport a beard, and should he win the Governorship of New Jersey he will become the only governor in the land to have a beard.

Related topics

• United States Senate

References

• Newmarker, Chris (Nov. 5, 2005). "N.J. Governor's Race Hits New Lows". Associated Press.

External links

• Official Corzine Senate Site
• Official 2005 Gubernatorial Campaign Site