What A Choice

For a long time New Jersey has been the brunt of many jokes from its mob image to just being the place that sits between New York City and Philadelphia. Making fun of the Garden State could be heard during the opening monologues of talk show hosts and was a staple for stand up comedians. For a while some of that went away and it seemed like many had discovered that there was more to New Jersey than just Newark, Camden and unsightly oil refineries and a large part of the state was a very desirable place to work and raise a family. That rosy feeling has pretty much gone out the window with recent developments and don’t expect the two major candidates for Governor to do anything to help our image.

Have you paid any attention to the November race between the Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine and the Republican challenger Chris Christie? If you have then you know that the state Chamber of Commerce will have a hard time selling New Jersey once the dust has settled because these two guys have done more to hurt our image than Tony Soprano and his entire family.
Do you remember when candidates used to talk about themselves and what they were going to do if you voted for them? Sure it was mostly a lie but at least they gave you this warm and fuzzy feeling and reasons to feel optimistic if they were elected. Corzine & Christie have spent months and millions of dollars ripping each out as the worse thing to happen since the Great Depression….I talking about the one in the 30’s and not the one we’re in right now. If you want to believe them then if the other guy is elected New Jersey is going out of business….maybe even put up a large signs on the Turnpike and Parkway saying “would the last person leaving please turn out the lights.”

They have combined to raise the negative quotient on how we feel about politicians to a new low which is not easy to do since the bar has already been set so low by others. The problem is one of them will win and sit in Trenton and based on what we’ve heard so far that’s a bad thing. The good news is the other might go away for good which would be one less reason to make fun of New Jersey.