Corzine

Jon S. Corzine's U.S. Senate campaign received a boost yesterday when B. Thomas Byrne Jr., who had considered running for the Democratic nomination in New Jersey, said he would not be a candidate and threw his support to Corzine. The action by Byrne, a onetime state Democratic chairman and the son of former Gov. Brendan T. Byrne, enabled Corzine to consolidate his North Jersey base further for the 2000 primary battle against former Gov. Jim Florio. Although Byrne had attracted negligible support, the Corzine camp was concerned that his presence on the ballot could drain enough votes from Corzine in the northern part of the state to help Florio, whose strength is in the south.

Gov. Corzine did not violate his office's code of conduct when he lent a Trenton lobbyist $5,000 in bail money after she was arrested on charges she stalked state Democratic chairman Joseph Cryan, a special advisory board has ruled. In a Tuesday letter to Corzine chief counsel Stuart Rabner, the two-member governor's Advisory Ethics Panel did, however, suggest that Corzine steer clear of his former aide, Karen Golding, while her legal troubles are pending "in order to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.

Gov. Corzine apparently was not wearing a seat belt in a Thursday evening crash on the Garden State Parkway that left him in critical but stable condition this morning with a dozen fractured ribs and a broken leg, collarbone, breastbone and vertebra. Corzine remained heavily sedated on a ventilator in Cooper University Hospital's intensive care unit, and underwent surgery this morning to remove debris from his leg wound. His doctors have scheduled a noon briefing after the operation.

New Jersey Sen. Jon S. Corzine is launching his campaign for governor this week, two months earlier than planned, in a bid to close the door on a potential challenge from fellow Democrat and acting Gov. Richard J. Codey. Corzine, whose record-setting campaign spending propelled him to the U.S. Senate in 2000, enters next year's race as the heavy favorite because of his personal fortune and polls that rank him the state's most popular political figure. Widely considered the Democratic heir apparent for governor since James E. McGreevey announced his resignation in August, Corzine had initially planned to declare his candidacy as late as March.

When Gov. Corzine delivered his budget address to the Legislature last month, he said a financial "day of reckoning" had arrived for a state that had lived too long beyond its means. "We can't keep spending more than we take in," he said in unveiling a budget full of tax increases and spending cuts. The proposed budget will be subject to legislative revamping in the months ahead. But for now, it holds center stage. What follows is an exploration of the questions and controversies - including Corzine's call for higher taxes - raised by that budget.

U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine (D., N.J.) acknowledged yesterday that he is part of an informal partnership with friend and developer Charles Kushner in preliminary talks to buy the New Jersey Nets. But Corzine said he would oppose any state subsidies toward the purchase or operation of the Nets or their co-tenants at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, the New Jersey Devils. The partners' group requested $100 million in subsidies during a conference call Friday with officials from the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, several newspapers reported Monday.

TRENTON - Gov. Corzine is back in the building. Or at least he was. Corzine yesterday returned to the Statehouse for the first time since a serious April 12 highway accident to talk with legislative leaders about the state budget. "It's good to be back to work," he told a throng of reporters waiting for him as he emerged, on forearm crutches, from the governor's office around midday. "It's good to be back here. " For nearly a month after the accident - which landed Corzine in intensive care and on a ventilator with a snapped left femur, 11 broken ribs, and a fractured breastbone and collarbone - Senate President Richard J. Codey (D., Essex)

Gov. Corzine's doctors yesterday said he was doing remarkably well given the extent of the injuries he suffered in a car wreck Thursday, but acknowledged he is "certainly not out of the woods yet. " Corzine remained on a ventilator in critical but stable condition at Cooper University Hospital in Camden following what medical staff there described as a routine - and successful - 40-minute procedure to clean dead tissue and debris from the wound...

NEWARK, N.J. - Gov. Corzine met yesterday with the lone survivor of the Aug. 4 shootings that killed three college students in Newark, and later visited the scene of the crime. Corzine met at University Hospital with 19-year-old Natasha Aeriel and her mother, Renee Tucker, for about 20 minutes and shared hugs and even a few laughs. Corzine "praised Natasha for her courage in dealing with the medical issues, and also in helping society go after the people who should be in jail," spokeswoman Lilo Stainton said.

The office of governor in New Jersey is supposedly the most powerful in the country. So far, you wouldn't know it by Gov. Corzine. Corzine's meekness was on full display in his mystifying vote of confidence for State Sen. Wayne Bryant (D., Camden). Bryant is reportedly under investigation by federal authorities for allegations concerning his former cushy, $38,200-a-year consulting job at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. While on the payroll for doing goodness-only-knows at the school, Bryant also secured millions in state funds for UMDNJ.

NEW YORK - In a moving ceremony that was also filled with laughter, Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg's family and colleagues recalled him Wednesday as a feisty and determined man whose life story shaped his work - and also described a personal side rarely seen in public. Lautenberg's funeral on the Upper East Side drew 41 senators, six members of Congress, Gov. Christie, and former Govs. Jon S. Corzine, Jim McGreevey, and James J. Florio. Vice President Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez delivered eulogies.

Net property taxes in New Jersey rose 22.4 percent in Gov. Christie's first three years in office, compared to 6 percent in Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine's last three years in office, a New Jersey Spotlight analysis shows. Christie has been touting his record of holding down overall property tax increases. But when his rebate reductions are factored in, his property tax record is not so clear-cut. While Corzine doubled average property tax rebates from 2006 to 2009 and provided rebates to families earning as much as $250,000, Christie sharply cut rebate payments and limited eligibility for non-seniors to those earning $75,000 or less.

The fight for the New Jersey governor's seat is to heat up on the airwaves Wednesday as Gov. Christie launches his first TV ad of the campaign - a $1.2 million, 60-second spot on jobs, education and taxes, with a hint of Sandy imagery. "Four years ago, New Jersey was broken: runaway spending, the nation's highest taxes, and unemployment on the rise," the narrator says. "Then we elected Chris Christie. He made the tough decisions to get New Jersey back on track. " The ad notably does not mention the name of the Republican governor's presumptive Democratic challenger, State Sen. Barbara Buono (D., Middlesex)

A review Tuesday of Ken Burns' documentary about a Central Park rape in 1989 incorrectly reported the newspaper for which Jim Dwyer originally wrote about the crime, New York Newsday. The "Jersey Side" column Tuesday misidentified the governor who returned control of city government to Camden in 2010. It was Jon S. Corzine. The Inquirer wants its news report to be fair and correct in every respect, and regrets when it is not. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, contact assistant managing editor David Sullivan (215-854-2357)

In the Region Insurers settle 'kickback' claim   Radian Group Inc. , Philadelphia, and three other home-mortgage insurers have agreed to pay a total of $15 million to settle accusations they paid "improper kickbacks" to lenders to gain new business, in the years before the financial meltdown of 2008, according to a statement by the government's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau . The settlement awaits approval by a federal judge...

Stephen Sweeney may be the top elected Democrat in New Jersey, but that doesn't mean his reelection in November is a given, said Patrick Murray, political analyst at Monmouth University. Gov. Christie performed better than anticipated in Sweeney's Gloucester County in the 2009 race against former Gov. Jon S. Corzine, Murray said. "Republicans have made some gains in that county," Murray said. Sweeney, he said, "is more vulnerable than a lot of people would believe, considering he's the Senate president.

WASHINGTON - Republicans on a House panel that investigated the collapse of the brokerage MF Global are pinning the blame on ex-CEO Jon S. Corzine, a former New Jersey Democratic senator and governor. The Republicans say the investigation has found that Corzine's decisions caused MF Global's bankruptcy in October 2011 and its loss of more than $1 billion in customer money. They say Corzine turned the brokerage firm into an investment bank making risky trades. They also say Corzine ran the firm in an authoritarian manner and did not allow anyone to challenge his decisions.

TRENTON - The New Jersey state trooper who was driving former Gov. Jon S. Corzine's SUV when it crashed five years ago will get a bigger pension than he was initially granted, the Newark Star-Ledger reported. The state pension board on Tuesday accepted an administrative law judge's ruling reversing the board's 2010 denial of Robert Rasinski's bid for an accidental disability pension. The case was sealed by the judge, meaning the reasoning won't be disclosed, the paper said. The board had found that Rasinski bore significant responsibility for the accident and granted him a less-generous disability pension that equaled 40 percent of his salary, rather than the two-thirds he will now get. At the time of the 2010 board ruling, Rasinski said he suffered back pain and post-traumatic stress.

WASHINGTON - A former MF Global executive appears to contradict testimony from Jon Corzine, saying the former senator and New Jersey governor ordered the transfer of $200 million last fall out of a customer account days before the brokerage firm collapsed, according to an e-mail obtained by congressional investigators. Edith O'Brien, MF Global's former assistant treasurer, says Corzine ordered the money shifted to one of the firm's bank accounts overseas Oct. 28 to cover an overdraft, according to a memo that cited the e-mail.

President Obama's reelection campaign has returned campaign contributions from Jon S. Corzine, former chairman and chief executive officer of MF Global Holdings Ltd., according to a Democratic official. Responding to Republican criticism that the money from the former New Jersey governor was tainted by his firm's collapse, Obama for America and the Democratic National Committee refunded the money, said the official, who requested anonymity. Corzine, 64, and his wife, Sharon Elghanayan, each contributed $30,800 to the Democratic National Committee and $5,000 to Obama's campaign, the maximum individuals are allowed to give, the official said.