Sen. Jon Corzine declares candidacy for governor

What would be in collaboration to try to keep the New Jersey nets in New Jersey? I had no other business dealings with them. No other business dealings. You were the donor, wasn't it? He was the donor. But it's not a business dealings. I mean, maybe in New Jersey people think that's all that. But that is not. What was your friend, Björz, and how do you feel about it? I felt. Mr. Kushner was a philanthropic individual who I saw, both before I got into public life and after public life, somebody that gave back to his community. I saw him as an active participant, by the way, on both sides of the aisle with regard to his political contributions. And he was involved with donations to my early campaign, which we in turn had to return. Mr. Senator, isn't that the problem, Jim DeGrieve, Charles Kushner, David DeViano, Tony Improvadito? All of these people are nothing, you know, they have things beside them, they're nothing what they appear.

Nothing appears what it is in New Jersey politics. Why do you want to get involved with that? How can you possibly do something individually to change that? I believe changing New Jersey political life is a function of leadership and how you handle yourself. Will you seek new candidates to run for the assembly? Will you seek new candidates to run for the assembly that feel the way you feel? I'll look at that on case-by-case basis, but if someone is not carrying themselves with a commitment to good government, I think we ought to get somebody to replace those candidates, but that's a case-by-case examination. Senator, you talked about holding a tough line on the budget. You've had close relationships with people in the State Employees Union. How will that, if it all impacts your ability to hold a tough line on the State Union? Zero. Senator, would you say there are some abuses of power in New Jersey?

Can you give us a couple of examples, I'm curious if you're talking about the criminal cases or the paid-of-play culture? Potentially as cost taxpayers real dollars may have raised the cost of doing business. Not, first of all, I don't believe in no bid contracts, so there's sort of a starting level of issue that needs to be addressed on some of the paid-of-play, and I think it's an abuse, and I think it's ended up costing taxpayers real dollars. Senator, I just want to apologize that a lot of the paid-of-play has been played by Democratic figures in New Jersey and Mike. What do you say when the Republicans get the same eliminate this, but he's been perpetuated? Was there DMV and EasyPass and other issues, some places, along the line, and sort of? I think this is an unfortunate bipartisan reality that needs to change in the State. Do you support borrowing another $2 billion for the avid schools as requested, or would

you cut down the cost overruns in that program? Well, let's work on trying to find money inside that $28 billion in expanding the economy. But is that side the budget now? No, I understand. I understand. I'd like to find other ways to deal with this issue than additional borrowing. I would like to examine and make sure that we've really scrubbed it to get to the right answer. And I do believe that the school construction program is something that's sound, because it in the long run education is the best economic development initiative we can take. We have a quality workforce, people who want to stay in New Jersey and build and expand our economy where I have a lot better off than if we have kids that graduate that can't read. Right. Senator, can you talk about the nature of this event and why it was held this way rather than a ballroom with county chairman and legislators up there, which some people are seeing as a sign that people who might have come out to support you are holding their

powder until they see what Dakota does? Today was about me saying I intend to run the position of government to stay in New Jersey. It wasn't about trying to have a whole bunch of folks show in their support. And I haven't asked for people supporting this stage. This is the first day of that process. I don't have a big fancy campaign set up, go to work on it, we'll come back and probably have some balloons and all that stuff one day, but you know, Mike, I don't know. Senator, I'm going to be six weeks, eight weeks, I don't know. Some people close to Dakota say that it's announcement today in a lot of ways. It hurts his ability to get things done over the next 14 months, especially in these early stages of his acting governorship. Can you respond to that? I really don't believe that. There's no evidence. And matter of fact, I think ticks off to a very good start. I hope I consider him a friend.

I hope I can be helpful in those things that I feel that are the kinds of things that will support and I intend to do that. This is not a rivalry. Senator, you know what, I'm going to look in that budget, I'm going to full return every dollar, make sure that we're spending it right, but you know, there's a magic transformation that happens when it becomes darker. And it's, it looks at it entirely differently, I mean, is this just the naivety of someone who hasn't had been in that scene and dealt with trying to balance the state budget? I don't think it's naivety. I think I have a lifetime of experience in the world that I came from of making tough choices. Some of them not very pleasant layoffs and cuts. I think I will be prepared to look at the realistic financial picture. And by the way, a lot of things you want to do, you can't do all at once.

It takes time. You know, you can't do everything at once. But what you have to do is be straightforward and honest with the public about what you're doing. You know, I'm going to take two more questions if you don't mind. The progressive agenda can give us some specifics. Sure. I believe in health care, for instance, a lot of the things that were talked about the presidential debate, like catastrophic caps, are something that we ought to be considering here in New Jersey. We've got exploding health care costs on business that's undermining the efficacy of our business. We're trying to find ways to deal with that. We've had dropped kids from kids care. We haven't put a safety net with public, you know, with community health centers. There are a number of things that I think you can do to reduce charity care and provide for preventive medicine that will make a big difference in people's lives. That's one example.

Senator, when you embraced Governor McGrevy in Boston in July, at that point, there was a lot of speculation that you were looking to run against him in a primary had he been running. Were you planning at that point to tell him on? No. You were not planning? No. So can you tell us about this decision that you're announcing today, the process that led to it? When did you actually decide that you were running for? I've talked to, sometime in the month of December, so, you know, it's one of these cumulative things. December's only a day old. I excuse me, November. Oh, okay. Actually, no honeymoon here. I, um, I made the final decision over the Thanksgiving period and sat down with my kids. Talk about it. Thank you, Senator. Thank you very much, folks. So you're going to take New Jersey public? That's a good way to get some money. If you have a copy to the mark on your way out, you have a copy to the mark. Thank you, Plankweb.

So, you can turn it into public financing or sending a signal that we can't reform it. New Jersey way we're doing it? No. There's room for a millionaires amendments, like, I help sponsor on the McCain side of the bill plan and try to even have to plan for you. I think we know together. I'm going to have to ask for a raise. Hey, how's my phone calling? I know. How could you say that again? It's about time. It's about time. We're a Charlie Kushner to a corrupt system that's broken that needs to be fixed. And you can't be part of the problem and part of the solution at the same time. Did you say that? One more time. I'm sorry. What's your take on court side? Yes. Well, sorry for the rest of you, but we came to give him a gift. We came to give him his super boss shirt, but we weren't on his side, so, unfortunately, we won't be able to do that. Maybe he'll come out and see us afterwards. What does that mean? John Coresign is the consummate political insider. In four short years, he's managed to raise gazillions of dollars for the Democratic Senate

Committee. He's spent untold millions here in the state feeding the Democrat's giant pay-to-play machine. He's been the, you know, he's the CFO of McGrevy Corruption Inc. Does that, if Coresign were to be the Democratic nominee, does that make it tougher for you guys to run, say, a forester who's all on a smaller scale, but a similar model of businessman funding his own way? I don't think so. I think that night and day, I mean, here you had somebody who spent $60 million on his own campaign to drown out the voice of democracy, essentially. You know, Doug Forester has not been, unfortunately, for some of us, that generous, so, you know, it's night and day. I mean, you know, the Democrats have raised so much money. I don't think anybody would argue that they've really radically changed the system here. Not for the better. How could the Republicans convince those that they are cleaner? Because we've got to do it. We've got to show people. Here's our plan. Here's what we'll do differently, and produce an actual plan that's different from theirs. We've been pushing for pay-to-play reform, real pay-to-play that covers everything, that shuts down the doors to wheeling, the kind of wheeling that John Corzine has been involved with, writing checks to counties,

having counties move that money around so that they can amass larger numbers. Now, we've put those proposals forward, ask for the Senate Democrats, ask for the Senate, the Assembly Democrats to pass them. And they won't. Yeah, but inside of a point, and I'd like you to respond, so we can talk about things like easy pass and B&B, the Republicans aren't exactly a party of clean opening. I don't think we're electing a party for governor. We're electing a person for governor, and each person has to be accountable for their own actions. John Corzine should tell us, if he thinks that wheeling is wrong, that he should demand any of that money that's back. If he thinks that the Democratic Party has been abusing, and that we really do need to clean things up, he should ask for his money back. He should lead with his actions, not with his words. So is Brett Chandler wrong to take all that money from city contracts, any of Mayor or Jersey City, and he was running for governor? You know, what's the question he's playing? You know, Republicans are prepared to play, getting rid of it, but Brett Chandler is just guilty of it. I think Brendan Bern raised money from people who did business for government. I think Tom Cain, I think Christie Whitman, certainly Jim McGreeby did, but nobody's done it nearly as egregiously as these guys had.

You know, maybe we should compare it to having gone five miles an hour over the speed limit, having gone 500 miles an hour over the speed limit. Well, I would say that it's a state political party that can raise $20 million in one year versus a high year for anybody else with maybe three or four or five million. That's a pretty egregious jump, and it's not because the regular rank and file Democrats are digging deep to write $100 checks. So he said he's going to limit contributions to $500, because it's not taking pay to play contributions. Can he be reformed? As stated, all of the individuals on this list have lost family members, on 9-11, and all of us believe that John Kerry and yourself will make this nation more secure. Thank you. My name is Helen Rosenthal. My brother, Josh, was killed on September 11, 2001 in the south power of the World Trade Center. He was 44 years old. Although Josh was not married, he left behind so many good friends.

His parents, myself, my husband, and my two young daughters were eight and five at the time. Josh lived just 10 walks away from us in New York City, and he would drop by one or two times a week, treat the girls of End Time story, and settle in for a chat and dinner with my husband and myself. Three years ago, I pulled together what I would say at his memorial service. Remembering Josh and thinking about what I could say to my young girls to reassure them that they would be safe. Remembering Josh then and now has not been a difficult part. And we are thankful to the efforts of many people, especially the men and women of our armed forces, that have helped to keep us safe. But I am convinced that we can do more, and that is why I'm supporting Senator Terry Edwards for President and Vice President of the United States of America. John Kerry and John Edwards will keep their focus on the terrorists, where the focus belongs.

They'll give our troops abroad the extra-health they need to accomplish their missions, both in Iraq and in Afghanistan. At home, no investment in protecting our bridges and our tunnels, which I drive over and through every day in New York City, and it will secure our borders, our seaports, and our airports. And John Kerry and John Edwards will do all they can to support our first responders who acted so broadly on September 11th. I am especially grateful to the men and women who worked tirelessly to see the 9-11 Commission established. And to the Commission members and staff who gave their all to find ways to make America a safer place. I'm for John Kerry and John Edwards because they honor the work of these good men and women by pledging to implement all of the Commission's recommendations. And I'm for Senator Kerry and Edwards because I know that if we hit a bump in the road along the way, they'll have the wisdom and the courage to adjust our force until we get things right.

Having lost my brother has made me all the more determined to do everything I can to keep the rest of my family and especially my young daughters as safe as they can be. I'm voting for John Kerry and John Edwards because I know they will make America and the world a safer place to live. My name is Diane Horning. My husband Kurt and I lost our 26-year-old son Matthew at the World Trade Center. While 2748 others died with him, only 292 full bodies were recovered. Some of us have small particles to bury, but for almost 1200, no remains at all were recovered. President Bush has knowingly permitted the City of New York to bulldoze the small tissue remains, the bone fragments and the cremated remains, which cannot be identified through DNA into the Fresh Kills landfill, a New York City garbage dump.

I support John Kerry for many reasons, but on a very deeply personal level, I support the Kerry Edwards team because while Mr. Bush has agreed to this gross indignity against my son, against all with whom he died and in truth against the entire nation, Senator Kerry long ago wrote his endorsement of my efforts to properly bury my son at all the September 11 victims. Following the attacks, I, like so many of you, turn to my president to ensure the future safety of my country. Instead, he has managed to squander the international support for the U.S. that was so generously given after the attacks on our nation. The more that we are hated, the less secure I feel. I have suffered the results of hate. So as the Bush administration continues to alienate the rest of the world, terrorism against the United States becomes more acceptable by the rest of the world.

I need the Kerry Edwards inclusive approach to foreign policy in order to feel safe again. I don't feel that our security is helped when the Bush administration continues to label anyone who disagrees with their policies. We are called un-American regardless of the essentially and intrinsic American tradition of discussion and dissent. I cannot feel safe when I can no longer trust the veracity of my president. He has called himself a compassionate and conservative, yet he leaves my son and the other dead in a garbage dump. He has led us to war because of weapons of mass destruction that did not exist. While claiming to cooperate with the September 11th Commission, Mr. Bush actively worked to thwart that commission which strove to fix problems, not to fix blame.

His continued reluctance to work within the commission's suggestions indeed prevents our nation from solving our problems. Recognizing and actually solving our problems will make me feel safer. One such problem is the lack of a strong coordination of our intelligence agencies, a coordination which Senator Kerry fully supports. Mr. Bush has left me feeling vulnerable and unsafe. The lack of security and public transportation is just one more area where problems are not named, are not corrected, and are allowed to continue. How safe can I feel standing at this foresight knowing that most containers go uninspected?

The security evident in New York City on their transit system during the Republican National Convention lasted only long enough for the conventioneers to leave. I traveled to Washington DC often to lobby for my dead son's burial and to visit my remaining child. I never and I stress never have felt safe on those trains. Those trains where no luggage is ever screened and where my identification has never been checked. Do I feel safe today? Do I feel that my homeland is secure under the Bush administration? No. But I look forward to feeling secure again and to knowing that my family is safer when John Kerry and John Edwards are elected this November. I am Amy McCray and I'm joined on stage with my mother. My sister Kat was killed on September 11th. She was 23. Kat worked in Tower 1 of the World Trade Center and her office was at the impact point of the first plane to the strike that morning. Since the day we lost Kat, my mother and father and I have searched for the truth behind the attacks of September 11th.

For the last year, my mother has journeyed to Washington to attend each of the independent commission hearings to investigate the terrorist attacks. Families of September 11th fought to establish this commission and now worked tirelessly to urge the adoption of all of his recommendations. George Bush opposed the creation of the 9-11 commission and then denied the commission full funding, initially resisting the release of crucial documents. John Kerry and John Edwards supported the 9-11 commission and believed that all of its recommendations must be adopted immediately. President Bush has politicized September 11th to a despicable degree using the memory of the day that our family members were murdered in his campaign ads and speeches. He has deliberately evoked our loss for his political gain, manipulating our grief to justify an unjust war.

The war in Iraq is a distraction from the true war on terror. After September 11th, our resources should have been used to fight the enemy who murdered more than 3,000 people on our IA and the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Bush implemented key resources to wage a war on a nation with no connection to September 11th. The 9-11 commission found no link between Iraq and al-Qaeda yet the Bush administration has repeatedly attempted to lead the American people to believe Saddam Hussein was involved in the attacks. Today, there are 10 times as many troops in Iraq than there are in Afghanistan. While there is no connection between September 11th and the invasion of Iraq, there is a crucial connection between the terrorist attacks three years ago and the need for greater homeland security.

On this front and countless others, the Bush administration has failed us greatly. More money is spent in Iraq in four days that has spent on protecting our ports over the last three years. Since September 11th, precious funding has been diverted to a rain cargo and a creation of unified terrorist watchlist. John Kerry and John Edwards have a plan to secure America's ports and borders and expand rail and subway security. I believe in John Kerry and John Edwards. I believe that they will wage a war against terrorism while protecting our homeland. I believe they will make finding Osama bin Laden and destroying the al-Qaeda network a priority and refocus our efforts on the real war on terror. They know that this war on terror must and will be won.

On November 2nd, my family is voting for John Kerry and John Edwards. My sister Kat had an extraordinary life ahead of her, a life which was cut short on September 11th. Next week, I turn 23. I will be older than my older sister soon. Three years have passed and what we lost in September 11th can never be replaced. Now it is our responsibility to ensure that no American ever experiences what we have. We must protect our country. On Tuesday night, John Edwards said that the American people want three things in a President and Vice President. They want to know that their leaders will keep them safe, that they will have good judgment, and that they will tell the truth. I believe that John Kerry and John Edwards will do just that. Now, ladies and gentlemen, it is my great honor to introduce to you the next Vice President of the United States of America, John Edwards.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, please, please. Thank you all for being here. I also want to say a personal thank you for these extraordinary women. The truth is that America owes a thank you to these women and people like them who stood up for the safety of our country. It is an amazing thing to watch. People who have experienced extraordinary tragedy in their lives and see what they have gone through and see how they dealt with it. And what we see in these women and others like them, I had the experience in Iowa a few weeks ago, being with Christian and Bright Wizer and some others who have some big experience, the same thing that these women have experienced and their families have experienced.

And to see people take a tragedy, an extraordinary personal tragedy, something that they will live with for the rest of their lives, and to turn it into good, which is exactly what they have done. I mean, this calls of making certain that what happened to them never happened to anyone else. It's something they have lived every day since September the 11th. And America owes them a debt of gratitude for what they've done for all of us. Now, I want to talk about two things today. Both of them have been touched on by these women who spoke so eloquently. First, the war in Iraq is in second, the war on terrorism. And several of these things have already been said. And some of them were discussed in the debate on Tuesday night.

And one thing I want to say to all of you about... ...

... You You You

You You You