IT OUGHT TO BE A CRIME...

May 2007

Last month on April 12th, New Jersey’s Governor Jon Corzine was nearly killed when his State Police driven SUV ran into a guardrail of the Garden State Parkway by milepost 44.5 in Galloway. For five days, State Police officials denied that the Governor’s speed was a factor. They falsely blamed the accident on “swerving” by the driver of a red pick-up truck, and spent lots of time and money looking for him.

But they found that driver, and four days later, the State Police came up with a new story that was closer to the truth. They said the Governor’s SUV was going 91 miles per hour “five seconds before the accident,” and that no other vehicles were involved. The Governor’s driver simply lost control and ran off the road.

But how fast was the Governor going ten seconds before the accident – before the Governor’s car slowed down and slammed on the brakes?

The State Police won’t say.

Finding the answer is more fourth grade arithmetic than rocket science. There were 30 yards of skidmarks at the scene, an EZ pass record of when Governor Corzine’s car passed the Atlantic City Expressway toll plaza roughly 9.5 miles away, and radio logs showing when the Governor left the Pinky Kravitz radio studio at the Hilton Casino in Atlantic City about 15 miles away. And of course, the black box goes back more than five seconds. I bet the Governor was speeding through rush hour traffic at more than 100 miles per hour.

Why the hurry?

Governor Corzine made a speech in Atlantic City early that afternoon.

He had plenty of time to get to his next appointment. But the Governor decided to stay late and spend an hour on a prime “drive time” local talk radio show. Corzine had to tell us locals that “monetizing” the Garden State Parkway, New Jersey Turnpike, and a bunch of other highways in North Jersey to pay for out of control spending would somehow improve the state’s finances.

Corzine did not leave the radio studio at the Hilton Casino Hotel in Atlantic City until about 5:47 PM. That left just over an hour to take the elevator to his car, and drive 91 miles to his Princeton mansion.

CBS Radio Talk Show Host Don Imus wanted a meeting with the Rutgers Girls Basketball Team he had previously insulted. He could have met them at the CBS studios in New York, or any of the fine conference rooms on the Rutgers campus in New Brunswick. But Governor Corzine wanted to host that 7PM meeting at his Princeton Mansion so he could get national media exposure.

If Corzine followed the same traffic laws as everyone else, he would be over an hour late and blow that chance. If the Governor took a helicopter to Princeton, he would mess up his public image as the billionaire of the common man. The only way Corzine could arrive “fashionably late” for the hyped up meeting was to average 90 miles an hour in his car.

Did Corzine’s state police driver offer to do it?

Did the Governor ask him?

One or both of those men committed a crime that put lives in danger, and the law should hold one or both of them accountable.

On September 27th of last year, a state trooper sped through a stop sign in Marmora, killing Jacqueline Becker, age 17, and her sister Christina, age 19, as they drove from picking up a gallon of milk. The state police appeared to do nothing. Criminal charges were filed by the Cape May County Prosecutor four months later, and seemingly, only after a public uproar.

On March 10th of this year, Eighty one year old Harry Jackson of Mays Landing was killed when a local police officer broadsided his car after going 90 miles an hour on a two lane road. Atlantic County Prosecutor Jeff Blitz has yet to press criminal charges.

State officials don’t want to bring criminal charges in this case either. Instead the Trenton Democrats set up an eight member “independent panel” with some friendly Republicans like ex-Governor Christie Whitman and ex-Senator Bill Gormley. The panel will not blame anyone, or hold anyone accountable. It will only study “how a state police unit protects the governor.”

For more information, visit www.libertyandprosperity.org or contact Somers Point attorney Seth Grossman at seth@dandy.net or 609-927-7333. Seth Grossman hosts a two way talk radio program on 1400AM Sundays Noon to 4PM and breakfast discussion groups every Tuesday at 8AM at Bayshores II Restaurant, 724 Bay Avenue in Somers Point.