[IMO, there is more individuality among ants than among investment bankers. Here's some recent info on the ultra-mildly-reformist Corzine:]
March 25, 2006
A BUSINESSMAN'S APPROACH TO THE BUDGET
by David P. Rebovich
What happened to the campaign promise to restore property tax rebate checks to their 2004 levels and increase them by 10 percent? What about avoiding at all costs any increase in broad based taxes? How about support for higher education to provide high quality workers for the state's information based economy? And remember the "affordability agenda?" For anyone who read about Jon Corzine's Budget Address, it seems reasonable to conclude that the new Governor conveniently forgot about the key planks of the platform he ran on last fall. And according to some critics of Corzine inside and outside of government, the Governor may have campaigned as a reformer, but he now looks a lot like a typical politician.
However, those folks who watched and listened carefully to the Governor's Budget Address are likely to have come to the conclusion that he's not a conventional politician. If he was, he undoubtedly would have a better bedside manner as a bearer of bad news. If anything, Corzine seems like the corporate executive he once was, and his Address was less like a political speech and more like an annual report that a CEO delivers to his company's board of directors. In this case his report was a reality check about the state's fiscal condition and a no holds barred account of what he thinks must be done to put the state on the path to a better future.
... Corzine used his Budget Address to explain that the state must get its books in order through honest accounting. In his plan almost all of the state's spending would be put on a pay as you go basis. Cuts in programs were based on determinations about their effectiveness and need. The most important and largest tax increase - the hike in the state sales tax from 6 to 7 percent - was recommended for several reasons. Its effect on the typical New Jerseyans will be negligible, despite its regressive quality. Its effect on the business climate is considered less negative than an increase in income tax rates on middle and upper income earners. ...
<http://politics.nexcess.net/rebovich/2006/03/>
Carl