New Jersey is a living embodiment of why political boundaries should never be drawn along rivers, and always along ridgelines. Nine million people live in two enormous clusters attached economically and culturally, but not politically, to the cities of New York and Philadelphia across the major regional rivers. These clusters anchor the ends of an ugly industrial strip along the turnpike that has given rise to a collection of New Jersey jokes. [In fairness, most people don't realize that the NW and SE corners of the state are rural and quite beautiful, with very different character - the pine barrens are neither Atlantic City nor the Jersey Shore.]
- State mammal: Junkyard dog
- State mineral: Asphalt
Fig. 1, NJ State Tree
Fig. 2, NJ State Park
- State bird: Hackensack River mosquito
- State tree: See Fig. 1, far R
- State flower: Mildew
- State song: Here
- State ceremonial tradition: FBI indictment of elected officials
- State park: Fig. 2, near R
- State traditional costume: Concrete galoshes
- State flag: Schmata
- State chemical reaction: 4Fe + 3O2 -> 2Fe2O3
- State motto: “My client is innocent of these politically motivated charges and we will mount a vigorous defense”
New Jersey politics is crippled by media costs dictated by having to make wasteful, expensive buys in New York and Philadelphia markets, news coverage that’s an afterthought of NY and Phila media, and of course all the long sad history of corruption typical of northeastern industrial cities. Now the state can add another official emblem:
- State idiot: Chris Christie, Governor
for whom there is no amount of money too big to leave on the table, and no injury too great to inflict on his citizens, for a wrong-headed egotistical gesture. The overrun for the tunnel is about $300 per citizen. New Jersey’s unemployment rate is 9.6%; all those hardhats will now stay on the dole instead of making good money sandhogging and building something the region desperately needs, while their fellow citizens will waste millions and millions of unpaid hours sitting in traffic instead of working or playing with their kids. Paul Krugman offers the clinical dissection of the tunnel lunacy.
Ken D. says
Poor New Jersey, national punching bag. But even though I have barely set foot in the state, any place that is home to both Paul Krugman and Bruce Springsteen is OK by me. In fact, I believe that there was a push at one time to make “Born to Run” their state song, which would have been great, except that some folks couldn’t accept enshrining the line that goes, “Just wrap your legs ’round these velvet rims,
And strap your hands ‘cross my engines.” Maybe in the age of “Jersey Shore”, that should be revisited.
Rob says
The fact that Born to Run was considered for the New Jersey anthem lead to Robert Wuhl’s best bit.
Joe S. says
I live in Juhsey (Newark, no less), and I resemble your remarks.
There are two errors in your analysis of New Jersey. First, the State Mammal is not the junkyard dog; it is the rat. The junkyard dog is only the State Housepet. Second, Chris Christie is not the State Idiot of New Jersey. He is the State Idiot of Mississippi, because that is the kind of government he seems to want for New Jersey.
max ellis says
Cancelling the ARC/Tunnel project in favor of roadway was shortsided and wrong headed- roads already got stimulus dollars more easily than mega-rail because they were shovel ready and not yet funded. However,the Tunnel was a boondoggle of a project that many thought was poorly (politically) planned and designed. Neither the states (NJ & NY) nor the Port Authority was watching the dollars closely enough. If Christie was angry about overruns, he chose to ignore ensuring it was managed well and see why cost was growing, tighten up controls and stanch the $ flow, but decided to just cut the project and leave $600M in sunk costs. Just as the Feds last week gave $100M to a Perfroming Arts Center at “Ground Zero” after years of saying no Fed $ would go there, we will see how many Fed $ go to the ARC Tunnel. It is great to support projects to keep people working, but well run projects generate less cynicism about public money being wasted. I imagine for many NJ residents hearing Frank Lautenberg complaining is pretty laughable, while they look at a virtually abandoned/never used HUGE Transit Hub with his name on it along I-95.
Swift Loris says
Just for the record, Jersey Shore isn’t the Jersey shore either; it’s only a small, disreputable piece of it.
Mark says
Mr. O’Hare,
I believe this Sept. 24 Associated Press story more accurately reflects the decision behind Gov. Christie’s decision today in New Jersey.
Lots of politics behind this decision. The governor in 2010 who authorizes a project set to be completed in 2018 will have to campaign against a big hole in the ground were he to seek the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, a seat in the U.S. Senate in 2012, 2014, or 2016, and/or his own reelection as governor in the State of the Perpetually Extended Middle Finger.
The headline does not do the first six paragraphs of the story justice. Hat tip to the Associated Press.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/gov_christie_adminstration_may.html
E-mail, conversations allude to Gov. Christie’s concerns
about Hudson tunnel funding
The Associated Press
Published: Friday, September 24, 2010, 5:31 AM
Updated: Friday, September 24, 2010, 10:51 AM
TRENTON — As early as March, Gov. Chris Christie’s administration may
have been considering withholding the state’s $2.7 billion portion of
money to pay for a new tunnel from New Jersey to Manhattan, according to
an e-mail and conversations from a high-level state Transportation
Department official.
Last week, the governor ordered a 30-day halt to all new work on the
tunnel over concerns that the $8.7 billion project would go over its
budget and New Jersey would be forced to cover the overrun, which
Christie says is now between $2 billion and $5 billion.
In an e-mail to a staffer for U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey,
who helped secure $3 billion in federal funding for the tunnel, David
Kuhn, the executive director for capital investment strategy for the New
Jersey Department of Transportation, called New Jersey a “critical
commerce corridor” for the entire country but said the state shouldn’t
be forced to pay for the tunnel, which is known as Access to the
Region’s Core.
“ARC is an important piece of the country’s economy and merit’s
additional consideration as a project of national significance,” Kuhn
wrote on March 30, according to a copy of the e-mail obtained by The
Associated Press. “New Jersey should not be saddled with any of the cost
of this project.”
Lautenberg spokesman Caley Gray said the staffer quickly called Kuhn to
ask for clarification. Gray said Kuhn told the staffer that the Christie
administration believed the federal government should pay for the
project entirely.
The staffer asked Kuhn to double-check with other officials about those
statements, and minutes later received a call from state Transportation
Commissioner Jim Simpson, according to Gray’s account of the
conversations.
Barbara says
I gather this is one of Christie’s actions taken in furtherance of his nascent campaign for president.
DKF says
That is hands-down the best state motto I have ever heard.
Deanna J Marquart says
I agree with DKF.
Sebastian H says
Another dubious distinction known to the poor people nationwide who take in complaints about consumer products-a hugely outsized portion of consumer complaints come from New Jersey. It is about 3% of the population of the United States, but regularly represents about 20% of the consumer complaints. There really is something in the water.