Joanne Corzine: “He'll probably let New Jersey down, too”

From the woman who knows Jon Corzine the best:

"When I saw the campaign ad where Andrea Forrester said, 'Doug never let his family down and he won't let New Jersey down,' all I could think was that Jon did let his family down, and he'll probably let New Jersey down, too," Ms. Corzine said.

His ex-wife, Joanne Corzine, had resisted talking about him, though she issued a statement after their divorce became final in 2003, saying that politics had had a noxious effect on their lives. But last week she said in an interview that she believed that Mr. Corzine showed poor judgment early in his political career in making endorsement deals with controversial Democratic leaders like George E. Norcross III of Camden County and Stephen N. Adubato Sr. of Newark, and several politically influential black ministers - transactions that Republicans have used to question his independence and integrity.

"All day, people around him were telling him to do whatever he wants to do to get ahead, things that the Jon I've known since we were in high school would have never been comfortable with," she said. "And I think it's made him lose sight of anything but success, getting to where he wanted to get."

His ex-wife said that she noticed a change in her husband soon after he decided to run, in 1999, for the Senate. She said she had been taken aback by the blatant way party leaders bartered their endorsements in return for campaign contributions, and thought that her husband would be, too. But he brushed aside her concerns, calling them naïve, she said.

As his campaign and political goals became more consuming, Mr. Corzine distanced himself from friends and family, finally ending the 33-year marriage and leaving his old life behind, she said.

You can't say we haven't been warned!