Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey

Wow...I've been reading the discussion and participating in it surrounding Jeannine LaRue's salary.  All along, I fought back the feelings that kept popping up that somehow the chatter seemed somewhat bizarre.  Sure, there were code words put out there from supporters of LaRue, words like "woman of color", etc.  But, somehow my mind would not accept the fact that this whole discussion could be centered around race.

Yet, a picture is worth a thousand words.  An African American woman delivered in a package carrying a check from a rich white man.  So there you have it.  And, this site, that was actually introduced to me by LaRue will allow faceless and nameless people, simliar to those who wear white sheets to undress this woman, one button at a time and assassinate her character, just because "I can."

 I'm going to do something at 2:30 am that may cause me to lose a friend. I'm going to wake LaRue up so that she can see first-hand what being a public servant can amount to when you've done nothing more than get up everyday and simply go to work.  Those of us who have been her trusted friends and colleagues in the private sector begged her not to join this Administration.  We knew mentioning the horrible cut in pay wouldn't register with her.  She loves being a public servant.  We knew the long hours she'd have to work wouldn't make a dent in our argument.  She loves being a public servant. We knew the cruelty of politics would be meaningless to her. She loves being a public servant.

But, if we could have had a crystal ball to have seen this, maybe then she would have remained in the private sector and would have continued to serve the public on charitable boards, on college boards, and all of the other ways she marveled at giving back while developing the Saint Barnabas governmental affairs program.  And, hopefully, when she sees this, she will decide to return to that system and reclaim her private life.

Congratulations, PoliticsNJ.com.  Of everything I've seen on this site, I can definitely say, "You've out-done yourself.  Job well done."  The only thing left is actually putting a noose around her neck, and I guess if we wait long enough, that's next.

Then Mr. Tornoe could have really made it laughable by making the two white guys, Black and Hispanic.  What a laugh that would have gotten.  Everyone would have scratched their heads on that one!  White people don't have to think about race, African Americans are forced to think about nothing but. That's just the way it is.   Maybe Obama can shift that a bit.

Back again and didn't wake LaRue up as I had threatened.  And, yes, this episode is racist!  Make no mistake, it is racist. I'm an avid reader of this site and I do not believe Politicsnj is racist.  But, this tirade against LaRue is racist and it's personal.  We're all being used as a tool in an individual's vendetta against LaRue and we don't even know it.  And, her supporters who watch this and shake their heads in disgust but say nothing are akin to the mob who watch her being strung up, never touching the noose, and are horrified as the last breath leaves her body.

I am a regular on this site.  I never respond but thoroughly enjoy the info that comes across my screen.  I remember when Jamie Fox got his Port job...a little chatter but nothing memorable.  I remember when Susan Bass Levin succeeded him...a little more chatter but nothing stands out.  When George Zoffinger left his post last month and his successor was hired to do the same job for $100k more...not a peep ($250k). And, when Joe Doria left the Senate giving up two public posts to join the Administration...applause.  All honorable people who deserve the jobs they got, and our State is better for it.

What makes this different: It's LaRue.  Because we enjoy psuedo names here, LaRue doesn't realize she forwarded ME the e-mail that confirms her first meeting about this job: July 10th of this year. It was a note from the President thanking her for the meeting and hoping she would consider joining his team.  But, as LaRue clearly points out, facts don't matter here.  Unfortunately, she's right.

A racist who is jealous is dangerous.  A racist with a vendetta who is jealous is lethal.  We're all pawns here in a calculating effort to bring down a woman who somebody...not you nor I...has history with LaRue and views this as a sport.

One of the best yet!

And it has nothing to do with the individual, no matter who she is.

This is the exact way that business is done between the state university and the politicians who send and are sent there.

If and when the money ever runs out, you can be assured she will most definitely be gone.

PS -- Check out every public official who has ever landed at Rutgers-- there is always a corresponding payment to the university-- usually with public funds, though the benefactor route isn't unprecedented.

Not sure that this fits the bill. I find Tornoe to be trivial at best, and his work usually misses the mark. However, this time Tornoe makes a point by saying Rutgers was given a $1,000,000 gift by Corzine and within the same week a former Corzine Administration employee was given a $250,000 a year job to lobby the state house. That is not an unreasonable suspicion to raise I disagree with Tornoe's assessment and frankly I do not believe that her position was contingent on Corzine's gift. However, Tornoe is simply recalling sentiment that existed when Corzine appointed Susan Bass Levin to the Port Authority but kept her part-time in some other innocuous state agency to keep her in the pension program...he is making reference to the culture created by Corzine. The fact that LaRue is shown to be African American is simply because she is African American.  I am certain that the message is not "LaRue needs a White Benefactor to be successful" it is "Corzine is shady in the way takes care of his people." This is an anti-Corzine cartoon not an anti-LaRue cartoon.  I am familier with Miss LaRue's work and she is worth every penny. I am well aware that she does not need to work as a public servent to make a living. But Tornoe has a right to raise this question and frankly racist accusations are not founded in this cartoon.

well we all have differing opinions on it.

The fact that we talk about it just magnifies its importance, no doubt. You see it as a racism with a vendetta. I think most political observers here see it as another politically connected State employee getting a plum patronage job. So much of that goes on in this State its fairly hard to consistently get outraged about each seperate hiring.

Just a seperate note, its interesting the response I get when I throw out the "white guilt" line. It seems to get the most passionate, defensive responses when I'm conversing with others of different opinions. 

Another issue is my observation that this State's public school system is based on institutionalized segregation (the ol' homerule system). Neither conservatives, nor progressives in this State seem to want to touch that with a 10 foot pole! (I was educated in a County based school system, and I think I received a pretty decent education)

My problem on Ms. LaRue's hiring, doesn't stem from her skin color, but from the position of another poitically connected "insider" getting what I think, is an unnecessary job, at a University thats become more notable for its being a political football (no pun intended) versus any academic acheivement.

I'll let you have the last word on the subject. Before I move on.   

What a joke!!

My comment was directed to ALL political hacks.  Let them run a business or have to balance a budget and they would be broke, just like the way they run the State.

The bottom line is that when you are home and you want to buy something you have to look at the bottom line of your checking account.  No money you don't get it.  There is only so much you can put on the American Express or Visa card.  But with political hacks............who cares, it's not their money they are spending.  Just sell some more bonds.

When they screw something up they just move on to another patronage job.  It's not a black/white thing or a male/female thing, it's about getting a job done, doing it correctly and being qualified for it.

I would love to see posted all of the resumes for policitcal hacks earning over $125k. per year.  The colleges they attended.  Degrees that they have.  And work experience.  Then compare that to someone making that income in private industry.  A political hack wouldn't even be called in for an interview.

Chairman  Rev. William Howard, Pastor Bethany Baptist Church

Al Gamper, Jr  Retired, Chairman of the Board, CIT Group

Leslie E. Goodman Chair, The Eagle Group, Inc.

Rochelle Gizinski, Partner, Abazia & Gizinski

Martha A. Cotter, Faculty Rep. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Margaret A Coppolo, Student Rep

Robert A. Laudicina, Pres. and CEO Ambassador Food Services Corp

Duncan L MacMillan, Bloomberg L.P.

Patricia Nachtigal, Sr. VP & Gen Counsel, Director, Ingersoll-Rand Co

Gene O'Hara, Retired, CFO, Prudential Insurance Co.

Samuel Rabinowitz, Faculty Rep  School of Business-Camden

John F. Russo, Sr. Former Senate President, Princeton Public Affairs Group, Inc.

Patrick M. Ryan, CEO, Yardville Nat'l Bank

George R. Zoffinger, Former President/CEO of the Sports and Exposition Authority

Ridiculous!!! 

I am so sick and tired of folks minimizing racially motivated issues, comments and/or acts to a joke or over re-acting.  The fact of the matter is if African Americans or any group, for that matter, feel as though racisms still exists then it does.  African Americans were over reacting when they said that Jim Crow Laws were separate and unequal. African Americans were morons to think that slavery was abominable because we were 1/3rd of a human being.  So of course, thinking this cartoon is racist is also moronic.  Even though it is a modern day version of the Jezebel caricature of the early 1900’s that depicts black women in sub servant role.

This cartoon is as offensive as the Don Imus comments about Rutgers University Women’s Basketball team.  This cartoon epitomizes and perpetuates the very racist stereotypes of black women.  People are assuming that Ms. LaRue does not have any credentials to support her new position.  She couldn’t possibly be a brilliant, hard-working American.  She has to be Corzine’s servant girl who was traded to a higher bidder.  I wonder why that is. 

your just looking to be offended.

Take the cartoonist to task for the skill in his drawings if you will, but to me, it looks like LaRue is sitting in a chair, on top of a cardboard box, marked "Fragile", like a shipping container, straight from Trenton.

and you got her on a slave auction block.....I'd say thats a pretty big insult to the cartoonist!

What makes you think those 2 guys are white? maybe they're of Hispanic descent from Spain/Cuba versus Mexico. (as long as we're leaping to conclusions)

I'll take back what I said earlier, your posts do sound like a lot of typical, liberal "white guilt". Do us all a favor, get off LaRue, and do something constructive, like working to dismantle the State's segregated public school system. Now that is an endeavor I can support, and is worth pursuing.... Good day, sir

As a black man in politics, I am floored by politicsnj lack of racial sensitivity. This could have been my mother, daughter, or even my girlfriend. Jeannine LaRue has been objectified in the worst sense. It hurts that a talented, qualified, black woman in politics is subjected to these racial proclivities. It is easy to target a black woman in a flaud political system that she never designed, instead of the real culprits. African Americans in American politics have to fight everyday because our woman continue to be objectified and degraded. Professional Black men are being stripped of dignity and our ability to conduct business in order to support our families and communities. African American communities continue to decay and we have to watch our children grow up in this racist society.  As black men we must standup for our black women!! 

That's exactly what you are if you honestly think this is "jealous racism". Good thing theres someone like you (a civil rights attorney, no less) trumping up a non-issue in one of the most visible public forums known to mankind: the comments section of a comic strip on a New Jersey political blog. Cheers to fighting the good fight! What will you attack next? Dirty bathroom graffitti?

How dare you minimize the racial overtone of that cartoon.  You obviously know NOTHING of African American culture and history. There are no bigger racists in this country than some of your Republican friends. You need to take a few minority sensitivity classes, diversify your party a little, perhaps stop attending KKK rallies, and take an African American history course or two.  That might do the trick.  Then maybe you will have some credibility with your ridiculous argument. 

The cartoon shows her being unpacked from a cardboard box, as if to suggest her appointment was part of a package. This is not such an outlandish assertion, considering how Corzine is known for taking care of his inner circle of advisors. Was this Rutgers job advertised, and was anyone else considered? I didn't see the want-ad. 

My comments about race weren't a preemptive strike, as the first poster mentioned in your rant.  The fact is that Wally Edge knew she was African American when he took the call, e-mail, communique, whatever, that produced the first story. He receives dozens of "tips" but went with that one which led to Mike Carroll's ridiculous charges. PoliticsNj did a story on all three of the deputies some time ago with pictures so it was well known that Ms. LaRue was African American, except to you, hiding in suburbia, under a rock.

equally upset with the racist cartoons depicting Condoleeza Rice as Hattie Mcdaniel in "Gone with the Wind". or as George Bush's maid with exagerated lips. I bet they didn't. Of Course it's different Larue is a Democrat and Rice is a Republican!

The object of this cartoon was to point out how clumsy the Corzine Administration handled this situation. I feel sorry for Ms Larue because of the Corzine Administrations bumbling she is made to look incompetant-which I know she isn't!

Duh, I clearly understand that the cartoon is taking a shot at the Corzine Administration.  The point that I am trying to get across is that when people make there points at the expense of African American culture as it relates to our history in this country, that is and will continue to be racially insensitive. Therefore you should and will be called on it.  Is this one incident a big deal in the whole scheme of racism in this country, probably not.  It is, however, part of a larger issue and that is the lack of respect and acknowledgment of African American's very senisitive history and our contributions to American society. 

I don't know Ms. LaRue at all but what I can say is that she worked hard to get to where she is.  She had to because she is a woman of color!!  Maybe if Democrats and Republicans didn't take for granted their African American counterparts this crap would stop and we could actually move foward for real instead of pretending.

And yes I was just as offended over Condoleeza's cartoons!     

What are you trying to say that black people can't think for themselves?  We have switched party affiliations a few times in history. And if you want to talk about selling out every party has sold us out. Right now the unappreciative Dems are the lesser evil because Republicans don't want to deal with us at all. Case and point Hurrican Katrina.

How dare you insult an entire race and dumb us down like we are beneath you.  This is why you have no problem at all with the cartoon.  It is easy for you take shots at black people and support racist cartoons because you are hiding behind your damn computer!! 

... initially heard about it based on economic reasons.  Granted, I had no idea what color skin she had when I manifested my outrage.  But, in light of the enlightening posts regarding the latent racism that afflicts all those who oppose her hiring, I will accept the scarlet letter for bigotry I now bear with all due shame and introspection.  I just wonder how my African wife will deal with the fact she married a closet clansman. 

Please tell me you slept on the couch last night...pleassssseeee!

I was never so upset and down right furious at such message as read on PolitickerNJ.com.

When will people regardless of color, yet in this instances African Americans, especially women be regaled for their ability and achievement instead of being castigated by mean spirited, insensitive, thoughless, and power hungry mongrels.

Ms. LaRue was selected based upon her hard work, commitment and dedication. There was and is no need for the side show tatics. which were employed on this website.

Stop making horrible comparisons because that is offensive too.  Comparing African American culture, Hispanic culture, and the Jewish faith in Jeannine LaRue, Zulima Farber, and Susan Bass Levin is irresponsible.  All of those cultures and faith have a unique history in this country that defines who they are.  What offends one group may not offend another.  Using this cartoon and painting everyone with a broad brush is downright wrong.  If a cartoon was created of Susan Bass Levin to make a point and sacrificed the integrity of the Jewish faith then I would expect everyone to be just as outraged. Having an issue with the Corzine administration is one thing but making a racial cartoon to get that message across is crossing the line.

Well, at least we can say we're all engaged.  But unless Larue is going to say goodbye to Rutgers (and I think at this point she has to at least collect a couple of paychecks before we start to see "anonymous" tips coming out her goings on at Rutgers) then we need to move on to the next big story.  Hey, what about Herb Stern collecting 8 million at UMD.  Now, thats some paper!  

Good evening folks,

I have been watching the discussion about the cartoon, my boss..the Governor, Rutgers, the $1M, and revolving door.  I have to tell you that my first instinct was that the cartoon was racist and those of you on this site either hated me or just didn't know about the hard work I've done over the years.  So, it goes without saying, "Yesterday was a rough day for me."

But, then a friend of mine, CreateNJ, had a little chat with me about what he thought Rob Tornoe was trying to convey.  And, I have to admit that I went back and re-read all of the comments about three times.  I've concluded that Rob Tornoe was not trying to send a racist image.  He may have gone a little too close to the line because it's easier if the person is Black.  I also don't think that I am the subject of his rendering...it is my boss...the Governor...whom I admire so very much.

I chuckled to think that anyone would believe the Governor would help me get a job.  It was just last week...Tuesday before his Iowa trip...that he said, "You're not really leaving now, right?"  I've been stressed out about leaving this Administration before lame-duck is over because I so much believe in his vision.  But...you know when it's time...and it's time.

And...I've been in discussions with Dr. McCormick about this position since July...I have the e-mail traffic on my personal computer to prove it.  I thought...maybe September...then November...finally, I decided December 14th would be it.  So, Dr. McCormick placed my appointment on the December 6th board agenda...and December 5th my boss made an announcement...and all hell broke loose.  He didn't realize my appointment was on the agenda...and I didn't know he was going to make an announcement...you just gotta' love him.

In closing...I never post on this site or any others, but I thought that I owed you a break in my silence.  Many of you have made some very good points...you touched on issues of credibility, integrity, racial tolerance, and transparency that I will think about in the many days and months ahead.

I've done a lot in my professional career: English teacher, college professor and administrator, Casino Control Commissioner, NJEA lobbyist, elected school board and council member (different times...no dual office holder), and my favorite, Sr. VP of Saint Barnabas Health Care System...the largest health care system in the State.  But...this position in the Governor's office has been one of the most rewarding things I've done.  It's been great to see government up close.

Thank you folks for your input.  I've already committed to Rob Tornoe that I will purchase the original art rendering.  And...everytime I look at it on my wall at Rutgers, I'll think about all of the things I've learned in the last 24 hours on this site.  The First Amendment is a beautiful thing...never shy away from using it...never over-think on how to abuse it.  Whether you ever think I should go to Rutgers...it's fine...I'm going. Lol.  It's YOUR State University...and I hope to do you proud.  I know...corny...but it's me.

Peace

Jeannine LaRue