Subject: Complaint filed against Corzine's driver: By ELAINE ROSE Staff Writer, The Press; An Atlantic County attorney has become the second private citizen to file charges in the April 12 crash on the Garden State Parkway that seriously injured Gov. Jon S. Corzine Seth Grossman, of Somers Point, said he filed the complaint Wednesday afternoon in Galloway Municipal Court, charging Trooper Robert Rasinski, who was driving the governor's vehicle, with speeding, careless driving and reckless driving. He filed similar charges against the trooper driving the vehicle directly behind the governor. The “black box” on the SUV that was taking Corzine from Atlantic City to a meeting at the governor's mansion in Princeton indicated the vehicle was traveling 91 mph in the seconds before the crash. The speed limit on the parkway is 65 mph. State Police are conducting an inquiry into the crash, in which Corzine broke his sternum, his collar bone, 11 ribs and his left femur. The governor was not wearing a seat belt. If the police had concluded their investigation, he would not have taken any action, Grossman said Wednesday evening. But the 30-day time period for citizens to file a complaint ends today. “I have no intention to replace normal law-enforcement channels, but I had concerns” about missing the deadline, Grossman said.
A probable-cause hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. today in Galloway municipal court, Grossman said. Larry Angel, of Mullica Township, filed a complaint against Corzine for not wearing a seat belt the week of April 20. He withdrew the complaint after the governor publicly expressed remorse for his failure to take the legally mandated safety precaution. The governor later voluntarily paid the $46 fine for the traffic offense.

RESPONSE: There is an important lesson here...that citizens who don't feel well served by government authorities can sign citizen Complaints themselves. GadFly had been urged by a number of people to sign a Complaint against the State Trooper...but, the feeling was that this speeding with a State Police escort and lights blinking was a well established procedure. While that procedure is now being re-evaluated it seems ubiquitous throughout the other States...and thus holding the individual State Trooper culpable seemed unfair.

Gad Fly notes, that at the last Town meeting on Tuesday, residents complained about on going failure of the Township Code Enforcement Officer, Tom Sandman, involving hours of operation of junk yards in Mullica and that these issues were not being addressed with Complaints. When GadFly pointed out that citizens can sign Complaints and the notion of depending upon government to address every violation is irresponsible, especially in a rural community...and resulted in higher property taxes.

Republicans at some level get this one partially right...expecting 'mommy and daddy' government to take care of every issue and not acting oneself to sign Complaints when government ... represents a lack of good citizenship. We all need to take responsibility in addressing violations of our laws and not depend solely on government as that represents a false dependency and a failure of good citizenship.(Sadly, this did not seem to resonate with the complainers.)