You Ain't A Beauty But Hey You're All Right

Governor Jon Corzine
Office of the Governor
PO Box 001
Trenton, NJ 08625
609-292-6000

Dear Governor Corzine,

I am writing to you after reading that last year's search for a state slogan was less successful than Dick Cheney's for a new hunting buddy. This is so sad!

The state has jettisoned "Come See For Yourself," its second attempt at a tagline in less than a year. It was the product of a statewide contest set up by then-acting Gov. Richard J. Codey last fall, after he rejected a consultant's offering: "We'll Win You Over."

State tourism officials said legal issues led them to scrap the latest slogan, explaining that West Virginia and other states previously used "Come See For Yourself."

Ours is a state full of proud people, each one a special, special snowflake, unique in his or her own right. When the former Acting Governor asked for slogan suggestions long lists appeared everywhere on the internet. Current and former residents showed no shortage of wit and verve. I myself came up with a few hot ones:

New Jersey: We're Well Armed!

New Jersey: Are You Gonna Vacation Here Or What?

New Jersey: Smell the Decomp!

And my personal favorite:

New Jersey: Let's Get A Slice!

I don't mean to be crude, Governor Corzine, but as slogans go Come See For Yourself and We'll Win You Over are the kind of pasteurized dreck only a marketer could love, and the kind who went to community college. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

As a former comedienne and a lifelong big mouth, I'm offended that bland platitudes were chosen to represent the many and various spicy peoples of New Jersey when we could have done and could do so much better. I love New Jersey! I get homesick on the Turnpike! Hey, there's another slogan: New Jersey: Pay Us To Leave.

Seriously, I love it here, east of where America Begins - or so says Pennsylvania. Those lightweights. They'd never make it in a mosh pit full of high hair Jersey Girls. Can't we have an equally gritty state slogan?

Let me know if I can help you. I'm civic-minded.

Kiss kiss,
Princess Tata