"Fuhgettaboutit!"

NEW JERSEY - Maybe they should go with "How you doin'?"

Acting Governor Richard Codey just eighty-sixed the newly proposed New Jersey state tourism slogan, "New Jersey:  We'll Win You Over..."  (http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051028/NEWS02/510280329/1123/NEWS01).  The Acting Governor says the whole concept of this slogan is based on a negative connotation:  that there's something wrong with the state to begin with (wonder how long it took him to figure that out).  Of course he's right, and it only cost the taxpayers of the great state of New Jersey a little over a quarter of a million dollars for him to reach that conclusion.

New Jersey paid $260,000 to some New York hacks to come up with that garbage tagline.  That suggests the whole premise of the exercise was flawed from the start.  When the government of New Jersey wants to espouse the virtues of their state, they run to a New York ad agency and ask, "Hey, what's so great about Jersey?"  Bad idea.

So now the Governor is asking the residents of the state to come up with something worth re-printing (http://www.state.nj.us/slogan/).  What a concept!  Ask the residents of your state to point out the things that are worth mentioning.  With that in mind, I respectfully submit these freebies for Acting Governor Codey and the residents of the great Garden State to mull over.  Feel free to use them for all your New Jersey tourism needs:

• "Fuhgettaboutit!"
• "New Jersey:  ALL Left Turns From the Right-Hand Lane!"
• "Get Completely Lost in New Jersey"
• "New Jersey:  We Got Three Really, Really Big Roads"
• "What's That Smell?"
• "Superfund Site Capital of the World"
• "Toxic Waste for All"
• "New Jersey:  Guilt by Association"
• "Work in New Jersey, Retire to Florida"
• "New Jersey is for Lawyers"
• "Got Jug-Handles?"
• "Where Insurance is at an All-Time High"
• "New Jersey:  A TAXING Experience"
• "Don't Park in Camden After Dark"
• "Beware All Ye Who Enter Here"
• "Jersey:  Not All Our Governors Were CONVICTED"
• "New Jersey:  Save Some Money for the Tolls"
• "New Jersey:  You Gotta Cross Us to Get From New York to Philly"
• "We'll Get You Next Time"
• "NJ:  It's Cheaper Than Manhattan"