Corzine has said he is bound to keep his returns secret by a confidentiality agreement he made with partners and executives at Goldman Sachs, where Corzine was chairman from 1994 until May 1999. Corzine said the agreements expire at the end of the year, and he will be free to reveal his returns after the election. The anti-Corzine theme was reinforced Tuesday in a separate independent TV ad paid for by a group headed by former Beneficial Chairman Finn F. W. Caspersen, a longtime Republican Party contributor. Shea implied that Franks and the group, Citizens for a Better America, are coordinating their attacks, a violation of federal campaign finance law. He said that Caspersen is on the steering committee of the Republican Leadership Council, the national group of moderate Republicans that attacked Corzine in a radio spot last month.
Franks also serves on the council's advisory board.
DeMarco denied any coordination between the Franks campaign and the independent groups. DeMarco said no decisions have been made about running the ads in the more expensive New York market. But recent polls indicate that voters are not put off by Corzine's spending. A poll conducted by The Record found that 48 percent of those surveyed said that Corzine's spending would not have an effect on how they would vote. Staff Writer Herb Jackson contributed to this story.