Forgive Craig Carton if he sounds like a quasi-conspiracy theorist. But when a few seemingly harmless words elicit the kind of response they did, a man has to wonder.

Wonder why your state governor threatens you physically. Wonder why a reporter from The Star-Ledger is already waiting outside, like they knew it was coming. Wonder why New Jersey legislature voted to officially reprimand you for ‘cruel, insensitive and highly offensive comments.’

After a few shocking comments (he’s a shock-jock, after all), this happened to Craig Carton, who studied broadcasting at Syracuse University and co-hosts ‘Jersey Guys’ on 101.5, WKXW-FM in New Jersey, one of the state’s top-rated radio shows.

His comments came in response to New Jersey Gov. Richard Codey’s allocating $200 million for mental health issues. Governor Codey, whose wife suffered postpartum depression so severely she considered putting their first-born child in a microwave, considers mental health legislation his personal platform.

Carton, 36, suggested Governor Codey legalize medical marijuana (which wasn’t part of the $200 million bill) so women ‘can relax and have a joint instead of putting their babies in a microwave.’ He added, ‘Women who claim they suffer from this postpartum depression must be crazy in the first place.’

Ready for the ironic twist? Carton’s own wife suffered from postpartum depression and a miscarriage.

Still, uproar quickly ensued. The next day, Governor Codey, surrounded by four state troopers, confronted Carton, threatening to ‘take you out.’

‘I asked him if he was joking,’ Carton said. ‘Then I reminded him that he’s a governor. I’m not interested in fighting 58-year-old men.’

Hey Codey, maybe you didn’t know this, but that guy Carton, the guy on the radio who pissed you off … yeah, him … guess what? He’s a shock jock! That’s what he’s supposed to do.

As if Governor Codey’s overreaction wasn’t enough, listeners sent threatening letters to Carton. Soon, New Jersey legislators voted to censure the shock jock, the equivalent of an official reprimand.

‘Never before has this happened. Not to the Ku Klux Klan. Not to neo-Nazis,’ Carton said. ‘… Howard Stern got a rest stop named after him (in New Jersey). Me, I get censured.’

At a time when New Jersey’s government is acting to raise sales tax and tax deposits to 401K plans, Carton thinks he was set up to distract from political issues.

If that’s the case, sadly it seems to have worked. A recent Star-Ledger/Eagleton-Rutgers poll found Governor Codey with a 76 percent approval rating. (Somewhere, George W. Bush is crying, and he doesn’t know why.) Eighty percent of those surveyed thought Carton was most at fault for the argument.

As for Carton? His station stood behind him and agreed to run mental health public service announcements.

‘I’m very popular,’ Carton said matter-of-factly, ‘but not popular enough or worthy of the attention of the state government. The whole thing was a set-up.’

It’s good to see that, despite the politically correct governor, Carton still speaks his mind.

Scott Lieber is a junior magazine major. E-mail him at smlieber@syr.edu.

Published on February 13, 2005 at 12:00 pm