Gov. Jon Corzine of New Jersey proved last year that politicians can be creative.

In a rare display of political backbone, he declared that beginning this year, government employees — like the rest of the working world — would not get a paid holiday the day after Thanksgiving.

The flack he’s caught this year is incredible. Accusations include everything from destroying the family atmosphere of Thanksgiving to wasting energy, but there’s little doubt that the good folks of New Jersey are just ticked about being required to use one of their sick days if they want Friday off.

Why is it that government employees think they are entitled to paid vacation when everyone else is not? Do they work harder, longer or in more hazardous conditions? Are their families more important than others’?

No.

The Associated Press article in the Fresno Bee mentioned a young man who was “scrambling” to find day care for his children, yet also said that government employees had been given a year’s notice of the change.

So does that mean that government employees are dumber than the rest of us?

That one I’ll leave up to you.

But Gov. Corzine isn’t the only creative politician out there. The same article described how other states worked around the Thanksgiving Friday issue, usually by inventing or moving holidays. My favorite trick was New Mexico’s method: Simply move Abraham Lincoln’s birthday from February to November.

I guess that one’s appropriate, considering Ol’ Abe thought Thanksgiving important enough to declare it a federal holiday in the first place.