DOHERTY: MAYBE THE DEMOCRATS MISSED THE TAXPAYERS’ POINT REGARDING TOLL HIKE PLANS

JUST TWO MONTHS AFTER MASSIVE PUBLIC OPPOSITION SCUTTLED CORZINE’S MONETIZATION PLAN, DEMOCRATS AGAIN BEGIN TO PUSH FOR TOLL HIKES 

Responding to reports that leading Democrat lawmakers are again pushing for significant toll hikes, Assemblyman Michael Doherty today suggested that his Democrat colleagues in the Legislature refresh their memories as to how the public reacted to Governor Corzine’s toll hike plan this February.

“Just three months ago, New Jersey taxpayers reacted almost in unison in rising up and letting their voices be heard in staunch opposition to Governor Corzine’s toll hike plan,” said Doherty, R-Warren and Hunterdon. “Perhaps memories of that opposition are starting to fade, but I would warn my Democrat colleagues that from the town meetings I have attended, the public is still very much opposed to paying higher tolls.”

Two Democrat lawmakers on Tuesday, Senator Raymond Lesniak and Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney, said the New Jersey Turnpike Authority should invoke its own power to increase tolls by as much as 45 percent to widen the toll roads and fix bridges. This toll hike would not require public approval.

Corzine had originally proposed borrowing up to $40 billion to pay off some state debt and fund transportation needs, and then paying off that debt with revenue from 800 percent toll increases to be spread over the next few decades. After public opposition to the plan emerged, Corzine backed off and is now proposing a scaled back toll-hike plan that he would like the Legislature to consider before July 1.

Doherty, who headed an Assembly Republican Task Force on Fiscal Responsibility that held several town meetings throughout the state to gather public input on the Corzine plan, noted that the overwhelming message he heard from taxpayers was that state government should cut spending – not increase tolls.

“In the past six years the state has increased spending by $11 billion and has hiked 101 taxes – a good bit of which was done by this governor,” Doherty said. “If Governor Corzine and the Democrats were really listening to the public, they would focus their attention on cutting state spending, instead of trying to determine what level of toll increase they might be able to force on the public.”

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