Corzine defends plan,
enlists help to sell idea
By JONATHAN TAMARI,
thnt.com Online, January 10, 2008
TEANECK — Gov. Jon S. Corzine
defended his plan to sharply raise tolls and cut state debt Wednesday and
enlisted the help of a one-time political opponent, former Republican Rep. Bob
Franks, to help sell the idea to the public and Legislature.
Franks, describing himself as a "fiscally conservative Republican" and Corzine
as a "liberal Democrat" said the governor has "broken with the tradition" of
Trenton's financial mismanagement by tying his proposal to a freeze on state
spending and giving voters more oversight of government borrowing.
With those steps on the table, Franks, who lost the 2000 U.S. Senate race to
Corzine, will lead a campaign to win support for Corzine's plan.
"I don't look forward to the prospect of paying higher tolls on our roadways,
but I also understand the compelling need to begin to reduce the state's
outrageous indebtedness and to have a way in which to rescue our transportation
system," Franks said during a news conference in Teaneck announcing his role.
But Franks will have to sell a plan whose toll increases could eventually mean
more than $4,000 in added costs for commuters who take an average Turnpike trip
to and from work.
Updated figures released by the Corzine administration show that the toll for a
typical Turnpike drive, now an average of $1.20, would grow to an estimated
$9.85 in 2022. A person who makes that drive to and from work five days a
week, 50 weeks a year would pay annual tolls of about $4,925, up from around
$600 a year now.
Some motorists will pay far more and some far less. There is no Turnpike
trip that now costs $1.20, but the estimate shows an example of the magnitude of
the impact on drivers who use the toll roads every day.
"Bob Franks is good, but convincing people that this is the right thing to do
will be like convincing an Eskimo that he needs a lawnmower," said Tom Wilson,
chairman of the Republican State Committee.
Corzine said drastic steps are needed to pay off obligations that are already on
the books.
"This is not something I want to do, it's something that has to be done,"
Corzine said, adding later that regardless of his plan's fate, taxpayers will
have to eventually pay off the state's $32 billion in debt and even larger
shortfalls for promised pensions and health care benefits. "It's just a
matter of when and how."
The administration is hoping Franks will carry some weight with Republicans who
have blasted the plan as a gimmick that would make New Jersey more expensive.
Franks said lawmakers should look beyond "narrow partisan" considerations and
consider the substance of the proposal, which would halve state debt and pay for
75 years of transportation projects.
Franks, a friend of Corzine's, said he discussed the toll plan with the governor
over the past year and insisted on limiting spending and borrowing before he
signed on to the idea.
"The culprit here is Trenton's culture of spending more money than we collect,"
said Franks, a former Assemblyman who now chairs the HealthCare Institute of New
Jersey, which represents pharmaceutical and medical technology companies.
Franks, like Corzine, challenged critics to come up with an alternative to pay
off state obligations.
Corzine countered arguments that his proposal would replace one debt with
another, saying his plan would set aside a dedicated stream of revenue, toll
hikes, to pay back the new borrowing.
The proposal calls for a new "public benefit corporation" to borrow against the
toll increases and use that money to help the state pay down debt and fund
transportation needs. Corzine said the corporation's debt would not be
tied to the state, although motorists would be paying back the bonds.
jtamari@gannett.com
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