Friday, October 30, 2009

HORSERACE

New Jersey's Last Four Days: All Tolls, All the Time

In the New Jersey Republican gubernatorial primary, Star-Ledger columnist Paul Mulshine strongly preferred flat-tax-backing Republican Steve Lonegan, and he has been strongly critical of Republican rival Chris Christie. Incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine quoted Mulshine quite a bit, even though he's also written headlines like, "Corzine to Middle Class: Drop Dead."

As noted in Final Countdown, Mulshine thinks Christie may have run across a winning issue in the final days:

The New York Times reports that in an interview Corzine  raised the prospect of reviving that infamous toll plan of his. Here is the passage in question:

"The Democratic governor, Jon S. Corzine, says he may revisit his plan to lease the New Jersey Turnpike to raise cash — a proposal that he abandoned last year in the face of intense opposition from lawmakers and voters."

As gaffes go, that's a huge one. Christie exploited it nicely by telling the assembled Hamiltonians they might face the prospect of tolls being imposed on interstates 195 and 195, both of which serve the town.

If I were Christie, I'd devote the remaining four days to tolls. It should be all tolls, all the time.

It appears Christie is following Mulshine's advice. He's released this statement, and his surrogates are sounding the same themes:

Just today, Governor Corzine has admitted to The New York Times that he plans to revisit his ludicrous and misguided 800 percent toll hike plan even though New Jerseyans soundly rejected it the first time around.  As if $9 billion in new taxes, the highest tax burden in the country and the highest property taxes in the nation isn't enough, Jon Corzine wants to pay off the debt he's created by making suffocating New Jerseyans pay even more in the form of an 800 percent toll hike. Let's face it, Jon Corzine likes raising taxes and he's never going to stop doing it.

When Corzine first proposed it, Mulshine called it "the nuttiest idea ever put forth by a governor in New Jersey history."

10/30 09:44 AMShare