DONOHUE, McCANN & LONEGAN OPPOSE BORROWING ANOTHER $400 MILLION

(OCEAN CITY, October 29) – First Legislative District GOP Assembly nominees Mike Donohue and John McCann – joined by former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan at a press conference on the steps of City Hall in Ocean City – today announced their opposition to Question One, the so-called “Green Acres” $400 million bond issue.

“We’re pleased to welcome Mayor Lonegan to Ocean City,” said McCann. “He’s long been a champion for New Jersey taxpayers, fighting against the tax hikes and the outrageous spending, and we’re glad he was able to join with us today as we announce our opposition to the $400 million so-called ‘Green Acres’ bond issue. This is the wrong bond, at the wrong time, and we’re voting ‘NO.’

“Rule Number One of the Hole-Getting-Out-Of Rule Book says, ‘When you’re in a hole, stop digging,’” McCann continued. “Our state is broke. We’re already $45 billion in debt, and we’re facing an $8 billion budget deficit next year. Even if this were a good program – and we’ve got serious doubts about that – this would not be the time for New Jersey’s state government to be borrowing another $400 million, just so our kids and our grandkids can pay for our desire to feel good about ourselves.

“Look at the program itself, and you’ll see it’s another example of what John and I have been talking about throughout this entire campaign,” said Donohue. “For every $1 that’s spent in non-urban areas, this program REQUIRES that $3 be spent in urban areas. So this is yet one more program that takes money from South Jersey and ships it north, to urban mayors.

“And you’d better believe there’s a tax increase involved – how else are we to pay for the interest on the money we’re borrowing? And how else are we to pay for the lost revenue from the land that’s been purchased by the state for this program? When the state takes this property, it moves off the tax rolls, and those of us who are left have to share that lost revenue in the form of higher taxes. We’ve already got the highest property taxes in the nation, and the worst business climate. Borrowing another $400 million is only going to make that problem worse, and anybody who doesn’t believe that is just foolish.”

“Worst of all, the property acquired under this socialistic land reform program would not necessarily be voluntarily sold by its owners,” said Lonegan. “The act establishes four separate trust funds — Green Acres, farmland, Blue acres and historic preservation. Only the trust fund for Blue Acres, which refers to areas in flood plains, is restricted to purchases from willing sellers. For the other three funds, the act is explicit that one of the powers the state will use to acquire property is to seize it through the power of eminent domain. Giving the rampant eminent domain abuses we've seen, providing funds to be used this way is dangerous.

“Taxpayers have been conned into spending a staggering sum on open space preservation bonds and additional ‘open space’ taxes with little to show for it other than a mountain of debt and higher property taxes,” Lonegan continued. “The most important environmental aspect to the bond question regards not the natural but the fiscal environment — taxpayers can't afford this bond measure and should vote against it on Tuesday."

Paid for by Donohue McCann 2009