GOP, angry with Chamber of Commerce, rides the train anyway

At the Chamber of Commerce's pre-Walk to Washington breakfast today, Republican legislators were universal in their dismay that their host organization had endorsed Gov. Jon Corzine's monetization plan. But that didn't stop them from hobnobbing with top business leaders and boarding the famous train down to DC.

Despite putting out a press release that said the Chamber of Commerce "has sold out the people of New Jersey and the businesses they claim to represent," State Sen. Anthony Bucco went along for the ride.   But Bucco said there was nothing hypocritical about him participating. 

"I was scheduled to go on it and I'm going on it anyway," said Bucco, who owns a manufacturing company but is not a member of the state Chamber of Commerce.  "I have the opportunity to talk to the chamber members who are on here and tell them how wrong this monetization plan is for business."

Bucco said that, if tolls increase as dramatically as the Corzine administration has said they will, raw material costs for small businesses like his will continue to increase from transportation costs. 

"I don't think they fully realize the implications to businesses and what it means," he said.  "I don't think it's hypocritical. I think I'm here to talk to some of these businesses to tell them how wrong it is." 

Today was Assembly Minority Whip Jon Bramnick's first Walk to Washington. 

Bramnick said he was amazed by the public's hostile response to Corzine's plan, noting that 95% of those in attendance at last night's Union County town hall meeting were opposed to it.  Bramnick, for his part, said that he doesn't think the government has shown enough fiscal restraint to justify a 75 year plan of raising tolls.  But he said he didn't know enough about the chamber's endorsement to judge them by it. 

He did disagree, however, with conservative activist Steve Lonegan's call for a boycott of today's trip.

"If Iver get to the point in politics where I close the doors of communication with any groups, then I don't think I'm doing my job anymore," he said. "To just write an entire group off because they disagree with you -- it's not the way I enter politics or government."

State Sen. Robert Singer is a Walk to Washington veteran.  He sat at a table next to Democratic state Sen. Ronald Rice today, joking with his colleague from the other side of the isle. 

Singer said that he's not upset that the Chamber of Commerce isn't opposing the plan.  Rather, he said, they're supporting a plan without knowing all the ins and outs of it in exchange for some promises of spending cuts. 

Singer said that he's not necessarily opposed to the plan - that he needs to see all the details before making a decision.  And so far, he's been displeased by the slow pace at which they've been released. 

"I'm very disappointed in the Chamber of Commerce not because they decided to back the Governor's plan, but because they don't understand it," he said.  "I can't make an intelligent decision until I get all the facts in front of me.  They've made a decision in the dark."

But to Singer, the point of the trip isn't to talk with the Chamber of Commerce. 

"They may be the sponsor, but boycotting the trip insults the entire business community," said Singer.  "I had an opportunity here to speak to the President of Verizon.  I don't get that too often. I was able to bend his ear for 5-10 minutes."

But that Verizon President - Dennis Bone, who runs the company's New Jersey division," made his support for Corzine's plan very clear today when he introduced the Governor to give brief remarks. 

"It's something that I support and many members of the business community are coming around to this," he said. "I appreciate his courage in putting these bold plans forward for the future of our state."

Joseph Pennacchio, the Republican Morris County State Senator and U.S. Senate candidate, said that he didn't hesitate to come on the trip but emphasized that he's paying his own way.  The point, he said, was to meet with business leaders and fellow politicians - not to kowtow to the Chamber of Commerce, which he condemned.

"I've never seen them in the forefront of battling taxes ever.  And for them to back the Governor's toll scheme?  They should go back to the mission statement, because that doesn't do anything to grow our economy.  In fact it's a hindrance."

Among the Democratic legislators in attendance at the breakfast was one of the monetization plan's foremost critics in the party: Assembly John Wisniewski, who chairs the Transportation and Public Works Committee. 

Wisniewski echoed Singer's criticism of the Chamber of Commerce for endorsing a plan before its legislation even exists.  Among the most controversial aspects of the plan so far is the idea to make Route 440 -- which cuts through the heart of Wisniewski's Middlesex County district - a toll road.   

Wisniewski stopped short of accusing the Governor of adding the Route 440 proposal as a personal slight - but just barely. 

"I think the Governor knows where my district is, so I'll leave it at that," he said.