SENATOR BUCCO: CORZINE'S WEAK LEADERSHIP ON TRANSPORTATION WILL COST STATE DEARLY

Senator Anthony Bucco, a senior Republican on the Budget and Appropriations Committee, made this statement after reading that Governor Jon Corzine was "forced" to resort to a costly and irresponsible $750 million bonding scheme because he couldn't build legislative support for a real proposal to replenish the Transportation Trust Fund:

"In June, Republicans came up with a common-sense plan to dedicate money collected from commuters and truckers to transportation projects. These are projects vital to the economic well being of our state. The governor instantly rejected this common sense plan. He has shown repeatedly that he is too weak to push members of his own party to restrain spending so that critical transportation programs can be funded without new taxes or tolls, or to come up with a responsible alternative.

"The lack of leadership is appalling. Even now, Corzine won't consider using a pay-as-you-go financing plan that could use some of the state's $650 million surplus or shift money from overfunded programs to finance transportation needs. Incredibly, he's willing to use the same type of Wall Street borrowing schemes that led to the current economic collapse to avoid making the tough choices that a true leader must always make.

"The taxpayers will overpay for decades for this expensive borrowing scheme, which pushes principal payments out to 2023 and beyond. The governor should cancel the borrowing and immediately present his plan for refinancing the Transportation Trust Fund to the Legislature. It should be a plan that relies on responsible financing, not schemes that seem designed to send the maximum amount of taxpayer money to Wall Street bankers and investors."

For more information visit www.senatenj.com