Pennacchio Asks If Corzine Refinancing is Another Irresponsible, One-Shot Gimmick

Senator Joseph Pennacchio, a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, sent a letter to Treasurer David Rousseau seeking details of Governor Corzine's plan for refinancing state bonds. The governor's 2010 budget includes $361 million in "savings" from an unspecified debt restructuring. The treasurer has so far provided no details of how much debt will be restructured, how it will be accomplished or how much it will cost taxpayers.

"The Corzine administration has shown repeatedly that it's perfectly willing to use expensive, irresponsible borrowing schemes to avoid the tough choices of governance, and that it will keep the details quiet, if it can.

"In November, the state sold transportation bonds that defer payments to 2023, costing the state millions of dollars in added interest. Until threatened with a legal challenge, the governor refused to release a Wall Street bank's proposal to restructure debt by raising tolls by 800 percent. Now he has another one-shot gimmick to balance the budget, and apparently is keeping the details secret from taxpayers for as long as possible.

"Anything but total transparency is unacceptable. Legislators must know all the details of this proposal as they consider the budget. The public has a right to know if this proposal will add to the multi-billion dollar debt burden Corzine has left for our children and grandchildren.

"This governor, who once promised to end the use of one shots, plans to balance the budget with billions of dollars of irresponsible one shots, including pension deferrals and a 'temporary' elimination of property tax relief for middle class New Jersey.

"Taxpayers deserve to know today if this restructuring is sound policy, or is another irresponsible one-shot that kicks current expenses down the road to future generations. The treasurer must release all the details immediately."