Corzine tries to bury monetization as a campaign issue

By Matt Friedman | October 30th, 2009 - 1:56pm
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With less than a week to go before the election, the two-year-old specter of asset monetization has been raised again – and Gov. Corzine hopes to put the subject to rest as soon as possible.  

In a press conference with reporters this morning, Corzine said that a New York Times report that says he told the paper that he was considered revisiting a scaled back version of the program was inaccurate.  

Below is a transcript of this morning’s news conference pertaining to the Times story, provided by the Corzine campaign (emphasis theirs):  

Q: Do you believe that a toll plan should be brought back?

GOVERNOR CORZINE: “NO! No toll increases, no leasing.  Off the table.  Not gonna happen. PERIOD!”

Q: Did they get it wrong?

GOVERNOR CORZINE: “They got it wrong because they focused on the fact that we may raise money out of our rest stops on properties that surround the turnpike. No toll increases...no leasing of the turnpike.  Off the table, not happening PERIOD! And you know I think if you read that article you will also see that Mr. Christie has backed away from every single promise that he talked about during the campaign, particularly during the primary, about how he was gonna roll back the sales tax, how we was gonna increase rebates, how he was gonna put more money into school funding.  All of those things are out the window.  

Only one thing is he standing with--he's gonna keep tax cuts for people who make over 400,000...the very wealthy. That is going to drive property tax increases for every single middle class New Jerseyan.  That's what the Star Ledger said, that's what multiple analysts who have looked at that suggestion. Tax cuts for the wealthy don't work if you want to support the middle class.  And that's the only promise he maintained in that particular article.”

Contacted by PolitickerNJ.com, the Times stood by the accuracy of its story.  

Meanwhile, Democrats are launching a counter-offensive against Christie based on comments he made to the Times that appeared in the same story – which Corzine referenced in the above quote.  According to the paper, Christie went back on earlier campaign pledges to fully restore property tax rebates, cut income taxes across the board,  avoid using “one-shot” revenues to close the budget gap, restore higher education funding and create a permanent funding source for open space preservation.

"Since February, Chris Christie has left voters scratching their heads with broad talk that has lacked any specifics or real sense of direction," said Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Sayreville). "Now, after talking of little else, he has thrown his entire economic playbook out the window. After admitting that his campaign's central promises were based on smoke-and-mirrors, voters have even less of a clue of where Mr. Christie stands."

Tags:

Right...believe it while you're cashing 40% larger rebate check

Submitted by GOPanimal on October 30, 2009 - 1:33pm.

Come on. If this wasn't true, Corzine would've corrected the record yesterday whent he story hit the streets at 11 am. 24 hours later? It's nothing but the reaction of a politician who's afraid of the political ramifications.

NY Times

Submitted by gorednj on October 30, 2009 - 2:02pm.

NY Times stands by its story. Jon Corzine(D-Liar) is a liar...pure and simple

Interesting

Submitted by chrisc23 on October 30, 2009 - 3:17pm.

Didn't Mitch Daniels, the Republican Governor of Indiana, do something similar in his state? And from what I understand his state is actually in good shape financially. I don't know the exact details of Corzine's plan, but I think it is worth taking a look at.

Corzine needs to Go....

Submitted by alexhiggins732 on October 30, 2009 - 11:50pm.

It seems that the propaganda that a vote for Daggett is a wasted vote is backfiring on the GOP. With Daggett in the polls Christie is up by 3 points. Take Daggett out of the polls and Corzine is up by 6 points.

For Christie to win, je needs the Daggett supporters to keep sucking voters from Corzine. Currently Daggett is taking 2 voters from Corzine for everyone he takes from Christie

If you're afraid that a vote for Daggett is a Vote for Corzine, don't be because the polls show Daggett is hurting Corzine and putting Christie ahead.

See this Daggett Hurts Corzine and Helps Christie

You can be sure that you don't waste your vote by making the I'll vote for Dagget pledge.

The Daggett pledge is based on a simple premise, if enough people pledge their vote then you will vote for Daggett

Pledge your vote for Daggett at DaggettPledge.com

Corzine Basically Handed Over an October Surprise...

Submitted by roryar on October 30, 2009 - 4:16pm.

on a silver platter, with a bright red ribbon by bringing up his plan to privatize the roads. He just lost probably every Republican vote he ever had with this. Christie wins on Tuesday, but barely.

Corzine and Daggett support Toll and Gas Tax increases

Submitted by Bill Patrick on October 31, 2009 - 9:06am.

The LIAR Corzine must be defeated. Christie is our only hope.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

Submitted by aldomanuzio on October 31, 2009 - 9:22am.

The only reason the ghost of tax schemes past is still alive to haunt Corzine is because nearly every democrat in the Legislature voted to allow Corzine to spend millions of tax dollars to continue studying his monetization scheme in the 2008 budget - even after he lied and said the plan was dead. None of them supported republican attempts to cut the monetization study monies from the budget.

Every democrat from Cape May to Bergen is responsible for not killing this tax beast when they could and now the more easy campaign cash they take from Corzine to get re-elected, the more beholdened they are to vote for every single one of his second term promises of huge tax hikes and big government programs.

800% toll hikes is only the tip of the iceberg NJ residents will be running into if they allow ship Corzine II leave port on Election Day.

Daggetts plan is a disaster

Submitted by speedkillsu on October 31, 2009 - 6:21pm.

He plans to raise the Sales Tax by $4 Billion (yes, Billion with a B). How much spending will it take to increase the coffers by $4B ??

And he doesn’t mention that he eliminates any and all Homestead Rebates & Senior / Veteran Exemptions. It’s a Zero Sum Game, and chances are your Total Tax Burden will go up, not down.

“For our most vulnerable householders — the more than 50 percent whose property taxes are at the median property tax of $6,320, his plan amounts to little more than rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. For these homeowners, the plan would, at best, produce minimal to no additional property tax relief beyond what they are presently receiving. Many seniors and the disabled would actually see their property tax relief decreased.

The primary beneficiaries of the Daggett plan would be those with incomes above $125,000 and the most affluent who have property taxes of $10,000 or more and do not qualify for any of the existing property tax relief programs because their incomes are too high.

The Daggett plan calls for the elimination of all of the existing property tax relief programs to partially fund his proposal and replaces them with a tax credit. Thus, the Homestead Rebate, the Senior Property Tax Freeze, the property tax deduction from income taxes, the $250 senior property tax credit and the $250 veterans tax credit would all be eliminated.”....seniors would be crucified with this plan !

VJ

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