PIO COSTA & DIORIO CALL ON VOTERS TO REJECT CORZINE’S MASSIVE TOLL INCREASE

For Immediate Release October 30, 2009 

Contact: Kevin Leary 908-447-9172

PIO COSTA & DIORIO CALL ON VOTERS TO REJECT CORZINE'S MASSIVE TOLL INCREASE

Rutherford, NJ - Small business Don Diorio and Carmen Pio Costa, Assembly candidates in the 36^th District, said voters should reject Jon Corzine, Fred Scalera and Gary Schaer before they get the chance to implement the governor's plans to raise tolls 800 percent and borrow $40 billion with false promises of reducing state debt.

"New Jersey faces a tax crisis, yet once again Governor Corzine is reviving his ludicrous plan to raise tolls and borrow more," Diorio said. "The public clearly didn't want this plan when the governor first proposed it and they surely do not want it now."

Last year, the governor's administration approved a toll increase on the New Jersey Turnpike that will raise the average commuter's annual tolls by $728 by 2012. If the original monetization plan were enacted, a person's commute would increase by nearly $5,000 by 2022. The governor is considering the plan despite strong opposition from the public and Republican legislators, who have proposed reducing state debt through a comprehensive plan that entails restricting government's ability to borrow what taxpayers cannot afford to repay and other responsible budgeting reforms.

"The governor has never been able to say no to a tax increase and Fred Scalera and Gary Schaer have been right by his side to implement his fiscal policy no matter how detrimental to the state's taxpayers," Pio Costa said. "Fortunately, the governor, who usually prefers to keep his plans secret until the last possible moment, revealed his plans before the election so that voters can once again say "No" to these toll increases."

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