Showing a capacity for Jersey road rage at the start of the political season, Republicans stood on the side of the Garden State
By Max Pizarro | September 5th, 2007 - 7:43pmShowing a capacity for Jersey road rage at the start of the political season, Republicans stood on the side of the Garden State Parkway in Cape May County today and vowed, once they win the majority, not to post a bill that would enable the leasing of the state’s toll toads.
This press conference, held in district 1 where state Sen. Nicholas Asselta is in a re-election tussle with challenger Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew, featured Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance, Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce, Asselta and his running mates, Michael J. Donohue and Norris Clark.
They say they’re against the leasing of state assets, but at the very least the GOP want to know more. "I call on the governor to release the details of his plan," said Lance.
In June, Gov. Jon Corzine persuaded the Legislature to include a feel-out provision to study the feasibility of asset monetization, including the possible leasing of toll roads. Like other Republicans, Asselta flat out voted against the budget in the Senate, including what he calls a "blank check" for the governor’s asset monetization study.
In the Assembly, Van Drew voted against tabling an amendment sponsored by GOP Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck that would have nixed the governor’s request for the study. But his later vote for the budget as a whole - including the study - prompted Asselta out of his chair in protest.
The trouble with Asselta’s outrage, Van Drew maintains, is the senator voted for a 1999 bill enabling the state treasurer to examine asset monetization.
"It’s hypocrisy," said Van Drew when the Democratic legislator was contacted by phone for comment after the roadside press conference.
The Republicans don’t think so, despite what Dems see as a questionable record nationally on the issue of privatization. Reminded at the presser that it was President George W. Bush and the Republican Party that spear-headed a rebuilding effort in Iraq, which relies heavily on private contracts to companies like Halliburton and subcontractors like Blackwater for many services traditionally performed by the armed forces, Asselta stuck to New Jersey. He said he’s been against privatization of state assets since 1996.
"My position on privatization is not a new position," said the senator.
But Van Drew wouldn’t let him forget about the 1999 bill. "What they (the Republicans in 1999, including Asselta) voted for gave the state treasurer broad authority, and there was nothing in the bill that prevented (state assets) from being leased to a foreign company," said Van Drew, whose party’s leadership nevertheless has repeatedly defended what the GOP sees as Corzine’s lump sum scheme.
The presence of Lance and DeCroce down here underscored the Republicans’ commitment as a team to stand in the way of leasing or selling the state’s toll roads. "I can assure you, once we are in the majority there will be no plan to go forward with asset monetization," said DeCroce.
Leasing state toll roads remains unpopular not only in Cape May but throughout the state, which is why the GOP used this dramatic early juncture in the campaign haul to reiterate their opposition. According to a Rutgers University Eagleton Institute poll, from last month 61% of Democrats, 61% of Republicans, and 63% of independent voters oppose the idea.
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Once They Win The Majority?
Wow. By the time the Republicans win the majority the toll roads will be leased for decades.
I don't support the plan to monetize, but the Republicans just make themselves look silly talking about taking over the legislature in 2007.
Senator Van Drew
I agree with the previous comment.Since both say they are against sale of the roads Senator Van Drew as a member of the majority party will have a much greater impact on what if anything happens with the toll roads in the future.
ISN'T VAN DREW IN THE MAJORITY NOW?
Uppercut...your comment makes absolutely no sense. Van Drew is currently in the majority in the Assembly where the Beck Amendment failed to be voted on. If Van Drew was serious about standing up to his Democratic allies it would have been called the Van Drew Amendment.
Whether it is Senator Van Drew or Assemblyman Van Drew he does not have the courage to stand up to the Party of which he is the Assistant Majority Leader.
Van Drew is Right
It seems that State Senator Rip Van Asselta just woke up and decided he needed an issue to run his sorry campaign on this fall. With the help of his " outside" campaign advisors he picked monetization. Someone should have told him that his opponent is also against monetization. Did the Asselta handler Bill Pascoe really think that by bringing Lance and Decroce into the First District was going to make a difference? Those two have zero pull in the Southern two counties. It is really a shame to see Asselta standing on some road with a big sign behind him and no people at his gathering. Van Drew drew over 250 people to a anti-monetization rally. Asselta drew Lance and DeCroce.
The One Trick Pony Is Wearing Out
Only in New Jersey do we have completely retarded Republicans. The one thing that Republicans are good at almost all over the country is winning elections, except in New Jersey. It is ridiculous that they continually fail to win elections when they are pitted against Democrats that would get decimated anywhere else. Torricelli/Lautenberg? Menendez? Give me a break.
And in the First District we have the best campaigner the Democrats have seen in quite some time and monetization is the Republican's entire campaign. Literally. They have not come up with a single other issue. And yet Asselta voted for a form of monetization in 1999. I looked up the bill online and read it and it's true. He can't get out of it. Not to mention he has based his entire campaign on an issue in which he (today anyway) agrees with his opponent. What the hell?! Even if Van Drew didn't oppose monetization before this campaign, he is certainly going to have to now. And there is such little support for it in the legislature that no one thought it was worth voting against the entire budget just to vote against a study that the Governor had already initiated.
Who, in their right mind, bases their entire campaign on bragging about voting against tax cuts, municipal aid, school aid, property tax relief, increased funding for higher education, tourism funding, funding to replenish our beaches, as well as keeping the state open to provide the services that millions of people in this state rely on every day, just to name a few? And Bill Pascoe is from Chicago, he shouldn't have that NJGOP mentality. Oh wait, he also ran Schundler's campaign and was on the McCain campaign. So I guess he fits the mold after all.
The One Trick Pony Is Wearing Out
Only in New Jersey do we have completely retarded Republicans. The one thing that Republicans are good at almost all over the country is winning elections, except in New Jersey. It is ridiculous that they continually fail to win elections when they are pitted against Democrats that would get decimated anywhere else. Torricelli/Lautenberg? Menendez? Give me a break.
And in the First District we have the best campaigner the Democrats have seen in quite some time and monetization is the Republican's entire campaign. Literally. They have not come up with a single other issue. And yet Asselta voted for a form of monetization in 1999. I looked up the bill online and read it and it's true. He can't get out of it. Not to mention he has based his entire campaign on an issue in which he (today anyway) agrees with his opponent. What the hell?! Even if Van Drew didn't oppose monetization before this campaign, he is certainly going to have to now. And there is such little support for it in the legislature that no one thought it was worth voting against the entire budget just to vote against a study that the Governor had already initiated.
Who, in their right mind, bases their entire campaign on bragging about voting against tax cuts, municipal aid, school aid, property tax relief, increased funding for higher education, tourism funding, funding to replenish our beaches, as well as keeping the state open to provide the services that millions of people in this state rely on every day, just to name a few? And Bill Pascoe is from Chicago, he shouldn't have that NJGOP mentality. Oh wait, he also ran Schundler's campaign and was on the McCain campaign. So I guess he fits the mold after all.