toll hike

Fifty days ago today, Star-Ledger reporters Josh Margolin and Deborah Howlett broke the story that “Frank Lautenberg's opposition to Gov. Jon Corzine's highway toll plan has opened a rift between the two men that could affect the senator's re-election bid.”

“Lautenberg's announcement was a surprise and led one senior Corzine aide tell top Democrats that the governor would retaliate by ceasing his fund-raising efforts for the senator's re-election campaign,” wrote Margolin and Howlett.

Among the donors to Save Our State NJ, the issue-advocacy group essentially formed by Governor Jon Corzine to advocate his plan to raise tolls, is Public Service Electric & Gas. PSE&G has contributed $100,000 to the effort, according to sources familiar with the SOS group. That might explain Corzine’s reluctance to quickly release the list of SOS donors.

Editor's Note: The Inside Edge strongly stands behind our original report that PSE&G pledged $100,000 to Gov. Corzine's Save Our State NJ toll hike advocacy group, despite communications that seek to demonstrate otherwise and a release of their donors at the end of the day.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr. says that comments by a senior Democratic legislator, Raymond Lesniak, suggesting that Gov. Jon Corzine’s toll hike plan is dead, means the state should look for a budget that doesn’t rely on revenues from toll increases. 
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“Prominent Democrat Senators have now pronounced as DOA in the Senate any gas tax increase, any toll increases for debt, and now the Governor's ill advised and quite likely unconstitutional PBC. It's clear that the members of his own party are now following of the lead of republicans in the legislature in rejecting the Governor's vision,” Kean said in a statement released today.

The mini-feud between Governor Jon Corzine and U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg isn’t likely to erupt into a major war in the June Democratic primary, but one Democratic staffer suggested that the senior Senator’s opposition to Corzine’s toll hike plan should be taken seriously.  Lautenberg has spent much of his more than 23 years in the Senate as an expert of transportation and budget issues, he served as a Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and like Corzine, he was a hugely successful CEO before getting into politics. So when Lautenberg decides to buck his own party – not something he’s done often over the years –  perhaps its reasonable to wonder if he’s right.

Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan issued a statement yesterday slamming Republican legislators for their “closed-minded posture” on Governor Jon Corzine’s proposed toll hikes – or “finance reforms” as Cryan calls them. As a convenience to Cryan, PolitickerNJ.com has used his statement as a template for two more press releases, relating to U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg and State Sen. John Adler.

Rush Holt endorsed Governor Jon Corzine’s toll hike plan yesterday, but has still been unable to decide who he wants as the next President of the United States.  Holt is the only New Jersey House Democrat not to endorse a candidate in today’s presidential primary.