At the Chamber of Commerce's pre-Walk to Washington breakfast today, Republican legislators were universal in their dismay that their host organization had endorsed Gov. Jon Corzine's monetization plan. But that didn't stop them from hobnobbing with top business leaders and boarding the famous train down to DC.

Despite putting out a press release that said the Chamber of Commerce "has sold out the people of New Jersey and the businesses they claim to represent," State Sen. Anthony Bucco went along for the ride.   But Bucco said there was nothing hypocritical about him participating. 

"I was scheduled to go on it and I'm going on it anyway," said Bucco, who owns a manufacturing company but is not a member of the state Chamber of Commerce.  "I have the opportunity to talk to the chamber members who are on here and tell them how wrong this monetization plan is for business."

If you’re walking to Washington tomorrow on the annual Chamber of Commerce train trip on Thursday, you can win an original Rob Tornoe political cartoon – or design your own! PolitickerNJ.com will be handing out “I am Wally Edge” buttons on the train. When you see Wally Edge wearing the button, just take a picture with your cell phone and e-mail it to us at politicsnj@aol.com. We’ll post the photos online and let our readers vote on which one is Wally Edge!

New Jersey had a political realignment of sorts yesterday when the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce took Republican legislative leaders by surprise and endorsed Democratic Governor Jon Corzine’s Financial Restructuring and Debt Reduction Plan.  As in most places, organized labor has long been allied with the Democrats, while the GOP has enjoyed an alliance with the business community.  

State Senator Anthony Bucco is asking New Jersey businesses to drop their chamber membership and join other business groups, and conservative activist Steve Lonegan has called on Republican officials to boycott the Chamber of Commerce train trip to Washington tomorrow. 

If you’re walking to Washington next week on the annual Chamber of Commerce train trip on Thursday, you can win an original Rob Tornoe political cartoon – or design your own! PolitickerNJ.com will be handing out “I am Wally Edge” buttons on the train. When you see Wally Edge wearing the button, just take a picture with your cell phone and e-mail it to us. We’ll post the photos online and let our readers vote on which one is Wally Edge!

If you’re walking to Washington on the annual Chamber of Commerce train trip on Thursday, you can win an original Rob Tornoe political cartoon – or design your own! PolitickerNJ.com will be handing out “I am Wally Edge” buttons on the train. When you see Wally Edge wearing the button, just take a picture with your cell phone and e-mail it to us. We’ll post the photos online and let our readers vote on which one is Wally Edge!