“THE TRUTH WILL SET US FREE”: TAYLOR & GRAF CALL OUT DEMOCRATIC INCUMBENTS FOR MISREPRESENTING ABYSMAL RECORDS ON TAXES

Trenton, NJ – In response to a gross misrepresentation of the incumbents’ records on taxes that appeared in Gusciora and Watson Coleman’s final pre-election ad, 15^th district assembly candidates Kim Taylor (R-Lawrence) and Werner Graf (R-Hopewell) issued the following statement:

“In their final campaign ad, our opponents, assembly majority leader Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) and deputy majority leader Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton), claim to be ‘sticking up for us’ by reducing the property tax burden, but in reality their dismal records on taxes and fees show it’s more like they are “sticking us up” rather than “sticking up for us.”  

Misrepresenting their records to try to lead voters to believe that Watson Coleman and Gusciora are part of the solution to New Jersey’s tax problem is wrong, unfair, and disrespectful to the voters of this district.   

For most of the campaign, Ms. Watson Coleman has been focusing on convincing voters of the good she believes Governor Corzine has done while Mr. Gusciora has been focused on what he would do if re-elected appearing to hope that voters will think he is a challenger rather than an incumbent.   

The voters need to be clear that Watson Coleman and Gusciora are not ‘… making progress on reducing the property tax burden …’ since the record shows that they consistently cast votes and serve as sponsors/co-sponsors of legislation that, in fact, increases the property tax burden whether through unfunded mandates on municipalities, additional taxes and fees, or increased state debt.  Each of them over the course of the past few years alone has voted for over $8.5 billion dollars in new taxes and fees, and they both voted for the fiscal year 2010 budget which seriously reduced or eliminated property tax rebates for middle-class families.   

Out of respect for the hardworking taxpayers of the entire 15th legislative district, we call on Assemblywoman Watson Coleman and Assemblyman Gusciora now to tell the whole truth about their records on property tax as the people they are sworn to serve until January 2010 deserve the respect of truth in advertising.”