A bunch of blogs sited a poll released yesterday by Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey that found that, surprise surprise, most New Jersey residents are against leasing state assets like the turnpike or the parkway.
“The Monmouth University/Gannett poll showed that 55 percent of residents opposed the idea Corzine has dubbed "asset monetization" without explaining the details. Nearly 60 percent (59-30) opposed the leasing of the Turnpike or Garden State Parkway, and about the same number (58-33) opposed allowing private developers to build on top of train stations."
Corzine also continues to harm any chances of making a deal due to his steadfastness NOT to release any information to the public. Not to mention that Republicans, Independents and Democrats are running for the hills any time the plan is mentioned.
To quote a line from Little Caesar, "Mother of mercy, could this be the end of Corzine?"
Here's the sketch:
2 comments:
Why attack Corzine and his monetization plans before all the facts are out?
This money will be used to pay down the state's escalating debt. The pension debt that is spiraling out of control was the result of the Republican-controlled state Senate during Gov. Christie Whitman's administration. Whitman cut revenue but didn't cut expenses, and to balance the budgets for the next six years, she and acting Gov. Donald DiFrancesco didn't make payments into the pension system.
The approximately $9 billion that wasn't paid into the pension system during the Whitman administration is now a hole of more than $20 billion today and growing.
What Whitman and the Republican state Senate did was the height of fiscal irresponsibility. They put our state on the path to bankruptcy.
Which brings us to why Corzine and State Treasurer Bradley Abelow kick around monetizing state assets. Realizing that this debt is increasing at a precipitous rate and drastic action is required to stop it, my guess is they are trying to come up with a way to minimize the pain to satisfy the debt. I wish them swift and great success at putting this accelerating debt behind us.
And yet, Corzine still spends. There will questions in the voting booth to borrow $450 million for stem cell research and $200 million for open space.
The very first thing Corzine did as governor was to indebt the taxpayers for 30 more years to fill potholes.
The point being, each administration has used gimmicks, borrowed, etc. No governor has cut spending. Spin this any way you want, but until spending is cut, there is no way to get in front of the problem. Selling/leasing assets isn't going to get it done.
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