February 14, 2008
 | GOVERNOR CORZINE MUST DISCLOSE WHO IS |
Once again Governor Jon Corzine, the man who once promised transparency throughout his administration, is keeping the public in the dark.
For more than a year Governor Corzine held his cards close to the vest as it related to his asset monetization plan for our toll roads. Despite numerous attempts to access information, the Governor steadfastly refused to disclose the details of his plan.
The Governor then went into court to prevent legislators from gaining access to an $800,000 taxpayer financed consulting report that analyzed the various impacts of his secret toll hike proposal on New Jersey motorists.
Finally, in January of this year Governor Corzine unveiled his plan to borrow between up to $40 billion while increasing tolls by 800 percent. Even as he revealed this information, the Governor was reluctant to release any details about exactly how the plan would be structured.
Now, as Governor Corzine travels around the state trying to sell his toll-hike and borrowing proposal, he is enlisting the help of a non-profit advocacy group he has created to organize a pro-toll hike public relations campaign.
This organization, called Save Our State New Jersey, has already benefited from $500,000 of Corzine’s own money and is likely to have raised money from other sources as well to promote the Governor’s plan. The problem is, Save Our State NJ is yet to detail its fundraising activities or its donors.
This means that the public remains in the dark about who exactly is putting up big money to help pay for the Governor’s pro-toll hike campaign. This represents a major problem, particularly in a state where accusations of influence peddling and pay-to-play are ubiquitous.
It is important that this organization disclose who is contributing money to their efforts to sell the Governor’s toll hike plan. Having an organization that is spending money to advocate for a key public policy initiative of the Governor, without disclosing the names of donors to that group, raises serious concerns.
Is the organization a front for those who stand to benefit handsomely from the sale of bonds or the projects they will finance? Who knows? And that’s the problem.
It is not a stretch, given the well documented culture of corruption in New Jersey, that individuals could be donating money to this group with hopes of being rewarded with state contracts or business in the future. Publicly disclosing the names of donors to this group could minimize these pay-to-play concerns – if those concerns are unfounded.
Just this week former state Senator Joseph Coniglio was indicted on charges that he abused a secretive legislative grant program to enrich himself. Last year state Senator Wayne Bryant was accused of steering grants to an institution that had provided him with what allegedly amounted to a no-show job.
The public has plenty of reason to be cynical about the way things operate in Trenton and the Governor’s group of secret financial backers does nothing to allay those concerns.
Put simply, a private group that is actively campaigning for one of the Governor’s key public policy initiatives, operating with $500,000 in start-up money provided personally by the Governor, has an obligation to the public to disclose its contributors.
The Governor has already lined up some influential Trenton insiders from the world of lobbying and politics to publicly support his plan. These are the people who are supporting his plan with their words, but it would be interesting to see who is supporting his plan with their wallets.
Another question yet to be answered is what will happen to these funds should the Governor’s toll plan fail to win approval? Will it simply be spent advocating the next plan the Governor offers?
With more than 100 tax increases in the past six years and a slowing economy, New Jersey is already unaffordable for middle class families. This toll hike plan will only make matters worse by not only driving up costs for those who commute on these toll roads, but also by increasing the cost of consumer goods that must be shipped on those roads.
It is a good bet that none of the people supporting this pro-toll hike campaign are having the same difficulty making ends meet as the average New Jersey family. If they want to support the Governor’s plan with their money, they should at least allow their names and contributions to be made public.
