Save Our Turnpike In The News

It’s going to be a very long election season if the campaign becomes an increasingly shrill debate over which candidate is most opposed to selling the state’s toll roads. That’s what’s happening now, at least in the 1st and 2nd districts.

To some degree, Gov. Jon S. Corzine brought this on himself by couching this issue in eye-glazing terms like “monetization” and by keeping details under wraps until after the November election. In fact, it’s not all that hard: Corzine wants to borrow money, which would be repaid by a series of toll hikes. There are a lot of unanswered questions, but that’s the basic plan.

Corzine has been as straightforward as a politician gets about this much: He will not sell or lease the roads to a private company. His idea is to lease state toll roads to a nonprofit, publicly owned company in order to sell bonds that would be paid off by revenue from a scheduled series of toll hikes. Those bonds could then be used to pay down debt or invest in capital projects.

So, candidates, could we stop arguing about who is most against “selling” our roads — and argue about some real issues?

Here’s a key one: How would the state use the money borrowed — and should motorists pay that bill?

If, for example, the state used the money solely to pay off its crushing debt, it would essentially be shifting debt payments from the budget and state taxpayers to state (and out-of-state) motorists. New Jersey residents have been taxed out, but tolls are still a relative bargain. The critical question then becomes what to do with the money freed up in the budget: Roll back some of the innumerable tax hikes passed over the past few years? Fund such needs as the state’s staggering pension and health-care obligations? Or create new spending programs?

Another question is why the state needs to create a new agency or corporation to do what it wants to do. Why not just use the existing toll-road authorities? And, of course, yet another key question is how much money Corzine wants to borrow — and how dramatically that would raise tolls.

The N.J. Public Interest Research Group (www.njpirg.org) has also raised some questions that don’t reduce well to a politician’s lawn sign. But they provide the outline for a more thoughtful public debate. Among the questions PIRG is asking is whether the public will retain real public control of the toll roads — not just public ownership — and whether the state is about to get involved in another borrowing scheme that will cause it to lose money in the long run on interest payments and bonding fees. PIRG points out that former Gov. James E. McGreevey borrowed against future revenues from the tobacco settlement and wound up getting only 44 cents on the dollar. Moreover, that money was spent without solving the state’s dire financial problems.

Corzine’s resistance to unveiling a plan that might answer those questions before the election leaves a vacuum — one that’s being filled by simplistic political rhetoric and finger-pointing.

And yes, we know campaigns lend themselves to simplicity and distortion, not nuanced policy debate. But candidates should take the high road and at least stop calling this a “sale.” And the public should demand candidates address the real issues surrounding the state’s deep fiscal problems — and whether toll hikes are the best way to solve them.

It’s a tougher issue than “selling” roads, but unless voters force candidates to address them, they deserve the government they get.