Asbury Park Press, February 21, 2007

BY JENNIFER BECK

When a ship is sinking at sea, it is common practice to throw heavy things overboard in an effort to slow the ship's submersion until help can arrive and rescue the passengers. What a perfect analogy for the latest and most desperate move by the Trenton Democrats: the lease or sale of New Jersey's toll roads for cash to feed their incurable spending addiction.

And make no mistake about it, the ship is sinking. By now you know the litany of economic bad news. A net of more than 60,000 people moved out of New Jersey last year. We're ranked 49th out of 50 states in business climate. We're one of only two states that faces a budget deficit this year (the other, post-Katrina Louisiana). The list goes on and on.

Yet, instead of fixing the hole in the ship of state by cutting spending, the leadership in Trenton continues to throw the heavy stuff overboard while waiting for a rescue that is never going to come.

Anyone who has to balance a budget at home knows that if you're borrowing money to add onto your house or start a business, that's one thing; if you're borrowing money to buy groceries or to pay your electric bill, that's a recipe for disaster. That is what the New Jersey Turnpike lease scheme is — borrowing money to pay current expenses, a recipe for disaster.

Of course, they won't call it borrowing. They'll call it "monetizing assets," or some other fancy-sounding Wall Street term. But if you promise to pay someone over a certain amount of years with income you're already getting in return for a lump sum of money, that's borrowing.

Last year, the state budget increased by 10 percent to just under $31 billion. By comparison, Pennsylvania, with 50 percent more people than New Jersey, has a budget of $26 billion. In five years, the budget has gone from $22 billion to $31 billion, a 41 percent increase. Almost every existing tax has been raised, and new ones have been created by the dozens. And still, it's not enough.

This state does not have a revenue problem, as is so often stated by the leaders in Trenton. It has a spending problem.

You can't pick up a newspaper without reading about some government entity wasting money. The Schools Construction Corp. was funded with $8.6 billion in taxpayer dollars in 2000; as of June, it will be out of money, with less than half of its projects completed. The Transportation Trust Fund had to be rescued from the brink of insolvency by borrowing $6 billion in 2006. Just recently, an audit of four of the 31 Abbott school districts turned up millions of dollars of waste, including more than $600,000 in salaries paid to dead people.

Simply put, the idea that there is no way to cut spending is just not true.

Unfortunately, the leaders of the Senate and the Assembly represent areas that are the beneficiaries of much of this government spending. Their power lies in preserving the status quo and handing out this political pork to constituents and donors.

But these men also are astute politicians. They know the public has reached the breaking point and unless they can deliver something resembling property tax relief, they face a Florio-like revolt at the polls. Unable to choose between the two, they try to have it both ways. That's how crazy schemes like leasing toll roads are hatched.

I am opposed to the lease or sale of the toll roads on the merits of the idea. It is a backdoor way for the state to raise the tolls significantly without taking the blame. I have concerns there are safety and maintenance issues inherent in a for-profit entity running New Jersey's major traffic arteries. With some creative thinking and solid management, there are ways to get more revenue from our toll roads without raising tolls and without selling or leasing them.

My main objection is the larger issue this idea represents: the unwillingness of the legislative leadership to confront the hard decisions that must be made regarding our state spending. Gov. Corzine assured us in his State of the State speech that property tax reform "will not be built on a one-time "election year miracle.' " Yet because the proposed so-called property tax relief cannot be funded past this year without such a miracle, a ridiculous idea like lease of our tolls roads is under consideration. When people or businesses don't have enough money coming in, they spend less and they cut down on luxuries. Why can't the state?

The ship of the State of New Jersey doesn't just need to be fixed. It needs to be turned around. Before that can happen though, we have to stop throwing valuable cargo over the side and fix the damage before we sink.

Jennifer Beck is a Republican member of the Assembly who represents the 12th District, which includes parts of Monmouth and Mercer counties.