Toll hikes

Corzine's answer to anyone objecting to his toll-explosion scheme seems to be that the state is in trouble, and it's time for hard choices.

The problem is, Corzine is taking the easy way out.

Corzine is foisting the burden of correcting the state's debt burden onto a fraction of the people in the state -- the drivers who regularly use the toll roads. This way, he can still hope to keep the support of the portion of New Jerseyans who DON'T drive the toll roads, and who DON'T want a tax increase.

He tries to sound like "Ask not what your state can do for you, but what you can do for your state." He's the wise, fiscally sound governor whose going to fix the problem. And that's partially true, in that he's attempting more than Kean, Florio, Whitman and McGreevey did before him. But he's gambling only half the political capital he would be if he suggested raising the income tax.

Think about that huge voting block of senior citizens. They don't commute, so they won't object. Same goes for anyone who uses non-toll roads. Or doesn't commute at all.

Meanwhile, those of us who do commute get stuck carrying the bag for the whole state.