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| Low pump prices make this the ideal time to raise the gas tax -- which hasn't changed since 1989 -- and stabilize funding of the state's Transportation Trust Fund. The fund pays for repairs to roads and bridges, as well as projects to improve mass transit. |
By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR
The biggest laugh line in today's paper comes from state Sen. Jennifer Beck, one of the many Republicans opposing a higher gas tax.
"This particular tax hurts low-income, working-class people the most," Beck says, according to Salvador Rizzo of The Record (A-3).
What a joke. When has Beck, Governor Christie and other Republicans ever expressed any concern for the working or middle classes in New Jersey?
More politics
Rizzo and other reporters at The Record think their job is to present important state issues only in terms of Democrats v. Republicans, as today's story on "competing economic plans" shows.
Let's hope Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin sees through the GOP's nonsense, and backs the logic of drivers paying for the wear and tear they cause on roads and bridges.
If New Jersey residents are "overtaxed," as Beck and her colleagues claim, that has to be a reference to local property taxes, which are continuing to climb in Hackensack and other communities.
Working-class drivers who can't afford a hike in the second-lowest gas tax in the nation after Alaska should sell their cars and take mass transit.
Shoot 'em up
You don't see much municipal news in The Record, because the editors waste so much space today on a new 'Star Wars' movie and local Law & Order stories (A-1, BL-1, L-1, L-2 and L-3).
Readers get the full gamut -- from the "mystery" of why a Maywood man crashed a car in Rochelle Park (A-1) to the molesting of 14 teens at a church event (L-1) to tons of court and crime news -- nine stories and a photo in Local alone.
Incorrect letter
The Record's news editors and opinion writers still are solidly in Christie's corner on the GOP presidential campaign trail, despite the wreckage he has left behind in the Garden State.
That's why readers like Joseph A. Del Buono of Allendale try to set the record straight (A-10).
But Del Buono errs on the number of vetoes Christie has executed since he took office in early 2010.
He says it's 59, but The Record quoted Christie himself taking credit for more than 430.
So why was Del Buono's letter published without correcting the number of vetoes?
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