Originally appeared in the Star Ledger on 10/18/01
BY JOE DONOHUE AND JOSH MARGOLIN
STAR-LEDGER STAFF

The governor of Connecticut, where highway tolls were eliminated 13 years ago, came to New Jersey yesterday to help Republican gubernatorial candidate Bret Schundler pitch his plan to end tolls on the Garden State Parkway next year.

"This is the Garden State, a gorgeous, gorgeous state. But you can't appreciate it by reaching into your pocket every 15 minutes," Connecticut Republican Gov. John Rowland said at a press conference outside the Statehouse in Trenton.

Tearing down the parkway toll booths would be "the best tax cut we can possibly give you," Schundler told about 50 banner-waving supporters who attended the press conference, including several members of Citizens Against Tolls.

Meanwhile, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim McGreevey yesterday proposed using money from New Jersey's share of the national tobacco lawsuit settlement for a major anti-cancer initiative.

McGreevey said he would direct $28 million to the Cancer Institute of New Jersey to hire more top staff and increase the treatment options available to cancer patients in the state. He said another $1 million would be used to create a "cancer cluster SWAT team" run by the Health Department and set up an annual cancer-care conference.

"We need a new commitment in New Jersey, a new war on cancer," McGreevey said at a news conference at the institute in New Brunswick.

It was the third issue-oriented news conference in as many days for McGreevey, following sessions on education and government waste. That may signal a change in tactics to stave off any late surge by Schundler, said Rutgers University political science professor Ross Baker.

"He needs to look gubernatorial, he needs to look like he could handle a press conference," Baker said.

Schundler's news conference was a return to one of his mainstay campaign issues. He contends the Parkway tolls could be eliminated by the end of next year, at a cost to the state of $135 million annually. Without saying how he would make up the lost revenue, he insisted the deal would be a good bargain because it would save more than $50 million that it now costs just to collect the tolls.

McGreevey also supports removing the tolls, but does not feel it can be done so quickly. He prefers a gradual elimination of the 11 barrier toll plazas and 20 ramp tolls along the 173-mile roadway.

Rowland, who was a state legislator when Connecticut decided to end tolls, said he sees no reason why the barriers can't come down quickly. "You could do it in nine months easily . . . if you dedicated the resources to it and put your mind to it," he said.

But Richard McGrath, a McGreevey spokesman, noted that the Connecticut Turnpike Authority already had paid off its bonds before toll booths came down, while the New Jersey Highway Authority, which operates the Garden State Parkway, has about $620 million in outstanding debt that would have to be refinanced -- something Rowland did not dispute.

In Connecticut, a law signed July 1983 led to the elimination of turnpike tolls Oct. 9, 1985. Tolls on the Merritt Parkway were dropped in June 1988.

After the tolls ended, some critics said the move drove up Connecticut's gasoline tax. Rowland said there were other reasons for that.

"There isn't a person in Connecticut that regrets taking down those tolls," Rowland said. "There's no movement to put them back, I can guarantee you that."