(WEST ORANGE, OCTOBER 16) - Schundler for Governor Campaign Manager Bill Pascoe, highlighting Jim McGreevey’s big-spending, tax-hiking plans for New Jersey, today issued the following statement:

“The proof is in the pudding -- Jim McGreevey’s going to bust the budget and throw New Jersey deeper into recession if he’s elected, and all you’ve got to do is look at the 62 new spending programs he’s offered to prove the point. At a time when the Garden State is already facing a budget shortfall, we can’t afford to put him in the Governor’s office -- because the price tag for all the special interest endorsements he’s bought will bankrupt the state. He’s writing checks on OUR bank account, and there’s only going to be one way he can make good on them -- with a MASSIVE tax increase.

“Consider: Jim McGreevey’s new spending proposals -- listed below - will cost $1.5-$2 billion. He’s proposed 62 programs already, and we’ve only got price tags on 25 of them. These 25 new spending programs alone will cost $1.2 billion, with the remaining 37 programs easily reaching $500 million. In fact, just his 19 education proposals alone exceed the MAXIMUM amount of revenue that will be available for spending.

“To fulfill his promises to the special interests, Jim McGreevey will have to raise taxes by at least $1 billion in FY 2003. His administration would have to raise broad-based taxes -- something he knows very well how to do, because he’s already done it before - in 1990, when he voted for Jim Florio’s $2.8 billion tax increase, which exacerbated the recession and cost New Jersey 170,000 jobs. Worse, the McGreevey tax increases would come just as New Jersey’s economy was recovering from a dip - the absolute worst time to raise taxes.

“This $1 billion tax increase equates to a $600 tax increase for every working family in New Jersey. That’s $600 less to pay property taxes, auto insurance, or whatever items are necessary for that family. We just can’t afford that kind of tax increase. The fact is, we just can’t afford Jim McGreevey.”

A list of Jim McGreevey’s 62 new spending proposals follows:

Jim McGreevey’s 62 New Spending Proposals, with Price Tags Attached (Where Known): Education: 1) School Construction ($152,000,000 FY03) ($8.6 billion by 2010); 2) Minimum Teacher Salaries ($100,000,000); 3) Smart Start Program ($400,000,000); 4) End Privatizing of Subcontracting Services ($56,000,000); 5) Hire Reading Coaches ($40,000,000); 6) Mandatory Character Education ($10,000,000); 7) Tenure Administrative Law Bureaucracy ($3,000,000); 8) Health Clinics in Schools ($24,000,000); 9) Incentives for Teacher Recruitment; 10)Teacher Mentoring for Every New Teacher; 11) Increased Teacher Requirements to Better the Teachers “how to teach;” 12) Integrate Teacher Education Programs with pre-K to 12 Schools; 13) Teacher Professional Development; 14) Financial Incentives for Teachers to Spend More Time In the Classroom; 15) Educational Contracts for Parents, Teachers, and Children; 16) Accountability Standards for Principals; 17) Auditing Abbott Districts; 18) Provide Tax Deductions for College Tuition; 19) County College Aid Increase ($12,000,000) Government Operations: 1) More Inspectors for the PEOSH Program; 2) Re-Institute the Office of Public Advocate ($3,000,000) Bonding: 1) Buyback of Pension Bonds ($100,000,000); 2) Newark Sports Arena ($20,000,000); 3) Repayment of Solid Waste Debt Taxes: 1) Establishing tax-free Renaissance Zones; 2) Expand Senior Tax Freeze ($25,000,000); 3) Return 50% State Budget Surplus Directly to Property Taxpayers Auto Insurance: 1) Computerized Database In Every Police Car; 2) Impounding cars of drivers; 3) Requiring identification stickers; 4) Create An Elected Auto Insurance Commissioner; 5) Expand Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Office Health Care: 1) Paid Family Leave Act ($150,000,000); 2) Mammogram Funding ($19,000,000); 3) Increased Ombudsman Office Funding ($1,500,000); 4) Funding of Mental Health housing, treatment programs, job development ($30,000,000); 5) Expand Senior In-Home Care; 6) Increase Charity Care Funding; 7) Immunization Funding; 8) Drug Rehabilitation Funding; 9) Increased Pay For Social Workers ($2,000,000); 10) Veterans Home Improvements; 11) Defray education costs for certified nurse assistants ($2,500,000); 12) Psychiatric Hospital ($22,000,000) Environment: 1) Increasing staff at the DEP and the Environmental Protection section of the Attorney General's Office ($3,000,000); 2) Adoption of a comprehensive water resource plan ($1,000,000); 3) Requiring new cars sold in New Jersey to be cleaner ($20,000,000); 4) Investing in renewable energy and energy conservation programs; 5) Implementing innovative programs to protect public health; 6) Helping towns develop smart growth plans; 7) Establishing a statewide Transfer of Development Rights program; 8) Form a Sprawl Policy Council; 9) Identify the 10 worst traffic hotspots in the state and fix them quickly. Law Enforcement: 1) Purchase modern equipment; 2) Terrorism Task Force; 3) State Police Terrorism Intelligence; 4) State Commission on Investigation ($1,000,000); 5) Prisoner Education and Job Training; 6) Eliminate Prison Overcrowding; 7) Regional Police Training Centers; 8) Integration of Law Enforcement Agencies; 9) Woodbridge Sex Offender Facility ($1,300,000)