| "I will not flip flop," says one of Senator Diane Allen's many recent press releases bashing the idea of leasing the turnpike and other state assets. "My position on the sale of our state assets has not wavered. I have been against the toll-road sale from the beginning."
Maybe on opposite day?
In fact, as the Star Ledger reported today, Senator Allen voted in 1999, along with the rest of the Senate and an overwhelming majority of the Assembly, to permit leasing the turnpike and other state assets.
Confronted with the damning news, she claimed she voted for something totally different in 1999. "This is totally different than anything we're talking about now. This bill had nothing to do with selling money-producing assets."
She knows how to splice words, but the truth is she voted to allow the Turnpike to be leased. Let's take a look at the actual text of the legislation (A-2964).
The bill's definition of "assets" includes the state's highways (Section 3):
"Assets" means all property, both real, personal or mixed [...] including but not limited to, land, buildings, [...], transportation facilities, highways, parking facilities [....] The transactions permitted by the bill, called "structured finance agreements" explicitly included the ability to lease such assets:"Structured financing agreement" means an agreement, contract or action taken to authorize, implement and finance a structured financing transaction including, but not limited to, lease and sublease agreements, State payment account agreements, [....] Finally, the legislation gives the State Treasurer the ability to conduct such transactions (Section 4a):The State Treasurer is authorized to enter into a structured financing transaction, on such terms, covenants and conditions and at such times as the State Treasurer may determine, to enter into, execute and deliver a structured financing agreement, and to do any act necessary or convenient to carrying out a structured financing transaction [...] It's pretty simple. Senator Allen didn't think leasing the turnpike was such a bad idea in 1999. If she had a change of heart since then, she should say so, and explain why. I agree with Senator Allen (2007 edition) that leasing our toll roads is not a good idea. But that message needs to come from someone with credibility - not a political opportunist looking to score cheap points with photo-ops on the side of the turnpike.
The full roll call for the vote is below. No Senators and only 8 members of the Assembly voted against the legislation in 1999. |
| A-2964, The "Structured Financing Act."
SENATE
YES
Adler, John H.
Allen, Diane
Baer, Byron M.
Bark, Martha W.
Bennett, John O.
Bryant, Wayne R.
Bucco, Anthony R.
Cafiero, James S.
Cardinale, Gerald
Ciesla, Andrew R.
Codey, Richard J.
Connors, Leonard
DiFrancesco, Dona
Girgenti, John A.
Gormley, William
Inverso, Peter A.
James, Sharpe
Kavanaugh, Walter
Kenny, Bernard F.
Kosco, Louis F.
Kyrillos, Joseph
Lesniak, Raymond
Littell, Robert E
Lynch, John A.
Martin, Robert J.
Matheussen, John
McNamara, Henry P
O'Connor, Edward
Palaia, Joseph A.
Rice, Ronald L.
Robertson, Norman
Sacco, Nicholas J
Schluter, William
Sinagra, Jack
Singer, Robert W.
Turner, Shirley K
Vitale, Joseph F.
Zane, Raymond J.
NV
Bassano, C. Louis
Furnari, Garry J.
ASSEMBLY
YES
Arnone, Michael J
Asselta, Nicholas
Augustine, Alan M
Azzolina, Joseph
Bagger, Richard H
Barnes, Peter J.
Bateman, Christop
Biondi, Peter J.
Blee, Francis J.
Bodine, Francis L
Buono, Barbara
Carroll, Michael
Charles, Joseph
Chatzidakis, Larr
Collins, Jack
Conaway, Herbert
Conners, Jack
Connors, Christop
Corodemus, Steve
Cottrell, Melvin
Crecco, Marion
Cruz-Perez, Nilsa
DeCroce, Alex
DiGaetano, Paul
Doria, Joseph V.
Farragher, Clare
Felice, Nicholas
Garcia, Raul
Garrett, E. Scott
Geist, George F.
Gibson, John C.
Green, Jerry
Greenwald, Louis
Gregg, Guy R.
Heck, Rose Marie
Holzapfel, James
Kelly, John V.
Kramer, Paul
Lance, Leonard
LeFevre, Kenneth
Luongo, Gerald J.
Malone, Joseph R.
Merkt, Richard A.
Moran, Jeffrey W.
Murphy, Carol J.
Myers, Connie
O'Toole, Kevin J.
Payne, William D.
Pou, Nellie
Previte, Mary T.
Quigley, Joan M.
Roberts, Joseph J
Romano, Louis A.
Rooney, John E.
Russo, David C.
Smith, Bob
Smith, Tom
Steele, Alfred E.
Stuhltrager, Gary
Suliga, Joseph
Talarico, Guy F.
Thompson, Samuel
Vandervalk, Charl
Weingarten, Joel
Wolfe, David W.
Wright, Barbara
Zecker, Gerald H.
NO
Caraballo, Wilfredo
Friscia, Arline M
Jones, LeRoy J.
Stanley, Craig A.
Watson Coleman, B
Weinberg, Loretta
Wisniewski, John
Zisa, Charles
Abstain
Gusciora, Reed
Not Voting
Cohen, Neil M.
Gill, Nia H.
Impreveduto, Anth
Tucker, Donald |
