As a few sketchy details, most of them unauthorized, begin to leak out about Governor Chris Christie's decision to suspend his cancellation of the ARC Tunnel for another two weeks, the voices in favor of the project now make clear what it is really all about: taxes and ratables, all in an effort to fund a bloated government.
This morning, Josh Margolin of the Statehouse Bureau, and Ted Sherman, and Mike Frassinelli of The Star-Ledger (Newark), laid out a feature-length narrative that spoke of hot tempers, federal officials wanting a slanging match with the governor, and a secretary of transportation trying to play Mr. Cool and "fix" the problem. The problem was and remains: the project costs too much. Jon S. Corzine got his golden-shovel photo-op in the summer of 2009, and back then the price tag for the project was $8.7 billion. Now it's more like $14 billion. SecTrans Ray LaHood might not want to admit that, to himself or to Christie, but Christie has no reason to lie about that figure. As Steve Lonegan of Americans for Prosperity/New Jersey would no doubt remind anyone who asked him, Chris Christie does not have any inherent philosophical objection to seeing the government continue to run trains or dig tunnels (however much Lonegan might wish he had). He simply looks at a budget for a project racing out of control, New Jersey getting stuck with the bill, and a Transportation Trust Fund that his predecessors have raided over the years to balance the budget (just as previous governors have raided the pension fund).
And as James Riley, Jr. said on this Examiner's comment space, the ARC Tunnel project itself is badly designed. It dives 90 feet underground to a brand-new station. This station has no rail connection to New York Penn, and no connection of any kind to Grand Central Station, which had been the original plan. The only connections of any kind are by elevator and by a set of escalators, the very drawings of which risk inducing vertigo in any viewer.
The comments appearing today by Star-Ledger columnist Fran Wood and Westfield Mayor and Raritan Valley Rail Coalition vice-chairman Thomas C. Jardim do not help. For Jardim, it's all about ratables in his town. Never mind that the rest of the State risks getting stuck with a bill for $8 billion of which the State arguably doesn't even have the first penny. He wants a one-seat ride from his town, which is on the Raritan Valley Line, clear into Manhattan. Well then, let him and his own residents and the residents of all those other towns up and down the line (and the Main, Bergen County, and Pascack Valley lines) pony up the money to pay for it. It's that simple.
Jardim also points to various county officials and US Representatives (all Republican) who, he says, lacked the political courage to insist that an ill-considered project go forward anyway. What? No criticism for Rep. Donald Payne of the 10th District? He hasn't said a word. But Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) has been one of the two loudest voices in favor of the project, the other being Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), who, not satisfied with his name on one plaque (on the Secaucus Terminal), now wants his name on another plaque (above the adit to the new tunnel).
Jardim also adds his voice to Lautenberg's, in regard to the State having to pay back $300 million to the federal government as a sort of cancellation fee. Better $300 million than $2 billion plus, don't you think?
Jardim and Wood end up proposing the same solution to everything: tax. Specifically, the tax on gasoline, which Christie will not raise. And the reason that Christie will not raise it is that such a tax will drive even more people out of New Jersey than before. Hello-o-o! New Jersey stands to lose a Representative in Congress in the just-completed Census! Doesn't that tell anybody anything?
Christie gave the SecTrans two weeks to come up with a solution. Maybe he will (though the federal government is no golden goose, either). More likely he will not. In which event the decision to scrub the project should stand.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article said that Rep. Albio Sires (D-NJ-13) had been silent on the issue. He hasn't. He was standing right next to Menendez, Lautenberg, Steve Rothman (D-NJ-9) and Frank Pallone (D-NJ-6) in complaining about Christie's original suspension of the ARC Tunnel project. This Examiner regrets that error.
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