Common Sense For New Hampshire

Yawn.  I don’t even know why they waste newspaper ink over this stuff anymore, but for those of you who still don’t get it:

From The Philadelphia Inquirer:

New Jersey comptroller details waste by Delaware River Port Authority

 

The Delaware River Port Authority has wasted millions of dollars of toll payers’ money through mismanagement and political cronyism, the New Jersey state comptroller said in a report issued Thursday.

Comptroller Matthew Boxer chastised the DRPA for practices such as its much-criticized “economic development” spending and its now-ended free E-ZPass benefits for DRPA executives and their families and friends.

Boxer also exposed an insurance payback deal allegedly orchestrated by George E. Norcross III, the South Jersey insurance executive and Democratic Party power broker who is chairman of the board of Cooper University Hospital in Camden.

“In nearly every area we looked at, we found people who treated the DRPA like a personal ATM, from DRPA commissioners to private vendors to community organizations,” Boxer said in a statement. “People with connections at the DRPA were quick to put their hand out when dealing with the agency, and they generally were not disappointed when they did.”

Pretty routine stuff, but it did set off a little spat between Senator Frank Lautenberg and Democratic Party Warlord George Norcross.  The indignant Senator Lautenberg, who actually crossed the Delaware River with George Washington, hit first with: “This is yet another example of how a corrupt political machine operates to enrich itself and local politicians at the expense of everyday people.”  He then mumbled something about remembering the days before we even had bridges and tunnels.  Warlord Norcross responded, saying: “Sen. Lautenberg has been picking the pockets of no-bid, pay-to-play vendors at the DRPA and other public agencies throughout New Jersey for decades.” 

Of course they’re both correct.

See, in New Jersey, the words “government agency” and “waste, fraud and abuse” are synonymous and interchangeable.  Yet every single time they come to us with some new agency they want to create, we let them have it.  Boy are we stupid!

Why can’t we abolish all the bridge and tunnel agencies, fire all the sponges on their payrolls and roll New Jersey’s responsibilties for the maintenance of interstate bridges and tunnels into the State Department of Transportation?  If New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware do the same we could end the tolls and use gas tax money for their upkeep and improvements.  And while we’re at it, lets do the same with the Turnpike Authority.  

I believe these steps will end a lot of the corruption and save motorists a lot of time and money.  For these reasons it can never be allowed to happen.