NJTV News Chief Political Correspondent Michael Aron took the long Walk to Washington today, his 32nd time participating. He said he’s seen between nine and 22 train cars over the years and this year’s 14 cars seemed like a good turnout. He spoke with New Jersey Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tom Bracken about the 78th annual networking event.
Bracken said this year’s turnout was one of the largest in many years. “Also I think the quality of the attendees are about as good as we have ever had,” he said. “This is just a super event.”
Gov. Chris Christie will give the keynote speech for the event. Typically the governor talks about the state of the economy. When asked if Christie can paint a positive picture of the business economy, Bracken said he can because there have been some positives. “By his own admission and many others, we are not where we want to be and we have a lot more work to do, but we have made progress in the state and some big issues that are coming down the pike that if dealt with appropriately could be big pluses to the business community,” he said.
Bracken’s big issue right now is the Transportation Trust Fund. He’s chairing a statewide coalition. Since there hasn’t been a resolution to the issue of the fund, which is expected to run dry in June, Bracken said Christie may not discuss that during his speech.
When asked if he thinks Christie’s possible presidential ambitions are freezing other issues, Bracken said it probably plays a role. “There are many, many issues going on in the state of New Jersey that need resolution. And there’s a strong possibility that that could be the case but we have a full Senate and a full Assembly and other people in the administration that could very well pick up the ball if they wanted to move things forward. And things have to move forward. A lot of the issues are stalled and I think if the state’s gonna get better, these issues have to be resolved,” said Bracken.
A new Rutgers-Eagleton poll shows the majority of New Jerseyans polled opposed a gas tax hike. Bracken said it all depends on how the survey question was worded. He said if the question just asks if they want a gas tax hike, the responses are normally negative. He said a Monmouth University poll that embellished the question talking about the benefits got a 50-50 response and an NJBIZ poll talked more about how the funds would be dedicated to the infrastructure and help with commuting and safety and that poll was positive for an increased gas tax.
“So I think we’ve had so many discussions and meetings with people who have asked that question, I think the majority of the people of New Jersey if they really knew what was going to happen with that money would not be opposed to an increase in the gas tax,” Bracken said.