Kudos to NorthJersey.com's Mike Kelly

While I posted earlier today a bit of a rant about our governor, I discovered an article by Mike Kelly writing for The Record. While I didn't see this post before, I agree with everything in it and believe that Mr. Kelly has identified the heart of the problem with Gov. Corzine:

Kelly: Corzine picks wrong political fights
Sunday, May 4, 2008 By MIKE KELLY
RECORD COLUMNIST

Mike Kelly is a Record columnist. Contact him at kellym@northjersey.com.

LIKE HIM OR NOT, no one should doubt that Governor Corzine is tenacious. The man doesn't like to easily give up and toss in the towel.

But a deeper political question now haunts Corzine: Does he know how to pick his fights?

Last week, Corzine and his aides found themselves immersed in discussions of three vastly divergent issues that are close to the governor's political heart: stem cells, highway toll hikes and a possible increase in the gasoline tax.

Why? Why is a governor of a state with a budget crisis even spending more than a minute or two thinking about these matters?

That question is not petty.

With gas prices rising faster than thunderhead clouds on a dog-day afternoon in August and at least two presidential candidates – John McCain and Hillary Clinton – calling for a reduction of the gas tax this summer, why would any politician talk of jacking up the gas tax?

As for stem cells, didn't New Jersey voters reject a massive ballot initiative to fund stem cell research in November?

And, finally, tolls: Corzine's initial plan to increase tolls on the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway by as much as 800 percent over the next 15 years seemed to have as much appeal as a 20-mile traffic jam at the start of a Memorial Day weekend. In other words, Corzine's scheme was not moving anywhere, despite his admirable yet beleaguered series of town meetings up and down the state to drum up support for it.

What makes Corzine think he can revive a variation of that plan now?
Read the entire article here.

---