State GOP chief insists Lamont's toll plan will hurt middle class

By Scott Benjamin

SOUTHINGTON – Republican State Party Chairman J.R. Romano says Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Greenwich) “doesn’t understand” the economic impact of placing 53 toll gantries on some of Connecticut’s major highways.

“That single mother who lives in Derby or Meriden and is driving to Farmington or Hartford: Ned Lamont is asking that single mom to pay $2,000 more a year to drive to work,” said Romano in a recent interview. “To him, no big deal. To her, it’s devastating. That’ the part that he doesn’t understand.”

This week a General Assembly committee on party-line votes took the first steps toward reinstituting tolls. The details on prices and locations were not included in the proposed legislation. That is to be worked out before the June 7 adjournment.

Due to safety concerns, tolls were banned in the mid-1980s under former Gov. William O’Neill (D-East Hampton).

Lamont endorsed instituting tolls shortly before his February budget address. He insists that tolls could annex $800 million a year in revenue with at least 30 percent of that coming from out-of-state motorists.

CT Mirror has reported that the governor has pledged to provide Connecticut residents with E-Z pass discounts for the tolls, which would be placed on the Schuyler Merritt Parkway and Interstates 84, 91 and 95.

“I think Ned Lamont is trying to present this shining face to these terrible economic policies that he is pushing,” Romano said.

“It’s really disingenuous, and it’s worse than Malloy,” he added, referring to Lamont’s immediate predecessor, Gov. Dannel Malloy (D-Essex). “At least Malloy called it Shared Sacrifice.”

Over the recent weeks Lamont has held news conferences across the state to demonstrate how the additional revenue would improve transportation.

Republicans, who are in the minority in both chambers of the General Assembly, have been strongly opposed tolling. Instead, they have proposed that transportation improvements be funded through increased state bonding.

Lamont canceled the January and February state Bond Commission meetings and has said that Connecticut needs to go on “a debt diet.”

CT Mirror has reported that an anti-toll group has collected 80,000 online petition signatures and that tolling could become a “wedge issue” in the 2020 campaign.

There also are groups supporting the installation of tolls, saying it is the most sensible way to fund infrastructure improvements.

State Sen. Alex Bergstein (D-36) of Greenwich has said that 42 states have tolls.

Reports indicate that Connecticut is the only state from Maine south to Virginia that doesn’t have tolls.

Through the years, officials ranging from former New York City Mayor John Lindsay to former U.S. Rep. Jim Maloney (D-5) to former state Rep. David Scribner (R-107) have said that usually about 80 percent of the funding for major highway projects comes from the federal government.

Malloy appointed an ad-hoc commission in 2015 that recommended that the state spend $100 billion over 30 years to upgrade its transportation infrastructure.

Lamont has said some real estate agents in Stamford won’t show homes to clients during the rush hour traffic congestion on Interstate-95.

Romano, who was initially elected as state party chairman in 2015, is running unopposed for a new term. The Republican State Central Committee will vote in June.