WPCNR ALBANY CORRESPONDENT. From the Office of District 89 Assemblyman Adam T. Bradley. January 28, 2004: The governor's latest plan to hike taxes by imposing tolls on hundreds of miles of New York's highways threatens to cost the state jobs and impede economic development, Assemblyman Adam Bradley said today, reacting to a statement by the State Transportation Commissioner.

      "You’re not going to create jobs or attract people when you keep making it more expensive to live and work in New York like he has," Assemblyman Bradley said. "With these new tolls, the only trucks on the road are going to be moving vans taking jobs out of state."

    Bradley was responding to comments by State Transportation Commissioner Joseph Boardman, who said that the Pataki administration is considering new tolls on several currently toll-free interstates, including the Northway (I-87 from Albany to the Canadian border), I-88, I-84, Rte. 17, and possibly others.

    Bradley also took the governor to task for painting a rosy picture of his budget one week, and then turning around and letting his appointees and commissioners reveal the job cuts and tax hikes later.

    “The governor is turning the budget into a game of ‘Good Cop-Bad Cop,’” Bradley said. “The governor plays the part of the good cop, sticking to the script of his sunny budget proposal, and then, weeks later, he has his bad cop commissioners trot out fee increases and other proposals he knows New Yorkers won’t like.

“The governor has already proposed $1.5 billion in new taxes in his budget,” Bradley said. “He now wants to further nickel and dime the people of New York with these proposed toll increases.”