TRENTON, N.J. -- Governor Jon Corzine has shelved his plan to allow self-serve gasoline pumps in New Jersey, saying that while he believes it could reduce gasoline costs, the idea is not worth the fight against overwhelming opposition.
He also downplayed his own suggestion to explore lowering the state's top speed limit from 65 mph to 55 mph, reported the Daily Record.
Faced with a flood of angry emails from the public and pronouncements from lawmakers, Corzine said other pieces of his agenda are more important than the plans [image-nocss] he outlined last week to ease rising gasoline costs. This is not a fight that you want to take to the death, Corzine said at a meeting of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association.
Corzine said he had received some 1,400 emails to his office on the self-serve proposal.
Pushing for change at the pumps would have required a political battle on a highly visible issue at the same time as Corzine seeks support from a sometimes reluctant state legislature on several other priorities, said the report.
Self-serve...is not a priority at the height of my list, Corzine said.
Senate President Richard J. Codey (D) commended Corzine's decision. The governor made the right decision, although a bit self-serving, he joked.
Lawmakers who opposed the proposal said any reduction in gasoline costs resulting when businesses laid off gas station attendants would not have lasted.
The governor has had time to consider the proposal and recognizes that there are more important issues to fight, said Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D), chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee. I was never prepared to trust big oil' to give money back to the motorists when they lay off all their employees at the service stations.
There are about 14,600 people employed at New Jersey gas stations, according to the newspaper, and they are among the lowest paid workers in the state, it said, citing recent labor department statistics.
The only lawmaker to publicly endorse self-serve pumps stood by the plan.
In Trenton, public policy is often decided not on merits but on who yells the loudest, said State Senator Gerald Cardinale (R).
Corzine said the self-service plan was just an idea that he wanted to see tested in a pilot program. He said it would save drivers $5 for every 100 gallons of gasoline. It's not going to change the shape and direction of the world. It's, I think, a reasonable thing to be considered, Corzine said.
He said the idea to reduce 65-mph speed limits to 55 mph was just a suggestion for study, not a concrete proposal. In any case, Corzine said the overall impact would be small, given that out of 30,000 miles of New Jersey roads, less than 500 miles have a 65-mph speed limit. Going from 65 to 55 in those areas is not going to be a big gas savings, he said.
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