So according to Silver the toll increase is President Bush’s fault… C mon, please. Is everything his fault, of course your out of control spending has nothing to do with the economic woes of this state does it, that is his fault too.

Politics on the Hudson » More Thruway Debate

Not to be outdone by their Republican counterparts, Democrats in the state Assembly are planning their own set of hearings on whether tolls should be increased on the state Thruway.

And Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, and Assemblyman David Gantt, D-Rochester are calling on the Thruway Authority to halt any toll increases until an audit is completed on the authority by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

The Thruway is set to impose a 10 percent increase for cash customers on the Thruway in January. Discounts for the roughly 1 million E-Z Pass customers also would be cut in half starting in July.

“Failed Bush administration policies have already led to higher gasoline prices. Increasing Thruway tolls now would have a devastating effect on New Yorkers who already pay costly tolls to commute to work, and also on New York businesses,” Silver said.

Gantt, who heads the Assembly’s Transportation Committee, “Toll hikes should not be considered until every effort is made by the Thruway Authority to reduce costs.”

Assembly Republicans, the minority party in the Assembly, are holding their own set of hearings on their opposition to the toll hikes. They held the first in Albany this morning and heard from local business owners who said their businesses would be crippled by higher tolls.

John Corlett, director of government affairs for AAA, said that the Canal Corp., which is part of the Thruway Authority, should be taken off the authority’s books as a way to lower the authority’s costs.

“While drivers by and large recognize the important role the Thruway plans in the state’s transportation system and economy, and are thus willing to pay for its upkeep, they should not be forced to pay higher and higher tolls to offse the authority’s continuing diversion of substantial toll revenue to non-Thruway programs,” he said.

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