The political maneuvering over Gov. Corzine’s “fiscal restructuring” toll plan reached disquieting levels last week with the creation of “Save Our State,” a 501(c)(4) advocacy group funded by the governor and run by directors clearly connected to his administration. Corzine has proposed bonding against toll increases to fund transportation projects, including costly and ineffective widenings of the NJ Turnpike and Garden State Parkway.

Corzine told the press on Friday that he had donated $500,000 to the group. Of Save our State’s three directors, two (Laurence Downes and Raymond Pocino) are members of the official “Financial Restructuring and Debt Reduction Campaign Steering Committee.” The third, Jennifer Godowski, was chief of staff to NJ Turnpike Authority Chairman and NJDOT Commissioner Kris Kolluri until last month, when she resigned to join the group.

Corzine and Save our State have been forthcoming about such details; however, it is disturbing to see the governor fund an organization which could easily be mistaken for an independent group. Many papers ran stories about Corzine’s $500K contribution to Save Our State, but few have reported on Godowski’s former job as Kris Kolluri’s chief of staff, instead quoting her simply as a “Save Our State” spokesperson.