By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
Frank Balles is trying to unseat South Jersey’s most liberal state senator, Jim Whelan, and reclaim a seat that the GOP reliably controlled for generations before Election 2007. He plans to do it by talking taxes, a point upon which his campaign believes the incumbent Democrat is vulnerable.
“It’s wrong for Senator Whelan and his fellow Democrats to leave for their summer vacations without delivering any income tax relief whatsoever for New Jersey’s middle class families and seniors,” said Sheriff Balles in a statement. “To block a bill that would finally give middle class families the tax relief they were promised before leaving for the summer is yet another disappointing example of Senator Whelan’s failed leadership when it comes to protecting middle class taxpayers and fighting for them in Trenton. As your Senator I look forward to standing with Governor Christie to make this income tax relief a reality.”
Balles’s campaign cites a number of Whelan tax facts including a 37% property tax increase during his decade as Atlantic City’s mayor, $1.6 billion in tax hikes during the Corzine years, and a particularly insane mileage tax proposal which (thankfully) has yet to become law.
You’ll recall how the Christie-led Trenton Republicans gave up on the Governor’s income tax proposal when, at budget time, it was clear enough to everyone involved that Democrats wouldn’t budge in an election cycle. That said, the Governor has openly declared his intention to make a campaign issue out of the Democrats’ intransigence and legislative candidates running on the Governor’s slate in 2013 are clear following his lead.