Tag: Engineers Labor Employer Cooperative

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Pitching a gas tax hike and more: Who shelled out the most to sway N.J. lawmakers

14405_trenton_new_jersey_s_state_house_capitol_in_trenton

Updated March 05, 2017
Posted March 05, 2017

Hey big spenders

Special interests spent $68.3 million last year lobbying the public, state lawmakers and Gov. Chris Christie’s administration. While total spending was down 2.5 percent from 2015, “spending to promote more funding for state transportation improvement kept lobbying expenditures relatively high,” according to the Election Law Enforcement Commission, which compiled the data.

You remember that one: the fight to replenish the broke fund that pays for road and rail improvements by hiking the gas tax for the first time since Ronald Reagan was president.

Health care was another issue that prompted lots of lobbying.

Here are the top 10 spenders:

https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/03/gas_tax_to_health_care_where_big_money_went_to_woo.html

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There was a lot of money behind last year’s push to raise N.J.’s gas tax

gas tax nj

By Samantha Marcus | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on March 02, 2017 at 7:02 PM, updated March 02, 2017 at 7:57 PM

TRENTON — One of the state’s leading proponents in last year’s fight to raise the gas tax for the Transportation Trust Fund spent nearly $4.4 million lobbying last year, according to an Election Law Enforcement Commission analysis.

The Engineers Labor Employer Cooperative more than quadrupled its spending over 2015, making it the highest-spending special interest organization in 2016.

Total lobbying in the state last year reached $68.3 million, a slight drop from the year prior, but still one of the most expensive years on record, the commission said.

The engineers cooperative, embarked on an ad campaign pushing both the 23 cent gasoline tax hike and a constitutional amendment dedicating all tax revenues to the Transportation Trust Fund, beat out even the deep pockets of the New Jersey Education Association, the state’s prominent teachers union.

https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/03/nj_groups_spent_5m_to_promote_gas_tax_hike_last_ye.html#incart_2box_nj-homepage-featured