Governor Chris Christie of NJ - Increasing Cost of Commuting

The Republican Professional Conservatives, like pundits and the WSJ have been in love with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.  This is in large part not just because he took on public employees and succeeded in demonizing teachers and other government workers, but because he took such joy in doing so.  A second part of the love affair was his insistence on keeping the lid on taxes and fiscal responsibility.  He even turned down over $1 billion in federal aid to build new commuter roads and tunnels.

Of course, the real Chris Christie is a little bit different.  It turns out, like his predecessors he balanced a budget by simply not paying the required pension payments.  And now the NYT has reported on how the Governor has raised commuter toll rates.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/16/nyregion/in-christies-policies-pain-for-commuters.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion

Of course, these are people largely going into New York City, and thus ripe for picking.  And huge increases in road tolls, commuter train rates and other fees is not raising taxes, is it?