A campaign promise kept

Published 8:35 pm Monday, March 4, 2013

Once elected, some politicians forget some of the campaign promises they made. That’s not the case with one campaign promise made by several area legislators.
State Sens. Bill Cook and Norman Sanderson and state Reps. Paul Tine and Michael Speciale are keeping their campaign promise to fight an increase in existing tolls on some state-run ferries and impose tolls on some state-run ferries that have been free for many years.
Those legislators are crafting legislation that address that issue. Most people in the state’s coastal areas served by the ferries are opposed to increasing the tolls that exist and imposing tolls on ferry routes where there are no tolls.
“I’m working on a piece of legislation that, hopefully, will be out (this) week that will keep things the way they are — without the increases that were put into legislation, what, it’s been two years now? … What we’re looking to do is continue that status quo, right now,” Tine said last week. “I think that’s probably the best situation we can get out of it.”
We agree with Tine that the ferry system should be free because it is part of the state’s transportation system. As Tine said, unless there is statewide policy on tolls to help pay for transportation infrastructure, then the state should not single out a particular region to implement tolls.
It’s gratifying to see elected officials keep a campaign promise and look out for the interests of those who put them in office. Cook, Tine, Speciale and Sanderson deserve credit for doing what they promised to do.
Other elected officials could learn a lesson by observing those four legislators, who are leading by example.