SOMERSET – Assemblyman Tony Bucco (R-25), a Republican leader in the Assembly, insists he doesn’t think ferocious beat-down when he sees Democrat Phil Murphy versus Republican Kim Guadagno. In fact, he’s stunned by the number of mistakes, including one critical one, made by Murphy, as the Democrat tries to fulfill the historic pendulum swing in the state away from the party that just held the governorship.

“I’ve never seen a candidate come out before the election and tell people he’s going to raise taxes,” Bucco told InsiderNJ. “He wants to raise $1.3 billion, that’s what’s been promised, and his numbers don’t add up. Look, school funding costs $2 billion, to make a full pension payment – that’s $5.2 billion. So you’re at $7.2 billion, and he’s talking 1.3. That’s a big gap. I think it’s just the beginning, and quite frankly that’s why I came here today.”

Bucco was standing in the foyer of Lincoln Gardens Baptist Church for the New Jersey business community-sponsored affordability summit. New Jersey Chamber of Commerce CEO-President Tom Bracken was in the room, and so was Michele Siekerka, president of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association.

“New Jersey has just become unaffordable,” said Bucco, before relating a story about his kids moving out of the Garden State to Boulder, Colorado – where now they actually have a quality of life.

“I don’t think raising taxes is the answer,” the assemblyman said. “That has a trickle-down effect.”

But pot’s legalized out there in Colorado, which Murphy wants to do here, InsiderNJ noted.

“I’m not sold,” said Bucco.