The perennial debate over highway tolls has resurfaced again in the legislature's transportation committee.
Michael J. Riley, president of the Hartford-based Connecticut Motor Transport Association, ripped the idea Friday during an appearance in front of the committee.
"Border tolls are unfair because they don't spread the burden equitably around the state,'' Riley said. "We're opposed to tolls.''
Riley, a longtime supporter of Democratic officials like former U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, also spoke against Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's plan to charge the state's sales tax on "packing and crating,'' which he said would harm the state's moving industry that is currently suffering from hard times.
"They live off the churn in the real estate market, and they're ain't no churn,'' said Riley, known as a colorful lobbyist at the Capitol.