For Immediate Release: Saturday, May 30, 2009East Brunswick, NJ – Today Conservative Republican Gubernatorial candidate Steve Lonegan participated in a roundtable forum with other gubernatorial candidates.  The event, which included a Democrat, a Libertarian, and two Republicans, was clearly dominated by Lonegan. The absence of the moderate Chris Christie was revealing. In 2007, virtually all the Republican candidates for President attended the National Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFPF) Defending the American Dream Summit because they all realized the importance of the conservative vote. Christie has clearly decided that conservative voters are not important to him and has also been seeking to duck questions about his pay-to-play scandals. The forum, hosted by AFPF and moderated by Paul Mulshine, was a question and answer format in which Lonegan established himself as a leader whom the pack followed.  The questions covered a variety of issues, all of which Lonegan answered confidently to a crowd that clearly agreed with his positions on the issues. At one point, in reference to eminent domain and the Highlands Act, Lonegan called the Act "the worst abuse of eminent domain in U.S. history." The other roundtable participants included Republican Rick Merkt, Democrat Carl Bergmanson, and Libertarian Keith Kaplan. The roundtable was the last time that candidates will be in the same room before the Republican Primary on June 2nd.