Lonegan enters race for Republican gubernatorial nomination

EDISON – Standing in front of about 50 supporters and members of the press, former Bogota Mayor and anti-tax advocate Steve Lonegan formally announced his candidacy for governor next year as an uncompromising conservative determined to reduce the size of state government.

“New Jersey was built on that fundamental belief – the belief is individual freedom, defending liberty and letting every individual fulfill their potential,” Lonegan said. “Over the last decades, we’ve seen that philosophy undermined -- undermined by a growth of government that has accelerated the entitlement state and reliance not on opportunity, but on government handouts.”

Lonegan characterized himself as merely the spokesman for a wider movement to roll back what he sees as increased government interference in economic affairs, and said he his executive experience as a former small business owner and mayor of the small town of Bogota especially qualified him to head it. Lonegan used his blue collar roots to lament that the New Jersey middle-class, saddled with high taxes, are struggling to survive economically.

If elected, Lonegan pledged to reduce the size of state government by 20 percent through layoffs, eliminating programs and “devolving government from Trenton to local municipalities.”

Specifically, Lonegan said that he would favor constitutional amendments to roll back State Supreme Court decisions that have been anathema to conservatives: Abbot v. Burke, which gave state aid to poor school districts to match their more wealthy counterparts; and Southern Burlington County NAACP v. Mount Laurel Township, which led to today’s Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) standards.

“Let’s talk about a program called COAH, which is now mandating that we build 100,000 government subsidized, low income housing units to be mandated in the state of New Jersey. We need to overturn COAH,” Lonegan said to applause. “We do not need to work with them to tweak it.”

Lonegan also noted that a toll hike went into effect today – another tax, he said, on New Jerseyans.

Lonegan, who ran unsuccessfully in the 2005 gubernatorial primary, is likely to face stiff competition to get the nomination. Today’s announcement coincides with U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie’s last day in that post. He may run for governor, and if he does it will likely be as the establishment favorite. Several other candidates may run as well.

Lonegan said that he respects Christie’s corruption busting record, but said his anti-tax crusade hits home with an overburdened electorate.

“I’m an executive and I’m a businessman. Mr. Christie, I respect him very much, but he’s an attorney,” said Lonegan.

A reporter pointed out that Gov. Corzine was a businessman too, to which Lonegan responded that there’s the calloused hand type of small businessman and a Wall Street trader who “manipulates paper.”

But why will this year turn out any differently than 2005, when Lonegan finished with eight percent of the vote, coming in fourth out of seven Republican primary candidates?

“In 2005 I was a small town mayor. A town of 8,000 people, a conservative. The Republican leadership in New Jersey said small-town conservative mayors can’t win. By the way those are the same people who fell all over Sarah Palin as the greatest thing since white bread,” said Lonegan. “But it was my first time out of the box and I’ve been traveling the state ever since.”

Lonegan did not go into specifics about fundraising, but said that he has already started taking donations and is working towards getting enough donations to qualify for public matching funds, which he used in his 2005 race.

Although fundamentally opposed to the concept of government-funded campaigns, Lonegan said that it’s the only way to run against wealthy candidates like Corzine, who can spend millions of their own money. He even challenged Corzine to join him.

“How fair is it that Jon Corzine can dump $60 million in his campaign, but I can’t go to my mom and say I need $60 million?” said Lonegan. “I would ask Jon Corzine, since he supports these programs to join the same program I’m in. he should also join the matching funds program if he believes in it so much.”