Steven Lonegan

Bergen County Democratic Organization lawyer Dennis Oury has a friend in Steve Lonegan.

Lonegan, the outspoken conservative mayor of Bogota and PoliticsNJ.com contributor, said he plans to join Oury in a lawsuit against the state’s pay-to-play laws. 

“I believe in unlimited contributions and full disclosure, and if the people don’t like it they’ll vote you out of office,” said Lonegan.  “We don’t need government bureaucrats telling us what’s right and wrong.”

Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan and Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow will serve on the Mike Doherty for U.S. Senate Exploratory Committee.  Lonegan, a former gubernatorial candidate, is the de facto leader of the state GOP's most conservative wing.  Karrow, a moderate, represents the same northwestern New Jersey legislative district as Doherty. 

Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan, a former gubernatorial candidate who has emerged as the leader of the state GOP's most conservative faction, has filed an ethics complaint against Republican State Senator William Gormley -- long viewed as an icon of the party's moderate wing. Lonegan alleges that Gormley used his political influence to help his wife's employer, Atlantic City Medical Center, receive state funding.

Lonegan has filed complaints with the Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards against more than a quarter of the member of the New Jersey Legislature.

Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan will not be a candidate for Bergen County Executive "under any circumstances" this year, and says that speculation that he might enter the race for the Republican U.S. Senate nominaton are not true.

The nomination of New Jerseyan Samuel Alito, Jr. to the U.S. Supreme Court has added to GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Forrester's problems with his Republican base vote. Forrester issued a statement today clearly annoyed some conservative activists: "As someone who supports a woman's right to choose, I am troubled about one of his decisions that seems to challenge that right. We have to be certain that, in replacing Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the president is appointing a judge who is uncompromising in his support for women’s equality. Although this decision was rendered 15 years ago, I trust the Senate to probe his thinking on this point." Some of Forrester's own staffers say they believed the statement was not a great strategy.

Among Forrester's critics is Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan, the most conservative of the seven candidates in the '05 gubernatorial primary. "We who share the values and principles that lie at the heart of conservatism are not the minority, we are the majority; not just in the Republican Party but also among Democrats and undeclared voters," Lonegan said. "Unfortunately, Doug Forrester and the liberals who run the New Jersey Republican Party do not understand this. That is why Doug is far behind in the polls and on his way to losing this election."

"He lost my vote a long time ago. I am talking to a Republican loyalist who because of this is not voting for Forrester," said Rick Shaftan, a political consultant who works for conservative candidates. "Maybe the lesbian left will put him over the top but I won't."

Joseph Tomanelli, a conservative activist from Bergen County who heads the New Jersey Republican Assembly, has withdrawn his endorsement of GOP gubernatorial candidate Douglas Forrester, citing a TV commercial from former Governor Thomas Kean touting Forrester's moderate, pro-choice credentials and a letter from former Governor Christine Todd Whitman criticizing conservative extremism in the Republican Party. Tomanelli, who backed Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan in the GOP primary, had originally asked conservatives to vote for Forrester. But Tomanelli surely does not speak for every conservative Republican: a less-than-thrilled Lonegan still has a Forrester for Governor lawn sign in front of his home.

Editor's Note: Tomanelli also criticizes Forrester for hiring Sherry Sylvester as his Campaign Director because she once worked for New York City Mayor David Dinkins. But Sylvester was also the spokesperson for the Texas Republican Party in 2004 -- George W. Bush's home state and among the reddest in the nation.