Lonegan

Dear Madam Speaker:

I want to congratulate you for personally seeing to it the Bailout Bill would go down in flames. You broke the simplest rule of politics, “Don’t gloat before you vote.”

Former Bogota Mayor and Americans for Prosperity State Director Steve Lonegan told Construction Roundtable members today that large tax cuts are needed quickly to bring back New Jersey's economy. Members of the Construction Roundtable include executives of Anheuser Busch, Pfizer and Merck, among other important companies.

Group Says Too-High Rating Begs Another Fannie-Freddie Meltdown

WASHINGTON – Americans for Prosperity-New Jersey Director Steve Lonegan will lead taxpayers in a protest against the irresponsible, too-high rating of “junk” New Jersey state bonds by Moody’s Investment Service. The event will be held in front of Moody’s on Greenwich Street in downtown Manhattan tomorrow, July 31 at 1:00 p.m. Lonegan will be joined by a busload of New Jersey taxpayers and a huge, 16-foot-tall ATM machine designed to illustrate that politicians can’t treat taxpayers like an instant cash machine.

Below is the text of the sppech I gave to Americans for Prosperity-New Jersey activists at our Defending the American Dream Summit in Trenton, May 29th, 2008:

I am going to talk of controversial things. I make no apology for this because today we stand at a crossroads, a time in our history as Americans that we will choose our destiny. We are to choose whether we will follow a road towards Liberty and Prosperity, a road whose course was mapped by the vision of our Founding Fathers. Oh, yes, a difficult road because freedom and liberty come at great expense. It is a road paved with the blood and sacrifice of the hundreds of thousands of men and women who gave so much so we may live free.

New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation; its top income tax rate is the fourth highest in the nation; and we have one of the highest sales taxes. There is no question. New Jersey citizens are among the highest taxed in the country.

The question is why,

BOGOTA -- Americans for Prosperity New Jersey director Steve Lonegan today called on anti-toll hike legislators to boycott the annual Chamber of Commerce train trip taking place this weekend in light of the Chamber’s endorsement of Governor Corzine’s $38 Billion Borrowing and Toll Hike Scheme.

Kean Calls On A.G. To Probe Lonegan Arrest

Arresting Protestors Violates The Spirit & The Letter Of The First Amendment

Senator Thomas Kean, (R-21), the Senate Republican Leader, issued a letter today calling on Attorney General Anne Milgram to open an investigation into an apparent violation of Steve Lonegan’s first amendment rights. A copy of the letter is attached.

"The Mayor of Middle Township was very clear in his statement that ‘the Governor’s people’ directed the Middle Township Police Department to arrest Steve Lonegan. This statement alone would appear to compel the Attorney General to initiate an investigation immediately to answer all of the questions surrounding this unfortunate incident."
January 23, 2008

Arresting Protestors Violates The Spirit & The Letter Of The First Amendment

Senator Thomas Kean, (R-21), the Senate Republican leader, issued the following statement regarding published reports that government officials colluded with local police to stamp out protests against Governor Corzine’s road tax plan. Former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan was arrested by Middle Township Police on the grounds of the Middle Township High School where the Governor was holding a town hall meeting Saturday. Senator Kean is calling on Attorney General Anne Milgram to open an investigation into this apparent violation of Steve Lonegan’s first amendment rights.

Today, December 31, is the last day of my twelve year tenure as mayor of Bogota. A term I am proud of and that has given me tremendous insight into the functions and failures of government.

The most disturbing lesson I have learned is the danger that is posed by the growth of the Trenton bureaucracy and its consequence of destruction of our property rights, local control and the drain on our families' resources as we stagger under the burden of ever increasing taxes. and, ultimately, the erosion of individual liberty and freedom.

Taxpayers are ready for a conservative Republican message committed to reducing big government. The state’s bloated budget can be reduced by a conservative legislative majority committed to achieving fiscal stability and implementing fundamental change. The promise of Republicans should not be to make government “more efficient�-- that translates into taking taxpayer dollars faster and spending them quicker, but rather to reduce its size. It is essential to determine just what government should be doing and retur