Steve Lonegan

Conservative activist Steve Lonegan, who’s returning from the Caribbean on a cruise ship, just caught wind that John McCain picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for vice president.

His verdict: “I think it’s a terrific choice.”

That’s a strong endorsement coming from Lonegan, who has no qualms about making his dissatisfaction with mainstream Republicans public.

“I know she’s solidly pro-life. This woman is totally outspoken on the issues. She’s got an outstanding record of the governor. I think she’s attractive,” he said. “I think it’s going to unite the party from one end t the other. She’s going to bring excitement and energy."

Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Medham) is thinking about running for Governor in 2009.
DENVER - When people ask him if he’s a mountain man - one of those hard right warriors from Northwestern Jersey, Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Randolph) responds that he’s "more of a foothill guy."

Whatever the colloquialism, Merkt said today that he is very serious about trying to climb over the obstacles to challenge Gov. Jon Corzine. Tomorrow he will officially establish an exploratory committee toward that end.

How serious is he?

"I will not seek re-election to the Assembly," said the 11-year legislative veteran, a corporate attorney with TDI Power in Hackettstown.

"This is no trial balloon," Merkt said. "I’ve been considering this for a number of months, and I am convinced that New Jersey needs a governor who respects the people."

DENVER -- Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts (D-Camden) said that members of the unofficial legislative committee figuring out how to salvage the Clean Elections program have met at least once and are “rolling up their sleeves to do everything they can to keep the program.”

Clean Elections faces a potential constitutional hurdle and the fierce opposition of conservatives, who went looking for what they called a “secret” committee meeting. Conservative activist Steve Lonegan’s Americans for Prosperity even made a video documenting their search for the committee’s meeting.

Although Roberts convened the committee, he doesn’t know where they met either (he’s not actually a member).

“It might have been somewhere in the statehouse.”

Conservative activist and potential gubernatorial candidate Steve Lonegan said that he’ll support John McCain for president, even if he picks a pro-choice running mate.

But he hopes it doesn’t come down to that.

“I’m going to support the McCain ticket, but I think that would be another discouragement for conservatives. So I hope he chooses better than that, wiser than that,” said Lonegan. “Barack Obama is way far to the left, but that would just be, I think,a political blunder on McCain’s part. And I think the signal to conservatives, again, is hey we don’t need you or where else are you going to go.”

Assemblyman Michael Doherty today became the first elected official to endorse conservative activist Steve Lonegan's prospective gubernatorial bid.

Doherty announced today that he will chair the recently formed Committee to Draft Steve Lonegan for Governor, and called Lonegan "New Jersey's Ronald Reagan."

The committee was jump-started earlier this week by Republican political consultant Dan Gallic.

“No one speaks out louder or stronger for taxpayers and in defense of our conservative values than Steve Lonegan. He is not only the strongest candidate we can run against Jon Corzine, he is the best man for the job,” said Doherty in a statement.

Doherty, who’s among the legislature’s most conservative members, flirted with a U.S. Senate run last year, and was the only New Jersey legislator to endorse Republican Ron Paul for president.

“Lonegan is not only our only hope to save our state, but our last hope.”

GOP activist Dan Gallic today announced that he is forming an organization to draft former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan to run for governor.

"Our goal is to create a situation where should Steve decide to run, there will be a grass-roots and finance organization already in place to secure him the Republican nomination," Gallic said in a release.

"Steve Lonegan’s conservative leadership is the reason he is the Republican Party’s premier leader when so many other ‘leaders’ have been asleep at the wheel," Gallic added. "No one in New Jersey has the record of accomplishment Steve Lonegan has built: from stopping McGreevey’s gasoline tax hike to defeating two ballot questions last November and the Corzine borrowing and toll hike scheme last Spring."

Former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan said he is finalizing the lawsuit he intends to file in Bergen County Superior Court against the State of New Jersey next week, attacking Gov. Jon Corzine’s decision to borrow $3.9 billion to build new schools.

"We’re going into court and we’re attacking the facts," said the Republican. "First, the schools are not crumbling. The Oliver School (in the Ironbound, where Corzine signed the borrowing bill) is a beautiful building.

"Second," he said, "we’re going after the assertion that these towns can't afford to pay anything for schools. They can afford taxes."

The lawsuit would be Lonegan’s fourth against the State of New Jersey since 2000.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dick Zimmer as he appeared in ABC television debate on Sunday.SOMERVILLE - State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris) never convinced party leaders that he could be the darling of the GOP, most of whom instead backed former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer for U.S. Senate.

Now, with a full day remaining before Election Day, maverick conservative leader Steve Lonegan, a former mayor of Bogota and gubernatorial candidate, says he will vote for Pennacchio, while questioning Zimmer’s ability to generate energy among rank-and-file Republicans.

Conservative activist and former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan will be the special guest at a fundraiser for Senate candidate Murray Sabrin next month.

The fundraiser will be hosted by Club for Growth board member Frayda Levin at her Mountain Lakes home on Saturday, April 12th. 

"We are very excited about New Jersey Taxpayer’s greatest friend, Steve Lonegan, serving as a special guest,” said Sabrin in a press release.

When the state Senate pasAFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanechsed paid family leave today by a vote of 22-16, AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech admitted he felt a particular sense of satisfaction after a hard, 12-year trudge.

"We're exhausted, but we're very happy," said Wowkanech, whose outfit numbers 1 million strong in New Jersey, and who remembers first trying to float the idea of paid family leave over a decade ago.

What the Senate passed today was a bill that enables employees to pay into a fund that would allow them to receive compensation while taking up to six weeks off from work to care for their own health or the health of a relative. According to the bill, "an amount not to exceed $25 million may be transferred from the state's temporary disability fund to the new account to support start-up costs." The program is designed to run on the monies employees pay into the funds, which amounts to about $33 apiece annually.