N.J. Must Ask More of Our Leaders in Trenton

Governor Christie and the New Jersey Legislature are about to increase the gas tax by 23¢ per gallon taking effect for Thursday morning and overnight becoming the seventh highest gas tax in the country. Unfortunately, hiking the gas tax treats only a symptom of the broken Transportation Trust Fund. We commend legislative leadership for the serious… Read the rest of this entry »

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ELEC Meets Today

Is Lonegan On The Agenda?

By Art Gallagher

The New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission meets in Trenton this morning. 

It is the commission’s first meeting since the Think Progress blog reported that Lonegan apparently lied about his compensation from Americans For Prosperity when he sought and received $2.7 million in taxpayer “matching funds” for his 2009 Republican gubernatorial primary bid against Chris Christie.

ELEC forbids candidates from receiving matching funds if they were “involved in anyway” in the management of a political advocacy organization unless the organization discloses the names of its donors.  Lonegan, who is and was the Executive Director of Americans For Prosperity-NJ, said the disclosure requirements did not apply to him or AFP because he was paid from the organization’s education account rather than its lobbying account.  Think Progress says they’ve seen tax records that reveal he was paid by the lobbying branch.

The Lonegan controversy is not on the commission’s published agenda, however it could come up in public comments or executive session.

In addition to the fund raising controversy, our friends at The State-NJ report that Governor Christie’s office has suggested that AFP national president Tim Phillips prevail upon Lonegan to tone down his rhetoric.

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