Eck Clarifies Her Position On Abortion, Says She Can’t Imagine Lonegan Getting Elected, Will Run For Senate In 2014

At Steve Lonegan’s press conference on Saturday, the front runner in tomorrow’s GOP primary to replace the late U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg said that his opponent, Dr. Alieta Eck, first presented herself the party as pro-life but recently announced she was pro-abortion.  Lonegan said Eck should leave the Republican party.

The confusion arose out of comments Eck made during a meeting of the Long Hill Republicans last week wherein she said that there was no practical way for the government to prevent abortions during the early stages of pregnancy.

MMM wanted to clear up the confusion and understand Eck’s position.  She granted Art Gallagher an interview yesterday at her free health clinic in Somerset.

Eck said she is unabashedly pro-life. We spoke about her work with the poor, her experiences campaigning for Senate, and her political future.

Eck said she can’t imagine that Lonegan will be elected in the  October 16 Special Senate Election, if he defeats her, as the polls indicate he will tomorrow.  She said she will be a candidate for U.S. Senate again next year should the Democratic nominee selected tomorrow be elected.  She wouldn’t rule out another primary against Lonegan, even if Lonegan is elected in October.

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Christie Says Lonegan Tweet Was Inappropriate

Governor Chris Christie said this afternoon that the controversial tweet sent out by a Lonegan for Senate staffer last week during the Democratic Senatorial Debate was inappropriate, and the fact that Lonegan immediately ordered the tweet taken down indicates that Lonegan knows it was inappropriate, despite his protestations since.

“Why take it down if there was nothing wrong with it?” Christie said.

Christie said the would have fired the staffer who posted the tweet, “but its Steve’s campaign. He has a different management style.”

The Governor said he would endorse the winner of tomorrow’s Republican primary to replace the late U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg.

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Lonegan: Bayshore Tea Party Doesn’t Support Me Because I Didn’t Support LD 13 Primary

Steven Lonegan and Bayshore Tea Party Group Founders Barbara Gonzalez and Bob Gordan, 2010. facebook photo.

Prior to the start of yesterday’s press conference in Kinnelon, former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan told MMM that the Bayshore Tea Party Group is not supporting his U.S. Senate candidacy because he did not support their effort to remove State Senator Joe Kyrillos, Assemblywoman Amy Handlin and Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon from office in the 13th Legislative District primary last June.

When told that BTPG said he encouraged them to mount a primary challenge, Lonegan said, “I encourage everybody to run, but you have to have good candidates. Not like them.”

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Lonegan Takes The Offensive

“I have a handicap, you know.   I’m a white guy, running in the State of New Jersey.  That’s my handicap. “

“I took down an inappropriate, silly tweet after 20 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes.  5 months later, Anti-Semitic, hate filled videos are still posted on Cory Booker’s website. Where’s the race card now? Where’s the media now? “Where’s the liberal left now in defending us against this kind of hate filled Anti-Semitism?”

~Steve Lonegan

Former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, the front runner in the August 13 Republican primary for the nomination to replace the late U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg,  held a press conference in Kinnelon yesterday afternoon to address the reaction to the tweet(pictured to the right) posted by his campaign on Thursday night during the Democratic Senate Debate.

Lonegan billed the event as a “press conference on political correctness” but the tweet and his opponents “pulling the race card” was the topic.  In classic Lonegan fashion, the candidate confronted the problem and flipped the criticism back on his opponents.  In this case, his opponents being Booker, who is expected to win the Democratic nomination on Tuesday, the “liberal media” and Dr. Alieta Eck, his opponent for the Republican nomination.

Lonegan said the tweet, which was removed quickly, was posted by a young staffer who remains employed by the campaign. “He made a mistake. I’m not going to ruin his career by firing him.  I don’t do that. I will help him learn from it,” Lonegan said.

“Racism, racism, racism. They can’t wait to play the racist card,” Lonegan said of the Booker campaign and the media, “They couldn’t wait for the opportunity, any opportunity at all, a silly map, which is meaningless, sent out by some kid in a campaign, that had no intent other than to ah, whatever the intent was, I don’t even know what the intent was. But they can’t wait to pull the race card. Cause that’s how they play politics.

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Racially charged tweet by Lonegan campaign draws fire from Eck, Booker

Eck says Lonegan is not a viable candidate. Says the former Bogota mayor and his team are “angry white men”

During last night’s Democratic U.S. Senate debate, a racially insensitive tweet was sent out from former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan’s campaign account, @Lonegan.

Politico captured an image of the tweet which depicted Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s foreign policy prep notes as a map of Newark with Guaya, West Africa, Portugal and Brazil noted as parts of the city and the Middle East as Afghanistan, Pakistan PLUS Bangladesh and Trinidad.

The tweet was quickly deleted and Lonegan spokesman Rich Shaftan told Politico that Lonegan did not find it funny or reflective of how he thinks.

Shaftan told The Star Ledger that the  staffer responsible had been discipline but probably would not be fired.

“It’s not Lonegan’s tweet. It’s not from his personal account,” Shaftan said. “Sometimes things happen in political campaigns. People put things out that are not reflective of what the candidate thinks.”

Shaftan declined to say who was responsible for the twet and said the individual had been disciplined but would likely not be fired.

“Everyone does stupid things,” Shaftan said. ” Steve’s not a believer in throwing people over because they make mistakes.”

Lonegan press contact Jon Meadows referred MMM to Shaftan. Shaftan did not respond to a message via facebook and said he would call back when reached on the phone.

Lonegan’s opponent in the August 13th Republican primary, Dr. Alieta Eck said the gaffe is indicative of Lonegan’s world view.  Eck said the Lonegan and his campaign staff are “angry white men.”

In a statement released by Eck Campaign Manager, Thomas Roberts, the campaign said that Lonegan’s candidacy is “unviable”

“Steve Lonegan just continues to demonstrate how uncomfortable he is addressing people other than his own acolytes,” said Eck campaign manager Thomas Roberts. “From his English language debacle in Bogota, to his refusal this week to meet with the NAACP in Newark, and finally last night’s horrifyingly racist tweet, how on earth is he supposed to ‘represent’ a state as culturally rich and diverse as New Jersey in the Senate? He is completely unviable as a candidate, and I think he owes a lot of people an apology.”

Eck told MMM that Lonegan did not reply to the Newark NAACP’s invitation to a debate earlier this week.
Booker’s campaign spokesperson said, according to the Ledger,

“The Lonegan campaign’s tweet is inappropriate, offensive and fundamentally out of step with New Jersey values. It’s also not surprising,” Booker campaign manager Addisu Demissie said. “This is the same misguided person who was offended by an advertisement simply because it was in Spanish. We need leaders who will lift up our communities, not tear them down — leaders like Cory Booker.”

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Lonengan and Eck Debate Debates

With less than three weeks to go until the Special Senate Primary on August 13, the GOP hopefuls are debating debates.

Yesterday, Dr. Alieta Eck’s campaign Tom Roberts put out a statement with the headline Lonegan Refuses To Debate.

(Somerset, NJ) – Today, Eck for Senate learned that Steve Lonegan has refused a debate organized by the League of Women Voters of New Jersey, which would have matched him against Dr. Alieta Eck on Saturday, July 27th.

“That Steve Lonegan doesn’t want to debate Dr. Eck should probably come as no surprise. Mr. Lonegan has run for office many times and can identify some problems facing Americans, but without solutions he would just join the ranks of those already in DC who are watching our nation’s economic decline. In contrast, Dr. Eck has outlined proven, workable solutions to provide health care and reduce spending. The contrast in a debate would not have been favorable for Mr. Lonegan. We still welcome any future opportunity to debate,” according to Campaign Manager Thomas Roberts.

That sounded like a sound political strategy on Lonegan’s part to me, given that Eck had only 9% name recognition and support from only 5% of registered voters in the last Quinnipiac poll.  For the last week or so, Lonegan has been ignoring Eck and running a general election type campaign, focusing on Newark Mayor Cory Booker and this week, the mad scientist, “millions will die if we don’t tax carbon and make energy completely unaffordable,” Congressman Rush Holt.

But I’m not Lonegan’s strategist.

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What the Eck!

By Art Gallagher

Dr. Alieta Eck

Now that she survived Steve Lonegan’s challenge to her petitions, it worth getting to know the political novice who was able to get 2,285 nominating signatures in three days, Dr. Alieta Eck.  That was a task that was too much for many seasoned politicians.

From the looks of how the Special Election Senate race is shaping up, Newark Mayor Cory Booker is going to win in a landslide anyway.  Booker has a huge lead over Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver and Congressmen Frank Pallone and Rush Holt in the independent polls for the Democratic nomination.  Lonegan is within striking distance of Pallone, Holt and Oliver in the Monmouth University Poll released last Friday, but loses to Booker by 16 points.

The only hope for a Republican to win the Senate seat in October is for someone other than Booker to be the Democratic nominee or for Booker to be badly wounded, politically, in a bloody Democratic primary.  That doesn’t look like it is going to happen.

So far, Pallone and Holt are playing nice.  Pallone is sending out emails asking people to recruit their friends to ‘Like’ his facebook page and volunteer for his campaign.  Holt is posting on facebook asking non-Democrats to change parties in order to vote for him in the primary. If Oliver is doing anything, we haven’t noticed.

No one is mentioning all the shootings in Newark this week, that, if they were happening in Marlboro or Newtown, CT would be making national news.  No one is asking Booker for his travel schedule or where he spends his weekends.   Pallone tried to make an issue of Booker’s relationship with Governor Chris Christie, but Democrats seem to like Christie more than they like Pallone.  No one is making an issue of Booker’s relationship with Wall Street, because Wall Street is investing a ton of money in Newark.

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Bayshore Tea Party Blames Steve Lonegan For Primary Loss. Won’t Support Him For U.S. Senate

Steven Lonegan and Bayshore Tea Party Group Founders Barbara Gonzalez and Bob Gordan, 2010. facebook photo.

Bayshore Tea Party Group co-founder Barbara Gonzalez blames her candidates’ landslide defeat in the GOP primary on Steve Lonegan.

In a post on faceback early Wednesday morning Gonzalez said that Lonegan, the former Bogota Mayor, former gubernatorial candidate and former Executive Director of Americans for Prosperity-NJ, promised financial support to Leigh-Ann Bellew and her team, only to renege.

“Steve Lonegan turned his back on Bayshore’s candidates after promising to help. He left us in the lurch and reneged….think about that before you get his petitions signed. Another blowhard. We would have won if we had the money/donations that he promised would come. We went on and did it ourselves and got 20% with NO money.! He can forget about our support!”

Wednesday afternoon Gonzalez wrote,

“Lonegan could have had some hard ass worker bees if he didn’t screw
Bayshore TPG. Oh well.”

Lonegan is so far the only Republican candidate of note to announce an intention to seek the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in the Special Primary on August 13.

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Americans for Prospertity Opposes Christie’s Supreme Court Picks

Steve Lonegan, Executive Director of the New Jersey Chapter of Americans for Prosperity and Governor Chris Christie’s opponent in the 2009 GOP gubernatorial primary, has come out in opposition to Christie’s nominees for the State Supreme Court.

Chatham Mayor Bruce Harris and First Assistant Attorney General Phillip Kwon were nominated by Christie in January.  The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled hearings on their nominations on March 22.

In a press release issue last night, Americans for Prosperity said that they expected to testify against the nominations and that it ” will be mobilizing its army of more than 60,000 citizen activists as part of its efforts to have impartial, originalist justices confirmed to the state’s highest court.”

“After careful review and consideration of these nominees, Americans for Prosperity cannot endorse their confirmation to the state’s highest court and will work to see that they are not confirmed by the state Senate,” Lonegan said.

 “The governor was elected on the promise to change the makeup of the court by replacing activist justices with originalists who will interpret the law, not make law from the bench,” continued Lonegan, “and Americans for Prosperity was fully prepared to support him in achieving this goal.

“However, there is nothing in the backgrounds of either of these nominees to assure us that Mayor Harris or Mr. Kwon will practice judicial restraint and put a stop to this court’s endless usurpations of the powers of the other branches of government if seated on the Supreme Court.”

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If Christie’s the new darling of the far right, where does that leave Steve Lonegan?

Should we care?

That’s the question that Bergen Record Columnist Charles Stile asks this morning at NorthJersey.com.

Stile is wondering how Lonegan is reacting to American For Prosperity benefactor David Koch’s declaration that Governor Christie is “my kind of guy” at the super secret corporate donors meeting in Colorado last June.  That was the meeting where Christie told the tale of how he saved Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver’s position by lining up Assembly Republicans to vote for her had the Democrats staged a coup to prevent the pension and benefits reform bill from being posted.

Strangely, Lonegan who is never shy with the press, rebuffed Stile’s inquiry four times in two weeks. 

Stile probably hasn’t noticed that Lonegan’s rare pontifications about Christie have been positive since April of this year.  That is when Christie prevailed upon Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips to get Lonegan to tone his rhetoric down, as reported at the time by the now defunct TheStateNJ.com.

Lonegan’s focus has been on co-opting and controlling New Jersey’s Tea Party movement and attempting to destroy Tea Parties he can’t control, if The Bulldog Pundit, Gene Hoyas’ body of work over this summer is accurate.

Hoyas has been white knighting for the Bay Shore Tea Party Group which has suffered ad hominem attacks from conservative websites that Hoyas says are Lonegan mouthpieces.  Hoyas’ smoking gun that Lonegan, and Senator Mike Doherty, are behind the attacks is that they haven’t publically called for the conservatives sites to stop picking on the BTPG.

All of this nonsense, from Stile’s piece this morning, to Hoyas and other purists fighting all summer, to Lonegan trying to control Tea Parties, if he is, are gifts to the Democrats who are on track to keep control of the legislature in Trenton.

Stile could have written about the current and ongoing rifts within the Democratic party, rather than suggesting to his readers that Christie is more “far right” than Lonegan.  Instead he attempted to tweak Lonegan into reigniting a battle that he surrendered months ago.  We should expect that from Stiles as a center-left opinion leader.

But Hoyas and other conservatives fighting with each other, as well as the ongoing ideological Inquisition of RINO hunters is nothing more than a circular firing squad.  

Now that they have wasted the summer, it is time for all the ideological purists to stop fighting over which angel does a better dance on the head of a pin and get to work electing candidates who are right and center-right.

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