Lonegan Praises Christie For RGGI Withdrawal

By Art Gallagher

In an email to Americans For Prosperity-NJ activists, Steve Lonegan delivered strong praise to the Governor, his former primary opponent:

Today, Governor Christie dealt Cap & Trade a death blow – one that could well signal not just the end of RGGI but the end to any effort to implement a job-destroying Cap & Trade energy tax in America.

At a press conference today at the statehouse in Trenton, Governor Christie announced his decision to use his executive authority to withdraw New Jersey from the ten-state scheme.

“RGGI is nothing more than a tax on electricity, a tax on our residents and on businesses with no discernible effect on our environment,” Christie said. “We remain completely committed to the idea that we have a responsibility to make the environment of our state and world better. We’re not going to do it by participating in gimmicky programs that don’t work.”

Governor Christie deserves enormous credit for taking this stand on behalf of our state. The Governor easily could have succumbed to mounting pressure from the left and its many environmental special interest groups.

Instead, Governor Christie stood tall knowing that this was the right thing to do for New Jersey and our state’s future economic prosperity.

Governor Christie will no doubt come under attack from the left for his decision and you and I need to lend him our support.

I urge you to call Governor Christie now at 609-292-6000 to thank him for taking this stand on behalf of New Jersey!

Additionally, a tremendous debt of gratitude goes out to those legislators who have sponsored the repeal effort – in particular, Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose (R-24), Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-25), Senator Mike Doherty (R-23) and Sen. Steve Oroho (R-24), primary sponsors of the repeal bills in the legislature. These legislators were the first to step up and lead the fight against RGGI and they, too, deserve our thanks and appreciation.

Today’s victory is also a credit to you, our valued AFP citizen activist. Over the past year, many of you have contacted your legislators, signed petitions, written letters to the editor or joined us at numerous press conferences and rallies around the state.

Thanks to your dedication, Cap & Trade is one giant step closer to being tossed on the ash heap of history!

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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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