Mayor Steve Lonegan, NJ State Director, at AFP Summit

I first heard Steve Lonegan at the 2007 "Defending the American Dream" Summit hosted by Americans for Prosperity in Washington, DC. As the state Director of New Jersey's AFP chapter, his remarks were riveting. You could tell he believed in what he was saying about lower taxes and responsible spending. He made such an impression on me that, when I saw his name on the roster for this year's Summit, I was looking forward to hearing him speak once again.

He did not disappoint. He was witty ... he was passionate ... he was committed. He charged up the crowd at Friday's AFP rally in front of the Capitol, and he addressed Saturday's audience of over 2,000.

Longtime mayor of Bogota, New Jersey, a small community west of New York City, Steve Lonegan has fought against higher taxes and wasteful spending in government.

Wickipedia reports:

Shortly after the 2003 mid-term elections where Democrats took complete legislative control, then Governor Jim McGreevey attempted to push through a fifteen-cent per gallon gasoline tax increase above the existing 10.5 cent direct tax and 4.0 cent indirect tax already affecting motorists. The plan was to push the increase through during the "lame duck" session.

With time of the essence, Lonegan enlisted radio talk show hosts to lead a grass-roots effort that gathered over 10,000 petitions to the Governor and legislative leaders and enough pressure to stop the gasoline tax increase.

As AFP State Director for NJ, Mayor Lonegan has been active:

Lonegan is the New Jersey state director of Americans for Prosperity. As state director, Lonegan began organizing Taxpayer Action Seminars in towns around New Jersey. However the main focus of Lonegan's AFP was attacking Jon Corzine's liberal economic and regulatory policies.

As AFP state director, Lonegan led the fight against three ballot questions in the 2007 election and defeated two of them. The two questions defeated, one supporting Embryonic Stem Cell research and the second, dedicating one cent of the sales tax for "property tax relief", were the first ballot questions defeated in the state since 1990.

The organization under Lonegan's leadership has also been active in fighting Paid Family Leave, Low Income Housing mandates, Taxpayer funded legislative elections, new mandates for sprinklers in fireproof high rise buildings and Governor Corzine's proposed budget.

Author of the book, Putting Taxpayers First, Lonegan spelled out how Republicans went from 27 Senators and 58 Assemblymembers when Christine Whitman was elected to 18 Senators and 31 Assemblymembers 10 years later. His prediction is that "Republicans will continue to remain the minority in NJ as long as they continue to avoid controversy and try to accommodate liberals, public employee labor unions, the media, and other special interest groups."

Steve Lonegan is a leader.

Leaders are not afraid to put the bulls-eye on their backs while standing up for what they believe in ... and Steve Lonegan is no exception. That is why he is so effective at what he does. That is why he is such a powerful, stirring speaker at the AFP rallies. That is why he has won as mayor ... and that is why he may be running again as governor of NJ ... he's done it before and word is he may be doing it again.

Something tells me if he does ... Steve Lonegan may just pull it off this time.