“On the House side, John Boehner intends to prove the crony capitalist critique of the GOP correct. He’ll vote for a bloated farm bill that subsidizes, funds, and kicks back whole industries that could not exist but for the congressional porkers in Washington.”
That was Eric Erickson, in this morning’s RedState. Yesterday afternoon, there was another GOP crony capitalism lovefest here in New Jersey.
Steve Lonegan, New Jersey’s perennial Republican candidate for governor (twice), state senator, congressman and now U.S. Senator, has received the backing of Keith Davis, head of the Atlantic City County Republicans.
In a letter obtained by the Star-Ledger, Davis wrote, “I asked Steve about his position on gaming outside of Atlantic City. He said he supports the Governor’s efforts to rejuvenate Atlantic City and opposes gaming at the Meadowlands or anywhere else outside of Atlantic City. More positive news” (emphasis added.)
In other words, Steve Lonegan, the self-proclaimed champion of free enterprise, is in reality a supporter of crony capitalism–the economic system that uses political power, the law and other forms of government intervention, to stifle competition. The Tea Party was formed a few years ago because millions of Americans “revolted’ against crony capitalism.
This is not the first time political huckster Steve Lonegan has shown his true colors. In his 2009 campaign for governor against Chris Christie, Lonegan proposed a massive tax hike on low and middle-income taxpayers. Christie was very clear about how he felt about Lonegan’s tax plan:
http://moremonmouthmusings.blogspot.com/2009/04/christie-on-lonegans-tax-plan-and.html
Here’s the question every voter in Atlantic County should ask: Are Chairman Davis and the Legislators running on his line also endorsing Lonegan’s tax hike plan? A plan that Chris Christie said will “raise taxes on the middle class” and on “70 percent” of New Jerseyeans. No one who calls himself a fiscal conservative should ever call for higher taxes.
Lonegan tried to fool fiscal conservatives in 2009 and was rejected at the polls in his attempt to obtain the GOP gubernatorial nomination. Will GOP and undeclared tea partiers reject Lonegan one more time this August, because he stands for all they loathe and rally around Alieta Eck, a proven fiscal conservative?
An unresolved lawsuit hangs over this election for United States Senate. The Democrats love it, Lonegan is afraid of it, and anyone who wants to elect a Republican on October 16th should be concerned too.
Lonegan’s 2009 campaign resulted in a lawsuit that alleges Lonegan defrauded New Jersey taxpayers out of $2.7 million by accepting matching funds while claiming that he had nothing to do with running Americans for Prosperity in New Jersey. New Jersey election law prohibits managers of lobby groups from receiving matching funds. As State Director of Americans for Prosperity, Steve Lonegan personally controlled the organization. Anyone who knows Steve knows that.
Lonegan is afraid of the issue and won’t address it, preferring to rely on hand signals, as in this video.
http://www.republicreport.org/2012/steve-lonegan-fraud-lawsuit/
Crony capitalisn, tax increases, and allegations of massive defrauding of taxpayers.
In short, Steve Lonegan is running in the wrong primary. His big government conservatism is similar to the big government leftists in the Democratic Party. If Lonegan had any self-respect, he would switch parties and run as a Democrat. In New Jersey, the courts would undoubtedly accommodate him, even though the petition deadline has passed to file as a Democratic senatorial candidate.