Steve Lonegan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Mayor ofBogota | |
| In office January 1, 1996 – December 31, 2007 | |
| Preceded by | Leonard Nicolosi |
| Succeeded by | Pat McHale |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Steven Mark Lonegan (1956-04-27)April 27, 1956 (age 69) |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Lorraine Rossi |
| Education | William Paterson University (BA) Fairleigh Dickinson University (MBA) |
Steven Mark Lonegan (born April 27, 1956) is an American businessman and politician who served as mayor ofBogota, New Jersey, from 1996 to 2007.[1] He was also theRepublican Party's nominee in the2013 Special Senate election in New Jersey, which he lost toCory Booker.
Lonegan was named the New Jersey State Chairman for theTed Cruz 2016 presidential campaign in June 2015. He also served as a national spokesman for the campaign and appeared on various news outlets such asFox News,Fox Business,CNN, andMSNBC.
Lonegan was Director of Monetary Policy for theAmerican Principles Project.[2] He served as the organization's national spokesman on monetary policies of theFederal Reserve System and directed the Fix the Dollar project until January 2016.[3]
Lonegan lectured across the country to a range of audiences on the history of money and current monetary policy conditions. On February 27, 2015, Lonegan led a team of economists and conservative think tank leaders into a meeting with Federal Reserve ChairJanet Yellen and Federal Reserve officials at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Federal Reserve System.[4]
In August 2015, through American Principles Project, Lonegan hosted an international monetary conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming that included leaders from around the world and was held directly opposite the Federal Reserve's annual economic symposium.[5]
Previously, Lonegan served as the State Director of the New Jersey chapter ofAmericans for Prosperity and was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination forGovernor of New Jersey in 2005 and 2009. He was the unsuccessful nominee in the October 2013special election to fill New Jersey's open U.S. Senate seat following the death ofFrank Lautenberg.[6][7]
Lonegan was born atHoly Name Medical Center inTeaneck, New Jersey. His grandparents emigrated fromItaly andIreland.[8] He graduated fromRidgefield Park High School, where he was a football lineman for the Ridgefield Park Scarlets.[9] He went on to play four years atWilliam Paterson University.
He was diagnosed withretinitis pigmentosa at the age of 14, and is now legallyblind.[10]
Lonegan has owned a custom home building business and a cabinet-making business. He served as the state national and finance vice president for theNational Federation of Independent Business.[11][12] He graduated in 1980 fromWilliam Paterson College with a B.A. in Business Administration and in 1981 earned aMaster of Business Administration degree fromFairleigh Dickinson University.
In 1995, Lonegan was elected Mayor ofBogota, New Jersey, defeating incumbentDemocrat Leonard Nicolosi. He was reelected in 1999[13] and 2003 by double-digit margins. As mayor, he cut municipal spending, merged several municipal departments and privatized some services. Lonegan ordered the municipality to hire civilian dispatchers to answer telephones at police headquarters at lower pay than uniformed officers, angering the local police union; successfully fought the implementation of LOSAP (Length of Service Award Program), which extended pension payments to volunteer fire and rescue personnel; and required that local union contracts exceeding inflation be put to voters for approval. While he was in office,Republicans long in the minority in Democratic-leaning Bogota, controlled the municipal council for 11 straight elections. Lonegan did not seek reelection in 2007, stating a belief in term limits.
In 1997, Lonegan became the Republican nominee forNew Jersey State Senator against Democratic incumbentByron Baer, a 26-year veteran of the state legislature. Running in the37th legislative district, where no Republican had ever won, Lonegan received 39.3% of the vote, losing to Baer by a 10,301 vote margin.[14] Lonegan then became a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1998, challenging freshman DemocratSteve Rothman inNew Jersey's 9th congressional district. Democrats had held this seat sinceRobert Torricelli defeated RepublicanHarold C. Hollenbeck in 1982. Rothman defeated Lonegan by 43,513 votes, 65%-34%.[15]
The 2003 mayoral election in Bogota was chronicled in the documentaryAnytown, USA.[16]
In 2006, Lonegan filed papers for a public referendum in Bogota on making English the official language for the municipality. The public question was rejected by theCounty Clerk's office, which is partly responsible for officiating elections, on legal advice that it violated state and federal law.[17]
On January 19, 2008, Lonegan was arrested byNew Jersey State Police troopers for trespassing at a town hall meeting scheduled by GovernorJon Corzine at a high school inMiddle Township, New Jersey.[18] Lonegan was standing on the school's lawn protesting when police and school officials asked him to move to a designated protest area and remove a sign he was holding. Police arrested him when he refused. School officials later apologized and the police dropped the charges.[19]
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From 2007 to 2013, Lonegan served as the New Jersey State Director and Senior Policy Analyst forAmericans for Prosperity, a conservative public policy organization.[20][21][22][23] He resigned to run for U.S. Senate.[24]
In 2003, Lonegan formed the group "stopthedebt.com" and filed lawsuits against the State of New Jersey inNew Jersey's Supreme Court, challenging state debt sold without voter approval in violation of the stateconstitution's "debt limitation clause". In its findings against Lonegan and the group, the court stated two reasons for not requiring voter approval of that debt. First, that the debt was issued to financea constitutional mandate: the requirement that "The Legislature shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of free public schools for the instruction of all children in the State between the ages of five and eighteen years" (Article VIII Section IV). Second, that the debt was technically not backed by the full faith and credit of New Jersey, and future lawmakers could refuse to honor that contract at any time.[25]
Lonegan ran for the Republican nomination for governor in the state's2005 election and finished fourth, in a field of 7 with 8.08% of the vote after the nominee, businessmanDoug Forrester, formerJersey City MayorBret Schundler and Morris County Freeholder John Murphy and defeated Assembly Majority Leader Paul DeGaetano, Former Freedholder Todd Caliguire and Assemblyman Robert Schroeder.[26]
On December 1, 2008, Lonegan announced that he would run for the Republican nomination for Governor of New Jersey, his second run for the seat. Lonegan promised to cut the size of state government by more than 20% and said he would run on the issues of property taxes, school funding and affordable housing.[27][28] Lonegan sought to run as a conservative alternative to the more liberal candidate, former U.S. ProsecutorChris Christie.[29]On June 2, Lonegan lost the primary to Christie by a 55–44% vote.[30]
In June 2013, Lonegan announced that he would run to fill New Jersey's open U.S. Senate seat following the death of SenatorFrank Lautenberg.[7]Lonegan easily won the Republican primary in August 2013, making him the Republican Party's nominee in the October 2013special election[6] Lonegan was defeated in the election by DemocratCory Booker. He lost by nearly eleven percentage points.
Lonegan announced in October 2013 that he would run in the November 2014 election to representNew Jersey's 3rd congressional district in theUnited States House of Representatives.IncumbentJon Runyan had chosen not to run for reelection.[31] Lonegan lost toTom MacArthur with 40% voting for Lonegan as opposed to MacArthur's 60%.[32]
In 2017, Lonegan announced his candidacy for the 2018 elections inNew Jersey's 5th congressional district against Democratic incumbentJosh Gottheimer.[33] He ultimately lost to formerCresskill Borough Councilman John McCann in the Republican primary.[34][35]
On December 10, 2015, Lonegan announced his endorsement ofTed Cruz for the Republican nomination for president in 2016 and became Chairman of Cruz's campaign in New Jersey. Lonegan became Cruz's first major endorsement in New Jersey at a time when New Jersey's own Governor,Chris Christie, was also a candidate. Lonegan assembled a total of 121 endorsements for Cruz, including Cruz county chairs in all 21 counties.[36] On May 3, 2016, Lonegan described Republican frontrunnerDonald Trump as "Hillary Clinton with a penis".[37][38][39]
David Koch has directly taken credit for founding Americans for Prosperity, saying, "Five years ago my brother Charles and I provided the funds to start the Americans for Prosperity."
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) State of New Jersey Division of Elections Official 2005 Primary Election Results.| Party political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Republican nominee forU.S. Senator fromNew Jersey (Class 2) 2013 | Succeeded by |
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