TRENTON – Pat Benatar’s “Hit me with your Best Shot” blared out of speakers then died – but only defiantly – as a 101.5 radio personality built up Steve Lonegan, a long coat-clad GOP gubernatorial candidate and the state’s movement conservative in chief, who came out of the rain to stand under the pillars.
Lonegan stepped up to the mike at the podium on the front steps of the State Capitol with the crowd stretching across West State Street.
“You heard them talk about ‘Yes, we can’ last year and what that turned out to mean was apologizing to Europe for the greatness of America, it meant “Yes, we can” create more government,” yelled Lonegan, who faced a rain-spattered 300 here on a 101.5 SOS to protest high taxes, even as the Senate Budget Committee crouched inside and considered Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine’s proposed $29.8 billion budget.
American flags waved.
Up the block in front of the Annex and nursing their own anti-Corzine issues, leaders of CWA Local 1033 huddled in their van behind closed doors, apparently recognizing that for the moment it would be futile to try to compete with the self-styled Tom Paines and Patrick Henrys who dominated in blue jeans, parkas and baseball caps.
Lonegan went on a tear without notes.
“We will tell them, ‘Yes, we will,’” he cried. “America will be better than anyone on the planet, and the answer doesn’t come from the Whitehouse or this Statehouse, it comes from you, the people!”
The faithful unleashed a torrent of whoops, the reverberations of which finally forced Democratic State Party Chairman Joe Cryan to fire off a press release protest of what he called “the party of no,” denouncing Lonegan and Chris Christie, both of whom were scheduled to lend their heft to a taxpayer tea party demo in Morristown earlier today.
Lonegan jumped in a truck bound for Piscataway for yet another rally, with Cryan chastising his movements.
Apparently in an effort to muddy the GOP frontrunner Christie, who to date has tried to package himself as a moderate, the State Chair leaned heavily on the rightward origins of the nationwide tea party organizer FreedomWorks, headed by former U.S. Rep. Dick Armey.
"I can see why some of the other people in the field were out there pandering to this group, but primary season must be heating up for Christie and Lonegan to both show up to events organized by right wing extremist organizations," said Cryan. "The fact that the frontrunners for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in New Jersey even participated shows they are pulling from the same playbook we saw over the past eight years with George W. Bush as President and that we continue to see out of Washington. Christie and Lonegan have no answers to any of the problems people are facing in the middle of a national recession and would rather stump for votes from right wing extremist mobs while chanting slogans and yelling "no" then stand up and contribute to finding solutions."
At least one politician ensconced within the stonewalls here expressed his solidarity with the tea partiers.
“They’re fighting out there and we’re fighting in here,” said state Sen. Joe Pennacchio (R-Montville), a member of the Senate Budget Committee.
Shortly after Lonegan energized the outdoor crowd, state Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Joe Doria sat in a chair and faced state Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Metuchen), Pennacchio and her committee.
He commended the governor for being the first to cut his budget under the amount of what he started with when he began his four-year term. “None of these cuts are easy, however, we are dealing with them,” Doria announced.
Lingering beneath the policy debate was a news story Christie’s foes were trying to keep stuck to the former U.S. Attorney, who last week tried to stem questions concerning his appointment to a federal monitorship of former U.S. Attorney David Kelley of the Southern District of New York.
Kelley had earlier backed away from his prosecution of a stock fraud casehe initiated againstChristie’s brother, Todd.
Seizing on the suggestion of quid pro quo – which Christie strenuously denies – State Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) said he believes the Republican is too ethnically challenged and temperamental to ultimately be able to make a convincing case for why he should serve as governor of New Jersey.
“I think Chris Christie is in for a big surprise,” said Lesniak. “He thought this primary was going to be a walk in the park, but it’s not. The problem for him is he’s presented himself as the model of ethics. When you knock that petard down, what’s he standing on?
“He’s an angry person,” added Lesniak. “You can see it in that last press conference.”
Christie vowed at the same presser in question to not accept further campaign contributions from those to whom he had awarded federal monitorships, but last night he was scheduled to attend a $500-a-plate fundraiser co-hosted by John Inglesino, partner in a law firm Christie selected to oversee the financial rebound of a scandal-hobbled University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ).
“Christie’s downfall will be his hypocrisy,” Lesniak said. “He has so many ethical issues – a laundry list – I wouldn’t want to try to pick one.”
With news of the Inglesino fundraiser, the Lonegan campaign threw its own elbow at Christie, descrying what they cited as “another Christie pay to play scandal.”
But it was only an email burst.
The main Lonegan campaign effort today was the candidate himself, released from what to him and his handlers was certainly a stifling and shocking GOP convention cycle, whichChristie totally dominated.
Now the setpiece was different.
In his rev-up-the-crowd moment prior to Lonegan’s speech, 101.5 radio host Dennis Malloy cried, “I’ve interviewed Steve Lonegan and Chris Christie. Hopefully, Jon Corzine will never set foot on this block again after November. But Steve Lonegan is the candidate who’s most like you and me. …If you want to send one crushing blow to Washington, send someone who represents you, and that’s Steve Lonegan.”
With Christie still out there and in the lead, of course, but momentarily on the defensive, Lonegan was on the street now, stretching and stirring his base.
