Paybacks are often difficult, especially when Election Day is just around the corner. When he was seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate last year, Ramapo College Professor Murray Sabrin was expecting the endorsement of Steve Lonegan. But Lonegan instead backed State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Montville). Now Lonegan is a candidate for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. Pennacchio delivered an early endorsement to Lonegan's rival, Christopher Christie. And Sabrin, in an Op-Ed for PolitickerNJ.com, is fairly critical of Lonegan's flat tax plan.
Sabrin says that paybacks were not his motivation:
“My column about Lonegan's tax plan was just that, an analysis of his tax plan. If I were interested in ‘payback,’ I would have run for governor this year or written a devastating piece about Lonegan back in January. People who have been commenting about my column obviously did not read it or think any criticism of a candidate's position(s) isa personal attack or some form of payback," Sabrin told PolitickerNJ.com. "I have been writing about taxes and monetary policy for more than three decades, and God willing will do so for another three decades or until we have limited government, i.e., virtually no taxes.”