WND: RINO Hunting in New Jersey
Tuesday, May 13th, 2014 @ 2:46PM in In the news, News
This article originally appeared on WND.com
By Selena Owens
Sarah Palin isn’t the only one RINO hunting this election season. Conservative Republican Steve Lonegan has liberal RINO Tom MacArthur in his cross-hairs, figuratively speaking, in New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District race to replace retiring Republican incumbent John Runyan.
As you might recall, Lonegan was defeated by liberal Obama minion Cory Booker in the special election to replace Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg in an energized and dramatic race to the finish. Lonegan was outspent 8 to 1; notwithstanding, he won the 3rd District by 6 points, the best of any Republican in the last decade, and gained valuable name recognition as a fierce and valiant champion of conservatism.
And now he’s back with a vengeance.
Lonegan has a proven track record in conservative politics. While mayor of (heavily Democratic) Bogota, Lonegan made wonderful common-sense reforms that in turn caused voters to vote in Republicans for City Council, and then Republicans held the City Council for 11 elections! As former director of the New Jersey chapter of Americans for Prosperity, he assisted in defeating an 8 percent sales tax increase on the statewide ballot.
Lonegan refers to himself as the conservative standard bearer in New Jersey, a state whose own GOP establishment has been fighting conservatives for over 30 years. In this race – the only race in the state that many experts agree can be won by either party – Lonegan fiercely holds to constitutional principles of Second Amendment rights, limited government, states rights and strong fiscal responsibility.
Tom MacArthur is a minted establishment candidate recruited by the GOP with a few years of public service, a former mayor of Randolph who raised taxes. MacArthur is also an insurance executive who, although not named in their lawsuits, was an officer and shareholder at York Risk Services Group when the company was accused of defrauding victims of natural disasters. Furthermore, MacArthur once supported gun control, and his position on the issue closely resembled that of Barack Obama.
Lonegan certainly knows what he’s facing in this ultra-competitive primary: MacArthur plans to buy this seat by outspending his opponent on glitzy ads in a district Obama won in 2008 and 2012. He’s worth millions, lent his campaign $2 million, spent almost $169,000 in TV ads and mailers, and gave over $25,000 to the Ocean County Republican Committee.
The GOP supports MacArthur and shuns Lonegan (not surprising whenever a true conservative goes RINO hunting). The GOP shouldn’t ignore the early lead polling advantage of Lonegan over MacArthur – and should a paid pollster for the MacArthur campaign signaling a MacArthur lead be trusted? The GOP recruited money-man Tom MacArthur; his campaign slogan is “Self-Made Businessman.” But the people endorse Lonegan, including former Rep. Ron Paul, Mark Levin and national organizations such Tea Party Express, RedState and the Conservative Campaign Committee PAC as well as the local tea party groups in his district.
Hardly deterred and always one to take the bull by the horns, Lonegan’s first shot against MacArthur during this hunting season is this ad:
Lonegan calls out MacArthur for raising property taxes – while mayor of Randolph – to build low-income housing to promote “diversity” and “social engineering” – hardly the hallmark of conservatism.
How does building low-income housing equate to promoting diversity? Will residents exchange stories with tenants of different ethnicities about how they ended up in government housing, compare notes and champion each other’s skills for barely makin’ it? Can’t diversity be promoted without people being subjected to low-income housing? What, exactly, is the point?
Social engineering? Really? From a page taken right out of the liberals’ playbook, social engineering psychologically manipulates people and, in this case, keeps them bound by their circumstances to government assistance and groupthink. This is exactly how liberal RINOs like Tom MacArthur play the people: They give them a handout and promote a system that appears compassionate and helpful, but offers no light whatsoever at the end of a dark and dreary tunnel.
Lonegan successfully landed several more shots against MacArthur regarding Obamacare. MacArthur stated, “The government has a role in providing insurance.” And if that’s not enough to cry RINO, MacArthur desires to replace it with a system by which insurance companies fund an “insurer of last resort” for people who cannot otherwise acquire insurance. Sure, he attempts to mask it by stating that massive government health care is not the solution, yet clings to it as a “last resort.” Lonegan promises to repeal Obamacare and replace it with … absolutely nothing.
RINO hunting season in the 3rd Congressional District ends June 3. New Jerseyans should be proud to have such a patriotic, fearless, true conservative as Steve Lonegan fighting to represent them in Congress. I urge every conservative in the district to join Steve Lonegan’s hunt while it’s still open season.
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