Steven Lonegan

The controversy surrounding U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie's selection of John Ashcroft for a lucrative federal monitor position may have roiled Democrats, but it hasn't changed Republicans' feelings about their would-be gubernatorial nominee.

That's not to say that Christie has come out and announced he's running for governor. In fact, he consistently blows off speculation about a potential run, saying that members of the media obsess about it more than he does.

That may be true. But members of the Republican Party obsess about it too, and the revelation about him giving his former boss a hefty paycheck hasn't dampened the establishment's enthusiasm for Christie as their nominee in 2009 - should he choose to run, of course. The election may be two years away, but all signs point to vast Republican support for a Christie candidacy.

Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan is a likely candidate for the 2009 GOP nomination for GovernorBogota Mayor Steven Lonegan has not announced plans to run for governor again in 2009, but if he does, he doesn’t think that the latest flap about him hiring illegal immigrants to assemble political signs hurts his chances.

Lonegan said that this weekend’s incident may give political opponents ammunition, but it won’t resonate with voters. But revelations of officials hiring illegal immigrants have been political poison before. It killed Zoe Baird’s nomination for Attorney General by President Bill Clinton in 1993, as it did the nomination of his next candidate, Kimba Wood. And the discovery that Bernie Kerik used an illegal immigrant nanny was the first of many issues to emerge that ended his nomination for Homeland Security Chief.

It was a bad weekend for Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan, the de facto statewide leader of the most conservative wing of the New Jersey Republican Party: a disclosure that the longtime foe of illegal immigration and English Only proponent had hired undocumented immigrants to assemble campaign signs in his garage.  Lonegan says he’s the victim, alleging that the Bogota Police Department, upset that Lonegan would not make certain concessions in their contract negotiations, used racial profiling to make him look bad.

Bergen County Democratic Organization lawyer Dennis Oury has a friend in Steve Lonegan.

Lonegan, the outspoken conservative mayor of Bogota and PoliticsNJ.com contributor, said he plans to join Oury in a lawsuit against the state’s pay-to-play laws. 

“I believe in unlimited contributions and full disclosure, and if the people don’t like it they’ll vote you out of office,” said Lonegan.  “We don’t need government bureaucrats telling us what’s right and wrong.”

Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan and Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow will serve on the Mike Doherty for U.S. Senate Exploratory Committee.  Lonegan, a former gubernatorial candidate, is the de facto leader of the state GOP's most conservative wing.  Karrow, a moderate, represents the same northwestern New Jersey legislative district as Doherty.