Exclusive: Koch Operative May Have Deceived Officials To Take $2.7M In Taxpayer Money For Governor’s

Source: Think Progress

In 2008, Steve Lonegan, the New Jersey state director for David Koch’s Americans for Prosperity group, announced a campaign to run for governor. Running as a Republican, Lonegan lost to Chris Christie (R-NJ) in the Republican primary, and Christie went on to win the general election later in 2009. But recent tax disclosures examined by ThinkProgress reveal that Lonegan, who used $2.7 million in taxpayer matching funds for his gubernatorial campaign, may have deceived public officials in order to collect the public money used for his campaign.

According to New Jersey state clean election law, recipients of public campaign funds cannot be “involved in any way in the management of” a political advocacy 501(c)(4) organization “unless the organization agrees to disclose the name of each of its contributors and the amount of each contribution and expenditure.” Americans for Prosperity has never disclosed its donors. Lonegan, who has served as the New Jersey Americans for Prosperity executive director for years, said the disclosure law didn’t apply to him because he was paid by Americans for Prosperity’s educational 501(c)(3) foundation rather than its 501(c)(4) lobbying and advocacy branch. He told reporters that he was only paid by Americans for Prosperity’s educational foundation, not its lobbying branch:

To avoid potential campaign conflicts, candidates who apply for matching money are required to tell the commission if they’ve previously managed issue-advocacy groups and list their donors and expenditures if they’ve recently run such a group. Lonegan said he is not subject to those reporting requirements because he was paid by the educational foundation of the anti-tax lobbying group, not its lobbying branch.

When Lonegan filed his request for public funds, he signed a certificate saying he was not “involved in any way in the management of an issue advocacy organization” for the period of 2005 to 2009.

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/31/steve-lonegan-deceived-campaign-funds/

Jeeez....we can go to jail if we don't pay a parking ticket. I want some justice!

It's time they got more than a slap on the hand. I'm not sure if they are even getting that.

The Wealthy Class who are privileged to begin with should have stiffer Jail penalties then that of us poorer folk, Who actually work for a living.

American Action Network/AAN

American Action Network/AAN profile(SourceWatch)
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Action_Network

Notice the phoney nationalism ploy, there is nothing American about these corporate fascists nor their goal of the privatization of everything.

Lonegan has been kicking around the fringes of NJ politics for many years. I find it amusing that he applied for public funds as he is a staunch anti-tax, anti-government, anti-most-everything noisemaker.

they've become quite adept at stretching the legalities. :grr:

Once again they are doing what they do best, nothing. Either that or protecting those that they wish to protect. It appears that nothing ever happens as far as prosecutions against illegal behavior. The MSM club lets it wither and die on the vine.

Has anyone ever been punished? His tap-dancing will set him free, because laws don't apply to The Family.

Lonegan is certifiable. He's a small town mayor from an affluent Bergen County town who has created a cottage industry out of staking out the most right-wing positions possible and running for state-wide office just spewing this insanity. The crazier the better. The really frightening part is that he is like a wing-nut detector. Whenever he runs he just brings the crazies out of the woodwork.You can almost predict to the nearest hundred how many votes he will get in any particular election. I get robo-calls from him 3 times a week. Now I know where the money for these harassing calls came from.

massive amounts of tax dollars given to any loon who runs for office. $2.7 million? Why was he given that much money?

Anytown, USA.

Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZJ1JsiYwzk

Makes him look closer to sane than he actually is.

throughout the Country to start making citizens' arrests.
If these crooks cannot go to almost every State in the Country for fear of arrest, then they will have to leave the Country.