Steve Lonegan, a candidate for the Republican nomination in New Jersey’s 5th Congressional district, was hosted at a recent parlor meeting in Englewood by Dr. Robert and Amy Lebovics. Lonegan, former mayor of Bogota, who lost the 2013 Senate race to Cory Booker, told the group he is running on “mainstream conservative principles, economic growth and freedom.” He supports the current tax cutting legislation and said it would result in a “powerful economy.” Lonegan said he supports the second amendment right to bear arms, but also supports a ban on bump stocks, devices that make semi-automatic rifles function like machine guns.
When informed by a group of students from Rutgers about professors engaging in anti-Semitic attacks that are making Jewish students feel unwelcome, he advised them to “be outspoken and find allies.” He said there is “anti-faith sentiment in the liberal world,” which is an attack on the national’s culture. “It is an effort to destroy the foundation of western civilization.”
He noted that in contrast to Tenafly, when he was mayor of Bogota, he welcomed the opportunity to have an eruv in town, and participated in a ceremony with local rabbis when it was completed. He also spoke about a trip he took to Chevron in Israel, where he accompanied friends who were donating a motorcycle to help responders get to terror victims more quickly.
Lonegan told the group that he was diagnosed at age 14 with an incurable condition of the retina that would leave him blind by age 30. The doctor told his parents that he would end up weaving baskets. However, he graduated from college even though he was almost blind by then. When Lonegan told a counselor he wanted to get an MBA degree, he was advised not to worry, that he could survive with food stamps and vocational training. Lonegan went on to get that degree. After many rejections, he found a job as a kitchen cabinet salesman. He ultimately bought the company and became a successful businessman and real estate developer. “There is nothing more dignified than going to work,” he said.
The primary will be held on June 5, 2018.
