Last Friday "gay" marriage was DOA. State Senate Judiciary Chairman Paul Sarlo, a Democrat, said that he wasn't going to bring the bill to enact it before his committee, because he didn't think it had the votes to pass during the "lame duck" session.
But something happened over the weekend. According to NJN, four liberal Republicans in the New Jersey Senate - Bill Baroni, Jennifer Beck, Kip Bateman, and Sean Kean - said that they would provide the votes to pass gay marriage in New Jersey.
That's right, the Democrats lacked the votes to pass gay marriage, so they weren't going to even try. Then four liberal Republicans crossed-over to help and now it looks like New Jersey will have gay marriage.
This is a flip-flop, because legislators like Jennifer Beck are on record as opposed to ramming through votes during the lame duck session, after an election, when no one is paying attention.
Voters in thirty one states have voted on and defeated gay marriage. Apparently, these four "Republicans" would deny New Jerseyans the right to vote on this culture changing issue, and they would condone slipping it through in the still of the night.
During his run for Governor, Chris Christie campaigned as a traditional values conservative and is on record as opposing gay marriage. State Senator Tom Kean Jr. - the leader of the Senate Republicans - is on record as supporting an amendment to the state constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman.
Christie and Kean have each received the benefits of the support of New Jersey's traditional values conservatives. Both have been favored by groups like the New Jersey Family Policy Council.
Now, they have fallen silent.
We needn't have gay marriage in New Jersey. A strong, clear statement by Governor-elect Chris Christie and Senator Tom Kean Jr. will help these four Republican State Senators to think again.
As Kean said in 2006, when the State Supreme Court first raised the issue of gay marriage, "The eyes of the country are on New Jersey."
Please call Governor-Elect Christie and Senator Kean and ask them to implore these four Republicans to oppose a vote by the legislature on gay marriage and support putting the question on the ballot for all the voters of New Jersey to decide.
Contact Governor-Elect Chris Christie
c/o Senator Joe Kyrillos (Transition Team member)
1715 Highway 35, Suite 303, Middletown, NJ 07748
(732) 671-3206
SenKyrillos@NJleg.org
Contact Governor-Elect Chris Christie
c/o Senator Sandra Cunningham (Transition Team member)
1738 Kennedy Blvd., Jersey City, NJ 07305
(201) 451-5100
SenCunningham@NJleg.org
Contact Senator Tom Kean Jr.
425 North Ave. East, Suite C, Westfield, NJ 07090
(908) 232-3673
SenKean@NJleg.org
Contact Senator Bill Baroni
3691A Nottingham Way, Hamilton Square, NJ 08690
(609) 631-9988
SenBaroni@NJleg.org
Contact Senator Kip Bateman
36 East Main St., Somerville, NJ 08876
(908) 526-3600
SenBateman@NJleg.org
Contact Senator Jennifer Beck
32 Monmouth St., 3rd Floor, Red Bank, NJ 07701
(732) 933-1591
SenBeck@NJleg.org
Contact Senator Sean Kean
1955 Highway 34, Bldg. 2A, Wall Township, NJ 07719
(732) 974-0400
SenSKean@NJleg.org On to Victory, 
Steven Lonegan
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Do You Support Trenton's A.C. Takeover? 
Don't overanalyze. Lonegan's email is not driven by public policy goals or strategy.
Lonegan's email, as with his other attack emails since June, has 3 goals:
(1) feed the insatiable ego of Steve Lonegan;
(2) serve up some demagogic red meat so that Steve keeps a following of sufficient size to keep his lucrative job with AFP-NJ; and
(3) attempt to drive wedges between Christie and conservatives, as Steve is growing concerned about his displacement as a leader. (For example, Christie received several standing ovations from attendees at the NJ Family Policy Council's annual dinner. When that was reported back to Steve, it no doubt drove Steve nuts. Hence, within mere weeks, Steve references in his email both Christie and the NJFPC and attempts to drive a wedge ["so that never again will Christie get the standing ovation that I deserve!"]).
To summarize simply, my friends, Steve's emails always boil down to 3 self-serving goals: ego, red meat, and wedges.
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What a lot of nasty words to say about a fellow Republican. I guess that unity stuff only goes one way.
What's Lonegan's crime?
On Monday, NJN reported that 4 Republican Senators were YES votes on same-sex marriage. That gives the liberal Democrats their 21 votes for passage. Tuesday came and went and none of these Republican Senators did a thing to correct NJN (as in the state's number 1 source for political news).
So Lonegan got to work and used his e-mail to push back at least one of these Republicans into the NO column.
Why would any GOPer get mad at Lonegan when Lonegan is only taking Christie's position on this issue? Has Christie's position changed since November 3rd? I don't think so.
So it's not about dinners and all that stupid stuff you mentioned. It is about keeping the Dems from getting 21 votes to change our culture without a vote of the people. Do you understand now?
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Steve Lonegan will never, I repeat, NEVER get elected to another public office in the state of New Jersey ever again and that will be for the better. If the GOP is serious about making a push for Steve Rothman's congressional seat, they need to find a far more suitable candidate than Steve Lonegan.
I always believed that Vince Micco was an excellent candidate who never got the support from the party he deserved. I would be more than happy to see him get another opportunity.
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Matt,
What generated Lonegan's concern was the report by NJN that 4 -- count them -- 4 REPUBLICAN Senators were supporting same-sex marriage. I don't know how you prevent the Dems from getting to 21 if they have 4 Republican votes. You tell me.
If these GOP Senators are on the fence, we have a chance. Someone should reach out to them (maybe Christie or Kean) to get them to state that they are NO votes or on the fence. That would help.
You saying that Jersey is a liberal to moderate state on same-sex marriage sounds like surrender (is NJ more liberal than Maine?).
Both Christie and Kean are on record as opposing same-sex marriage. And most VOTERS (as opposed to "residents") would like to see it on the ballot.
This is an easy win for Christie if he was the guts to take it.
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Surrender? Maybe one day, but I'm not exactly going to hand my sword to Loretta Weinberg over gay marriage. LoL.
My point is this.... sometimes, the best strategy is to take a step back and let your opponents reveal their own idiocy. In this case, the NJ Dems are doing a fine job of convincing moderate Dems/Republicans that it's not wise to follow them on this issue. They don't need help from us!
Sen. Bateman didn't announce his opposition today b/c of Steve Lonegan. He did it because he saw what a mess it is!
As Republicans, our job is to focus on the most important issue before us: dismantling big government! Don't let the Dems draw you into their web. It's a trap.
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Well, I don't know why Bateman changed his mind -- neither do you (unless you are Bateman)-- and we don't know if he'll change back.
We do know that he was one of 5 Republicans to vote YES to civil unions. We do know that on Monday, NJN reported that he was a YES on same-sex marriage, and that he didn't move to correct that until yesterday, in response to an inquiry from a Lonegan supporter.
As Republicans our job is to be Republicans. Take a look at the platform if you need to know what that is.
Dismantling big government is part of that. You work your angle and we'll work ours. Good luck.
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Dismantling big government is the central, major and far-and-away most important task of any true Republicans. Everything else is a secondary concern.
Again... it's an issue of focusing energies in the most productive direction. Sometimes the most effective route is the indirect one. See Sun Tzu's Art of War, a book I'm sure Mayor Lonegan is familiar with.
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Matt, this is the first time I have ever agreed with you. Congratulations.
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