TEA Party conservative Steve Lonegan is fighting RINO unknown Tom MacArthur for the soul of the GOP in New Jersey’s 3rd congressional district.

Liberal Republican Mayor Tom MacArthur of Randolph has a lot of money but not a lot of support. And so, like any former insurance company CEO with ties to AIG, he’s trying to buy it by bribing the local GOP county clubs in New Jersey’s third congressional district.

MacArthur gave over $25,000 to the Ocean GOP County to buy the powerful organization’s endorsement which promptly endorsed him. This was something of a foregone conclusion. MacArthur’s consultant, Chris Russell, lists Burlington County GOP, Ocean County GOP, and the National Republican Congressional Committee on his client list. On Wednesday the NRCC endorsed Tom MacArthur has part of its “Young Guns” program.

But MacArthur appears not to have been vetted by the NRCC given his tax and spend politics. The purpose of these endorsements is to try to force conservative Steve Lonegan out of the race and to create the impression that there’s a groundswell of support behind MacArthur. In other words, GOP establishment suits and not third congressional district primary voters are picking the candidate.

Not that it has done him much good. MacArthur’s campaign has thus far been a farce. He complimented the Ocean County County party leadership, “for running a fair and open process that I think brought out the best of all of us” after being endorsed by the club to which he had donated.

In a speech where he promised to help turn around this “company,” MacArthur also promised that he would stop taxes from rising. It’s a familiar lie. Running for city council in Randolph, NJ in 2010, MacArthur’s “number one priority” on was to “control property taxes” but he increased them repeatedly when he was mayor—over 10% in just three years.

MacArthur had campaigned as a “strong conservative,” like his mailers advertise, but he governed as a liberal. “I’ve been walking the town and talking with our residents and controlling taxes is the number one issue I hear about,” he told the New Jersey Hills on May 28, 2010. Al Napoliello, who ran with MacArthur, promised to “do [his] very best to hold the line on property taxes.” MacArthur promised again, in October 2010, to “control our taxes by all means necessary.”

But in April 2013, the city council of Randolph, NJ under Tom MacArthur raised taxes 3.69% in one year, despite noting that the town’s ratable base actually contracted in size. This was on top of a previous 4.32% contentious tax increase in 2010.

So why is MacArthur even running?

Probably for the same reason he ran in 2010—to keep a conservative out of the race and because his friends flattered his ego. Indeed, Tom MacArthur ran on a slate to force a fiscally conservative city councilwoman out of office in 2010.

[MacArthur] said, specifically, that he was asked to run “because of Mrs. Price.”

“I think the town deserves better. If I thought Arlene was doing a terrific job, I would have said no. Half of the time she’s been absent.” (P.C. Robinson and Neil Paley, “Local taxes, bond rating key primary issues in Randolph Township,” New Jersey Hills, May 28, 2010).

-SNIP-

Read more:http://www.redstate.com/diary/rino411/2014/04/01/160539/