In Bogota, Lonegan cut spending, merged departments, privatized some services, and reduced the budget, adjusted for inflation. He took on the aircraft noise and once ordered officers to ticket a CSX train that idled for hours in the borough.

"I got a call in 1998 from a constituent complaining about the train," Lonegan said. "It was huffing and puffing all night. We gave the train a $75 ticket for disturbing the peace and were told, 'You can't do that. We're protected by federal law.'

"I was ridiculed until it was time for the ticket to be paid," he said. "But I said, 'You're not exempt under our law.' CSX showed up with six attorneys. We met with them, and they signed an agreement that they'd idle their trains further up or down the line."

That year, Lonegan ran unsuccessfully for New Jersey's Ninth Congressional District seat against freshman Rep. Steve Rothman. "I met lots of people, and it was a great experience that prepared me for where I am now - but 1998 was a bad year for Republicans," he said.

In his first statewide run, for the Republican nomination for governor in 2005, he finished fourth behind businessman Doug Forrester, former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler, and Morris County Freeholder John Murphy.

"Historically, lots of people who eventually become governor have lost once before and then win, the idea being that you put your hat in the ring and create a statewide network," said Dworkin, the political analyst. "That's tough for a lot of people to do. A second run makes a lot of sense."

The 2005 race for governor "really crystalized for me how the Republican Party leadership has no vision, no clear handle on what needs to be done," Lonegan said. "They don't understand what it's like running a business, being up at night with your stomach in knots, trying to figure out how to meet payroll. . . . I will lay out my agenda and seek a mandate for change."

Lonegan's wife, Lorraine, a parochial-school teacher, said the voters will "know where he stands. He will make decisions on behalf of the whole, not for the special interests."

The Lonegans have two daughters, 21-year-old Brooke and 24-year-old Katharine.

Lonegan "knows what he wants to do when in charge of government and implemented those things as mayor," Dworkin said. "As governor, he will do the same thing. He knows what he thinks government should and shouldn't do."

Lonegan's strong views have sometimes led to controversy. In 2006, he demanded the removal of a Spanish-language billboard and sought a public referendum in Bogota to make English the official language. The county clerk's office rejected the question.

The next year, Lonegan hired two undocumented workers to put together political signs. When the two were arrested by police, he said the men had told him they had legal documentation.

He also was blasted by critics who said that, as mayor, he artificially kept taxes lower by postponing expenses, such as paving roads and finalizing a new police contract.

Lonegan has never been distracted long from his main focus: taxes and government spending.

He drew statewide attention when he and the "Stop the Debt" campaign sued the state for failing to obtain voter approval before taking on more debt. In 2003, the state Supreme Court ruled, 4-3, that the state could create quasi-public agencies to issue debt without a referendum.

Lonegan's efforts were more successful against the proposed 15-cents-per-gallon increase in the gasoline tax in 2003. He developed a Web site and gathered tens of thousands of signatures that helped sink the proposal.

In 2007, Lonegan helped defeat two statewide ballot measures, one for $450 million for stem-cell research and another to dedicate sale-tax revenue to property-tax relief. And last year, he sued Gov. Corzine and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority in Superior Court to challenge the sale of $3.9 billion in state debt without voter approval. The action was dismissed.

Though not always successful, Lonegan said, he has shown his "effectiveness and produced measurable, not vague, results" on a variety of issues.

Taxes and spending "were definitely the thrust of my efforts as mayor for many years and definitely the main thrust of this campaign, the number-one issues," he said.

Lonegan served as state director of Americans for Prosperity, a nonprofit public-policy organization, from 2007 until this year. He held dozens of seminars across the state, advocating free markets and limited government.