Salman believes that Gopal’s leak tanks his chances for NJ Transit job

Bob Salman

Bob Salman, the 79 year old Democrat State Committeeman from Marlboro, believes that Senator Vin Gopal thwarted any chance he had to join the Murphy administration when the young senator distributed an email that Salman meant for Gopal’s eyes only. 

“I don’t need a job. My family doesn’t want me to work and now I probably won’t get the job,” Salman told MMM in a phone interview on Wednesday.

Salman said that the had been angling to return to the Department of Transportation, where he served as Inspector General during the McGreevey/Codey and Corzine administrations, since Governor Phil Murphy was elected last year. He told MMM that he advised the Murphy campaign and the transition on transportation issues.  “I had hoped to get a high level job after Governor Murphy took office,” Salman said. “I didn’t get it.  The legislation that reforms NJ Transit includes a Chief Ethics Officer,  That’s not an Inspector General but it is close. Now I’m probably not going to get that.”

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Recreational Marijuana Legalization Passes NJ Legislative Committees

New Jersey is one step closer to legalizing recreational marijuana use after the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee and the Assembly Appropriations Committee each approved the New Jersey Marijuana Legalization Act after a four hour joint hearing on the bill.

The Senate Committee passed the bill 7-4, with two abstentions.

Monmouth County’s senators on the committee came down on different sides as Senator Vin Gopal (D-ll) voted in favor of the bill and Senator Declan O’Scanlon (R-13) voted against.

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Will Vin Gopal Withdraw His Support Of Larry Luttrell For Freeholder?

State Senator Vin Gopal last week withdrew his support for Teddy Price, 58, a Democrat candidate for Ocean County Freeholder, ostensibly because of Price’s arrest record for alcohol fueled youthful indiscretions 37 years ago.

In a conveniently leaked letter to Ocean County Democrat Chairman Wyatt Earp, Senator Gopal  asked that the $10,000 donation he made to the Ocean Dem coffers not be used for Price’s freeholder campaign because Price was arrested twice in 1981.  The way Gopal tells the story, the charges against Price were pretty serious. “Mr. Price’s criminal history is deeply disturbing,” Gopal wrote. Assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, interfering with and fighting with police were the charges Gopal mentioned in his letter to Earp.

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O’Scanlon slams Murphy for holding up Monmouth Park sport betting.

Senator Declan O’Scanlon

Senator Declan O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth, blasted Governor Phil Murphy and the New Jersey Racing Commission for standing in the way of Monmouth Park from taking sports bets this weekend.

“There are two aspects to the administration’s actions. The first is that they are taking their time to sign the legislation, and the second is that they are standing in the way of Monmouth Park opening while taking that time,” said O’Scanlon said in a press release this afternoon. “The Governor claims he needs to review this legislation before signing it, but there is no practical reason why Monmouth Park cannot start accepting wagers while that’s happening–the sky won’t fall, lions won’t roam the streets, locusts won’t ravage our fields. There is absolutely zero likelihood of any negative impact of Monmouth Park opening today. That being the case, one has to wonder about the motivation here. It’s disturbing.”

“The legislature came together in a bipartisan manner to get this done correctly and quickly. All of that bipartisan effort has been brought to a screeching and frankly irrational halt by the actions of the administration.”

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Murphy puts the brakes on sports betting at NJ racetracks despite legislature’s green light

Don’t count on placing a bet on the NBA Finals or the Yankees/Mets subway series games this weekend at Monmouth Park.  Governor Phil Murphy has not signed the bill regulating sports betting that passed the legislature unanimously yesterday and the New Jersey Racing Commission, which Murphy controls, warned the state’s three tracks not to take bets before he does, according to a NJ.com report.

Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the nationwide sports betting ban, except for Nevada, Dennis Drazin of Monmouth Park announced he was prepared to start taking bets at the William Hill Race and Sports Bar on Memorial Day. New Jersey already had a law on the books, and a state constitutional amendment, that allows sports betting, so with the federal ban overturned by SCOTUS, there was no legal barrier to accepting bets.

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Welle Underperforms Against Keady, Smith Overperforms Unopposed

By Art Gallagher

While much of the media is reporting how poorly U.S. Senator Bob Menendez performed in the  Democrat primary yesterday, I couldn’t miss how poorly Josh Welle, address none of your business, performed against former Asbury Park Councilman Jim Keady, Spring Lake, in the 4th congressional district primary.

With all three county party lines, more money and the endorsement of his former landlord, State Senator and honorary volunteer firefighter Vin Gopal, Welle only got 57% of the vote against Keady’s 43%.

Congressman Chris Smith, Hamilton, overperformed expectations, especially given that he was unopposed in the CD-4 Republican primary.

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Murphy could hold sports betting bill as a chip to play in budget negotiations

The William Hill Sports Race & Sports Book at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, New Jersey. Photo By Bill Denver/EQUI-PHOTO.

Dennis Drazin and his partners at Monmouth Park were ready to accept sports bets on Memorial Day weekend.  They wisely didn’t after Senate President Steve Sweeney announced he was inserting a provision in the state legislation regulating sports betting that would prohibit anyone who took bets before the regulations were passed from getting a license.

Sweeney was looking out for the Atlantic City Casinos who weren’t ready to take bets yet.   In the meantime, Delaware passed their spots betting regulations and bets will start being taken there today.  New Jersey loses out again.

What was considered a two or three week delay while legislation was passed now threatens to deprive New Jersey’s racetracks and casinos of sports betting revenue, and the related jobs, for a third or more of their summer season.  According to a report on Politico, Governor Murphy is prepared to hold the sports betting bill as a chip to play as he negotiates his first state budget with the more moderate Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin.

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Congratulations to Senator Gopal…

…for complying with the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as interpreted by U.S. Judge Naomi Buchwald, and unblocking MMM’s Art Gallagher before U.S. Senator Cory Booker unblocked Save Jersey’s @MattRooneyNJ.

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What if Menendez resigns?

It’s not considered likely that Senator Bob Menendez will resign as a result of the bi-partisan admonishment he received from the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics.  NJ and Washington Democrats have become a much more forgiving people since Senator Bob Torricelli was forced out of office after his admonishment 16 years ago.

As Bret Stephens wrote in a Trump bashing piece in the NY Times yesterday, America’s standards have declined over the years.   Menendez’s admonishment for trading the power of his office for luxury travel and massive campaign contributions will likely blow over as the Democrats and their media partners continue their mission to destroy the Trump presidency.

But what if the Russian collusion with the Senate Ethics Committee works and Menendez decides to take a job running Dr. Salomon Melgen’s port security business in the Dominican Republic while looking over his luxury villa?

If Menendez resigns, Governor Phil Murphy gets to appoint someone to fill the vacancy until January. That person would run in Menendez’s place for a six year term in the November election. Who would Murphy choose? Read the rest of this entry »

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Gopal wants Freeholders to be called County Commissioners

State Senator and honorary volunteer firefighter Vin Gopal finds the term “freeholder” offensive and, for Monmouth County voters in particular, confusing.

Gopal co-sponsored a last minute change–a substitution– in legislation that passed in the Senate last week which, if passed in the Assembly and signed by Governor Murphy, will mandate that the name of the office of Freeholder be changed to County Commissioner. Read the rest of this entry »

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