Gopal Endorses Dr. Margie Donlon For Ocean Township Council

Senator Vin Gopal has issued his only endorsement in the Ocean Township municipal election for Dr. Margie Donlon.

The senator shared an advance copy of his endorsement letter with MMM. Ocean voters can expect to receive the letter in the mail tomorrow and Saturday.

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Siciliano blamed mystery mailer on Gopal

Assemblyman Eric Houghtaling, Sen Vin Gopal and Mayor Christopher Siciliano

Ocean Township Christopher Siciliano, in a phone interview last week with MMM, blamed an inflammatory piece of campaign mail that was paid for by an unregistered political action committee on Senator Vin Gopal .

“It was probably Vin,” Siciliano said when asked who was behind the mailer which depicted Councilman Rob Acerra as the Texas Chainsaw muderer with a paid for disclosure by “Ocean Taxpayer Coalition, 700 Carol Ave, Oakhurst NJ 07755.”

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Arnone to hold public meeting about dump odors in Tinton Falls

photo courtesy of Monmouth County Citizens for Environmental Health and Safety facebook group

Freeholder Director Tom Arnone announced that a public meeting regarding the County government’s efforts to remediate the odors emitting from the Monmouth County Reclamation Center will be held on Monday, May 13, 7 p.m., at the Tinton Falls Municipal Building, 556 Tinton Avenue.

“At this meeting, I look forward to providing an in-person update on the progress that has been made as well as the current work being done at the landfill. I will be addressing specific questions and concerns that have been raised and discussing the next steps the County will be taking over the coming weeks,” Arnone said in an email to Tinton Falls residents.

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Pot Legalizaton Passes in Senate and Assembly Committees

After hours of delays for last minute amendments which caused the suspension of testimony and debate  a legislation that legalizes and establishes a regulatory structure of recreation marijuana passed the Assembly Appropriates Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday night, according to reports on Politico, InsiderNJ and NJGlobe.

Legislation to expunge marijuana convictions, including felony convictions for selling over 5 lbs of pot, passed the committees.  The felony expungement provisions prompted a strong reaction from Republican Senators Kip Bateman (Somerset), Michael Doherty (Warren) and Gerald Cardinale (Bergen).  Bateman said the bill contained “evil.”  Doherty said that the bill is a “deal with the devil.”  Cardinale suggested calling the bill, “the Drug Pusher’s Friend Act.” 

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Gopal: The courts should decide if NJ can keep Trump off the ballot if he doesn’t release tax returns

By Art Gallagher

Senator Vin Gopal

State Senator Vin Gopal said it would be up to the courts to decide if New Jersey has the right to keep a presidential candidate, President Trump or any other candidate, off the ballot in the state if they do not disclose five years of tax returns, as required by legislation he voted in favor of last week, should the bill pass in the Assembly and be signed by Governor Phil. Murphy.

Gopal reached out to object to MMM’s coverage of his vote on the bill, S119,which would also prohibit Electoral College electors from voting for a candidate who did not disclose their tax returns, regardless of how voters cast their ballots.  He objected to the use of the phrase “fellow cronies” in describing his relationships with the other Democrat senators who passed the bill last week.  He said I was inferring that he was corrupt for not wanting the the disclosure requirement to apply to him and other NJ elected officials and that I was implying that his cash purchase of his Tinton Falls office building was nefarious.

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Long Branch Police Officer Under Investigation For Sexual Assault

Photo credit Will Bahamonde via Long Branch PD’s facebook page

MMM has learned that a Long Branch Police Officer is under investigation for allegedly inappropriately groping a female guest, during a celebration of police promotions on Friday night at Jack’s Goal Line Stand, a popular restaurant on Brighton Ave in the city.

Long Branch Police Chief Jason Roebuck confirmed the incident is being investigated by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.

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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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