Earlier this evening, by a unanimous voice vote on Zoom, the Evesham Township Democratic Committee elected a slate of officers during its reorganization meeting.
The uncontested slate was:
CHAIR
Mark Natale
VICE CHAIR
Christie DeCarolis (incumbent)
TREASURER
Sharyn Pertnoy-Schmidt (incumbent)
An attorney, Natale last year ran unscucessfully for the Assembly in LD8 in one of the most watched contests in the state.
An Essex insider this evening reached into his grab bag of local cultural references to denounce Governor Phil Murphy’s ongoing daily COVID-19 briefings.
“He’s gotta stop with the Jerry Lewis telethons,” said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity, likening Murphy to the late Newark native who made a late career habit of playing host to the Jerry Lewis Telethon, a variety show conceived to raise money for victims of muscular dystrophy.
Mohammed Aktauruzzaman this afternoon tried to reverse the unofficial results of his May 12th tilt with incumbent Paterson Ward 2 Councilman Shahin Khalique.
In the end he came up short by one vote.
The orginal results, challenged by Akhtuaruzzaman:
Councilman Shahin Khalique: 1,729
Akhturuzzaman: 1,721
The challenger today gained seven votes but not enough to overtake his tormentor.
Also of a note: Passaic County received 18 more ballots on June 2nd that were properly postmarked prior to the May 1th deadline.
If you thought you were tuning into an old episode of Hollywood Squares and looking for Paul Lynde in the central square, you were probably diappointed to learn you were actually watching the Assembly Transportation Committee’s zoom hearing in the middle of a paandemic.
To ensure people with disabilities continue to have access to appropriate modes of public transportation, the committee cleared a measure Monday requiring NJ TRANSIT to operate its Access Link paratransit service in certain areas where safe during a state of emergency.
Sponsors of the bill (A-1155), Assembly Democrats Roy Freiman (D-16), Carol Murphy (D-7) and Christopher Tully (D-38), issued the following joint statement:
“Troubling reports of transit services on Access Link being cancelled during a state of emergency while other services continue to operate have recently come to light. With nearly a quarter of New Jersey adults left vulnerable by a physical or developmental disability, this servicing disruption and inefficiency is highly problematic.
“Many rely on Access Link to be able to travel to work, day programs and to their doctor or hospitals where they receive medical care – even under a state of emergency. If risk to riders and drivers can be mitigated on transit in certain service areas during a state of emergency, routes for those with disabilities must also be maintained.”
Governor Murphy tweeted that municipal and private club swimming pools can reopen in two weeks:
NEW: Municipal and private-club swimming pools can REOPEN on Monday, June 22nd. ?@NJDeptofHealth will release full guidance tomorrow relating to the procedures and protocols that will need to be followed. pic.twitter.com/beVB3PnOZV
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) June 8, 2020
It’s getting gruesome in the CD3 Republican Primary, where Davd Richter is attempting to deepsix his opponent, Katie Gibbs.
Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-26) over the weekened excoriated Governor Phil Murphy for participating in a police brutality protest.
“Shops closed, ballfields empty, graduations and weddings cancelled, but Phil Murphy doesn’t have to social distance when he has something important to do? Hypocrisy at its worst,” Webber wrote on his Facebook page along a photo of the governor, masked up but not following social distancing procedures, at an anti-police brutality rally.
Gov. Phil Murphy attended two Black Lives Matter protests Sunday — a show of solidarity with protesters seeking racial justice even as he’s more broadly urged people to stay home in the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The same day, an attorney representing two New Jersey women who’d been issued summonses for their own peaceful protests — not over racial issues or police brutality, but over the governor’s own business shutdowns — told New Jersey 101.5 his clients will sue Murphy, calling enforcement of the governor’s stay-at-home orders arbitrary.
Read Insider NJ’s Morning Intelligence Briefing: 6/8/2020
Governor Phil Murphy and First Lady Tammy Murphy marched with Black Lives Matter protesters in Hillside earlier today; the Governor tweeted the following:
Today, in Hillside, we marched for justice.
For George Floyd and for the many before him – who lost their lives for being Black.
We march because we will not accept systemic racism and bias as just part of our national condition. Black Lives Matter. pic.twitter.com/JGe00Xa1qS
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) June 7, 2020
The man who “forgot where he came from” by the reckoning once of Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3) in the middle of a contentious budget battle, today made sure to shovel some praise in the direction of his former tormentor.
“Two leaders deserve the most credit for opposing the prior administration’s efforts to politicize the NJ Supreme Court – and who fought the grotesque decision to deny Justicce John Wallace tenure,” Bill Castner tweeted at Sweeney (and Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg).
Governor Phil Murphy this morning announced his decision to nominate Fabiana Pierre-Louis to the state Supreme Court, but Castner, who had toiled within the architecture of Murphy’s circus maximus, made sure to tweet-wink Sweens.
“He wants to join the Christie-Norcross-Corzine dinner club,” shrugged an insider when asked for context, in reference to Castner’s Twitter feed.
Sweeney and George Norcross III had Castner in such a deep freeze, he found his way to Murphy’s downcast rookie budget season dugout, only to rebound with that tweet today that seemed to unravel the governor’s attempt to stand significantly and in executive solitary fashion on the podium of state Supreme Court history (with Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver).
Sweeney, to be fair, did express his irritation when Governor Chris Christie refused to re-up African American Justice Wallace earlier in the Republican Governor’s tenure, a point of contention softened and soothed over time.
Moreover, Castner could simply be deviously playing footsy on Murphy’s behalf, melting Sweeney with flattery in time for the front office’s Covid-19 Emergency Bond Act press in the Senate caucus, on the same week the Assembly backed the Governor while the senate prez remains coy, and even obstinately Murphy-resistant.
