Check out these money graphs in a Sue Livio NJ.com story this afternoon:

Sharing the stage in the Trenton War Memorial each afternoon with Murphy, the commissioner goes through the daily numbers of the terrible toll being taken by COVID-19. The hospitalizations. The total patients on ventilators. The deaths in each county. And the dead coming out of the state’s nursing homes—where some 1 out of 13 residents have been taken in the deadly outbreak that spread out of control through New Jersey’s long-term care facilities.

But in the recording, Persichilli described terse exchanges with “George and Matt.” George Helmy is the governor’s chief of staff, and Matt Platkin serves as his chief counsel.

“The whole thing with this consultant. I told the governor, I said ‘Governor, I am not opposed to a consultant coming in. Call anyone you want. But do it the right way,’” Persichilli is heard saying. “George and Matt told me it was an appropriate process. And it wasn’t. And I wouldn’t sign it.”

The People’s Organization For Progress (POP) will protest the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday, May 30th, 1 p.m. at the Lincoln statue, 12 Springfield Avenue in Newark.

According to POP, “Everyone who plans to participate is asked to wear a face mask and gloves, and we will ask you to practice social distancing at the protest. We plan to have masks at the protest for those who may need them.”

Lead organizer – and POP founder – Larry Hamm is also a progressive candidate for U.S. Senate.

President Donald J. Trump’s 2020 campaign has spent over half-a-million dollars into lawyers & legal fees in the last month alone, according to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC). According to researcher Anna Massoglia, “Trump is using donor money to spent unprecedented money on legal expenses—far more than any presidential campaign in history http://crp.org/tlglf.”

There is, of course, an overt New Jersey connection in the report. The third law firm on the list getting money from the Trump campaign is the Manhattan-based Larocca Hornik Rosen Greenberg & Blaha, where veteran Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornik, a Democra, is a partner.

There’s a history there, and some context.

According to a 2018 Patch story, “Trump’s long-time personal lawyer Michael Cohen has publicly confirmed the Trump team paid [Stormy] Daniels $130,000, according to the report. The Marlboro connection is that Cohen hired the law partner of Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornik to represent a company created by Trump’s personal attorney.

“Cohen created an entity, EC, LLC, which it used to pay Daniels the $130,000 in hush money, according to the Press. …Hornik later confirmed to Patch that his law partner, Larry Rosen, was retained to represent EC, LLC. Rosen represented the LLC in an arbitration case filed as ‘Peggy Peterson’ in California. Peggy Peterson has been revealed to be a pseudonym for Daniels.”

An artful practitioner of politics, Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh finds himself in somewhat of a political pickle on the heels of the May 12th elections.

His candidates in two battleground wards unofficially lost to Sayegh opponents, sparking challenges to the outcomes of both contests.

The mayor would be hard-pressed, however, to advocate – as Paster Kenneth Clayton has – for a nullification of the election results based on all the alleged troubles with vote-by-mail (VBM) ballots.

That’s because Governor Phil Murphy – a key Sayegh ally – doesn’t want New Jersey to establish a precedent – particularly in a federal election year – for VBM elections troubles sufficient for a total re-do.

Insider iLine’s source on the ground in Minneapolis:

“A Native American Cultural Center was also burned to the ground.”

Belleville First Ward challenger Carmine Mattia won’t pursue a challenge to the May 12th election won by incumbent Councilwoman Marie Strumolo-Burke.

“It wouldn’t be good for the town,” Mattia said. “But I’m definitely running in the future. I’m still here. In the end, we got 522-plus votes that no one thought we would get, and we laid a good foundation. We will build on that foundation.”

This report today from NJ Spotlight’s John Reitmeyer:

The Legislature’s nonpartisan fiscal experts say revenue losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic won’t be as bad as Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration has been forecasting, a sign the state’s economic outlook may be improving, or at least better than many feared.

New projections issued Thursday by the Office of Legislative Services forecast a revenue gap about $500 million smaller than the estimate the Murphy administration released just last week in a proposed rebalancing of state spending.

Insider iLine wishes condolences to Hudson County Clerk Junior Maldonado, whose father has died.

Read Insider NJ’s Morning Intelligence Briefing: 5/29/20

A source on the ground in Minneapolis just told Insider iLine that protesters have occupied the police station and are lighting it on fire.

Police forced to evacuate.

“Some guys told us to get back, they’re blowing everything up.”