Gopal Pays $900K Cash for Tinton Falls building

Vin Gopal, the Monmouth County Democrat Chairman until noon on Tuesday and a candidate for the Democrat nomination for State Senate in the 11th Legislative District, portrayed himself as a struggling small business owner who goes months at a time without a paycheck so that he can pay his employees, in the announcement that he was stepping down as Chairman to run for Senate.

“I know what it’s like having to make payroll every month, going months without taking a paycheck in order to make sure my employees are paid,” Gopal said to The Asbury Park Press.  At Observer-PolitickerNJ, Gopal said, “I know what Monmouth County residents are going through.”

But MoreMonmouthMusings has learned that Gopal paid $900,000 in cash for a commercial property in Tinton Falls last week.  He showed up for the closing with a bank check for $10,000 more than the listing price after winning a bidding war on 97 Apple Street, a single story office building.

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Gopal Quits Dem Chairmanship To Challenge Beck For Senate

Vin Gopal resigned as Monmouth County Chairman in an email to Monmouth Democrats on Sunday night and announced that he is running for NJ State Senate against Senator Jennifer Beck in the 11th Legislative District.

In his email, Gopal, who was reelected Chairman last June, took credit for making Monmouth County politically competitive in the 4 1/2 years he’s been chairman.  He cited the victories of Assembly Members Joann Downey and Eric Houghtailing in the 11th district last year.  He claimed credit for increasing the number of Democrat mayors in the county from 14 to 23, over the last three years.

In this statement to the press which was published on Observer-PolitickerNJ, Gopal said, “Monmouth County needs a Senator who will battle with the insiders in Trenton, not just show up and act like a puppet.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Beck Endorses O’Scanlon For Senate

Senator Jennifer Beck announced her endorsement of Assembly Declan O’Scanlon for the 13th district senate seat being vacated by Senator Joe Kyrillos.

“Declan was my running-mate when we first ran for the Assembly together in 2005” said Beck. “I had known him for years prior, but I learned during that hard fought campaign what a tireless worker he is and saw first hand his dedication to the residents of New Jersey”

“Declan showed that he is a leader early in his stint in the Assembly, being named Assembly Republican Budget Officer before the end of his second term. He commits himself to knowing all facets of a given policy before he makes a decision. There is no legislator that has been more focused on our looming budget issues or who has proposed more comprehensive solutions” Beck explained. “Assemblyman O’Scanlon stands tall above all other candidates for the State Senate and I look forward to having Declan join me in the upper house of the legislature”.

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O’Scanlon Raises $100K for Senate Race

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-13) announced this morning that he has raised over $100,000 for his campaign for NJ State Senate.  O’Scanlon is seeking the Republican nomination to replace Senator Joe Kyrillos in the Senate.  So far, O’Scanlon’s competition for the nomination is his running mate for the last three legislative elections, Assemblywoman Amy Handlin.

“The job of a State Senator is so much more than going to Trenton and voting on bills,” O’Scanlon said. “The job includes being a leader in the community and the Party.  That means having the resources to support your own campaign, the campaigns of other great candidates and most importantly, civic and charitable organizations in the district.  Senator Kyrillos filled that role as well if not better than anyone.  I am prepared to continue in Joe’s footsteps.”

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Are All 3 Seats in LD 13 at play? Handlin and O’Scanlon appear to be headed to a primary

All three seats in the 13th legislative district appear to be up for grabs next year.

If published reports are to believed, Assembly Members Amy Handlin and Declan O’Scanlon are heading for a primary in June for the GOP nomination to succeed Senator Joe Kyrillos in the New Jersey Senate.

If both Handlin and O’Scanlon compete on the June ballot, rather than letting the County Committee members choose a nominee at a convention, both Assembly seats will be vacant.

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New hope for a Republican Majority in New Jersey

With the news that Governor Chris Christie saying that he is staying in his current job until his term in expires in January of 2018, New Jersey Republicans are rethinking what little hope they had to winning the governorship and gaining seats in the legislature next year.

Don’t give up, New Jersey Republicans. There is hope.

PolitickerNJ’s 2016 list of the 100 most powerful people in New Jersey tabs Monmouth County Democrat Chairman Vin Gopal #50.  PolitickerNJ says Gopal is slated to become the next Chairman of the New Jersey Democratic Party.

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Angelini: Houghtaling and Downey should break from criminal NJEA

Hougtaling and Downey’s spokeman denies hearing of Sweeney’s call for a criminal investigation into NJEA

Mary Pat Angelini

Still smarting from her shocking loss last November, former Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini yesterday issued a statement calling on the Democrats who unseated her to join Senate President Steve Sweeney in his demand that the U.S. Attorney and N.J. Attorney General investigate the teachers union for extortion.

The Democrat leader of the State Senate accused the NJEA of extorition eariler this week after Democrat County Chairmen and other power brokers told him that NJEA leaders told them that the union would withhold campaign contributions to Democrats unless Sweeney allowed a vote in the Senate on an amendment to the State Constitution that would compel specified contributions to the teacher’s pension fund every year.

Angelini said that Assembly Members Eric Houghtaling and Joann Downey would not have defeated her if not for the “vicious lies” the NJEA broadcast about her and the non-profit drug abuse prevention organization she runs during the final days of the 2015 election campaign.

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