Governor Murphy Comes Home, Blames Christie For Train Problems And His Soccer Team Management Blames Jersey Shore Rentals For The Shoddy Housing Provided To Female Soccer Players

Governor Phil Murphy

Governor Murphy returned home from his Italian vacation earlier this week and promptly blamed former Governor Christie for all the problems with NJ Transit Trains.

I’ve had my differences with the former Guv, but complaining about him doesn’t solve the problem.

Honestly, living in South Jersey, I don’t much care about NJ Transit trains anyway. Most South Jerseyans don’t care. As a rule, we don’t use the trains! We have one, that I know of, the Atlantic City train and I rode it once in my entire life.

We do have light rail from Camden to Trenton. People use it. I’ve ridden it and watched many a drug dealer conduct business at stops along the way. I even witnessed some arrests. So, it’s a cheap ride to Trenton with some free entertainment thrown in.

PATCO is a different story – folks actually use it.

What I’m really waiting for is to see who Murphy blames for the woes of his women’s professional soccer team.

Just this week, the popular sports news website, Deadspin ran a piece titled, “The NWSL's Sky Blue FC Is Falling Apart, On The Field And Off.” It is a brutal piece.

One would think that Phil Murphy, for all his talk of gender equality would treat the women’s professional soccer team he is the majority owner of with respect, but he doesn’t, not according to several published reports.

The Deadspin piece quotes soccer great Hope Solo, “There were a handful of teams that had less than adequate facilities for ‘professional’ athletes. But Sky Blue was always the worst when it came to off-the-field field quality and professionalism.

“Our team never showered post game at Sky Blue, which is neither hygienic nor healthy,” Solo wrote. “Shower facilities were ‘offered’ to us, but they were not convenient or even inside our own locker room. We trained in a bubble that had no airflow and used to give me extreme anxiety as I saw the roof sag. At times, our coach would not even allow us to train because the grass fields were not lined or not safe, with very uneven ground and uncut grass.”

We already covered the fact that Team Murphy dealt with practice field issues by renting an RV and parking it on the field. The Deadspin piece confirms this.

We and others covered the sub standard housing provided for the women on Murphy’s soccer team, but reading the Deadspin piece we found the team offered a BS answer. The team blamed difficulty on finding adequate housing on the NWSL season “overlapping with the Jersey Shore’s tourism season.”

According to the piece:

“You’re not going to get summer rentals [beginning in] March,” Grieg said. “The season dates don’t help when it came to staying down in that area.”

The problem with that BS answer is that according to Wikipedia, “Sky Blue FC is a professional soccer club based in Piscataway Township, New Jersey.”

Piscataway? How many shore rentals are located in Piscataway? Please, please, please, would one reporter ask Gov. Murphy that question. Where the hell is the beach in Piscataway?

So, now we know, Phil Murphy’s team is blaming the shoddy housing he provides women with on Jersey Shore rentals.

There’s a lot more to this story, but it’s late on a Friday afternoon and I have work to do, so stay tuned.

Haddon Township Saga Continues; Commissioner’s Story Makes Little Sense

Haddon Twp. Commissioner Paul Dougherty

Imagine you have a 17-year-old son or daughter and he/she came home after a car accident and said, “I waited in a parking lot for the person I hit to come and exchange information, they never did, so I left.”

Would you believe him or her? Frankly, my son is 29 and I wouldn’t believe him if he told me this story today. And, if you believe it you likely entered your kid in youth sports leagues that didn’t keep score and gave trophies to all.

Apparently, that’s the kind of story Haddon Township Commissioner Paul Dougherty wants you to believe.

Yesterday the Courier-Post, after obtaining the police report of a car accident involving Commissioner Paul Dougherty, published another story on the issue and Dougherty’s tale makes little sense.

To be clear, I am not making any accusations, I’m simply saying Commissioner Dougherty’s story makes little sense and leaves many unanswered questions.

This is a guy with an interesting past. We covered it here. With that past, questions have to be asked.

According to published reports, Commissioner Dougherty rear-ended another car at the intersection of Cuthbert Blvd and Haddon Ave., this is not disputed. Dougherty told police he pulled into the Walgreen’s parking lot and went home after the driver he hit did not appear. One has to ask, and the Camden County Republicans have asked, how long did Dougherty wait?

If he waited any length of time it would have been obvious the other car was not moving. Cuthbert Blvd, where multiple sources say the crash happened is clearly visible from the Walgreen’s parking lot.

Trying to be fair to Dougherty, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and say he waited for 5 minutes before leaving the parking lot. In that amount of time the police certainly would have been on their way so it is highly likely he would have seen the flashing lights.

Whatever amount of time he waited it is likely Dougherty exited the other driveway of the Walgreens parking lot and made a right turn onto Haddon Avenue to make the 2-minute drive to his home. He lives a half mile from the parking lot according to another published report.

Completely left out of this controversy is multiple sources have confirmed Dougherty was seen attending “The Rockets Take On Crystal Lake Pool” event sponsored by the Haddon Township Business Improvement District. This event ended 15 minutes prior to the accident.

The fact Dougherty attended that event just adds to the controversy of this story. Given the fact there was a beer garden at the event it would make sense he would have been given a blood or breath test for alcohol, which he wasn’t according to a published report. Then again, an experienced prosecutor would know the old trick of running home and reporting an accident and explaining after police arrived that one took a drink to calm one’s nerves. It’s likely the reason a blood or breath test wasn’t administered is cops know that old trick too.

To be clear, I am not alleging Dougherty was drinking, but given the fact his own police department has, after a vote of no confidence, stated publicly that he had been found to be in a "suspected state of intoxication" on several occasions the question has to be asked.

This man is a municipal prosecutor in at least three towns in Camden County. He knows better than to leave the scene of an accident. He prosecutes people for leaving the scene of accidents.

In keeping with the assumption Dougherty sat in the Walgreen’s parking lot for 5 minutes and then made the 2-minute drive home, given the fact one of the published reports states he called police “about 20 minutes” after the accident, there are still 13 minutes unaccounted for. What did Dougherty do in that 13 minutes?

An even better question is why didn’t Dougherty call police from the parking lot? One theory is he didn’t have his cell phone, but he could have walked into the Walgreens and asked to use the phone and still not violated the law by leaving the scene of an accident.

Anyone who knows that intersection knows calling 9-1-1 from a cell phone is a crap shoot and you may end up getting the Collingswood Police Department. Is it possible Dougherty didn’t call police from the parking lot because he didn’t want to have to deal with a neighboring town’s cops?

As you can see there are just too many unanswered questions, especially from a guy with a controversial past. We’re going to keep an eye on this story as things continue to develop.

The War On Plastic Has Come To New Jersey

If you think your plastic straws are safe in New Jersey, think again.

There is a Bill in Trenton S2776 introduced June 25/A4330 introduced July 30 that “Prohibits use of plastic carryout bags, expanded polystyrene, and single-use plastic straws.”

Nothing is safe in this state, not plastic bags, Styrofoam containers or straws!

Don’t think this can’t happen. The Sierra Club is already pushing this! In fact, on August 6 the group issued a statement in which Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, states, “We will not reduce our plastic waste with a fee which is why New Jersey needs a statewide ban.”

Senate Bill S2776 is indeed a statewide ban. The “statement” portion of the bill is clear:

   This bill would prohibit stores and food service businesses from providing plastic carryout bags to their customers.  The bill would also prohibit any person from selling or offering for sale in the State any expanded polystyrene (commonly referred to as "Styrofoam") food service product and prohibit any food service business from selling or providing any food in an expanded polystyrene food service product.  Further, the bill would prohibit any food service business from selling or providing single-use plastic straws to customers.  The prohibitions in the bill would take effect one year after the date of enactment of the bill into law.

     A person who violates any provision of the bill would be subject to a penalty of up to $5,000 for each offense, and each day during which the violation continues would constitute a separate offense.

The Assembly version is identical.

The war on plastics is coming to New Jersey in full force. Senators Bob Smith and Linda Greenstein as primary sponsors of S2776 and Assemblywoman Nancy Pinkin, Assemblymen James Kennedy and John McKeon as primary sponsors of A4330 are leading the charge.

Apparently, based on their nearly 1,100 word anti-plastics statement of August 6 legislators have enlisted the New Jersey Sierra Club as their army.

In that statement, the Sierra Club points out, “There will be a Senate and Assembly joint Committee meeting on plastics, including plastic bags, straws, and Styrofoam on August 23rd.” As of this morning we couldn’t find anything about this meeting on the State Legislature’s website, clicking August 23 on the calendar says, “No scheduled proceedings today.” We’ll keep watching because it’s time to stop the nonsense.

If the radicals in this state are successful in banning plastic bags, straws and Styrofoam what’s next? “Zip lock” baggies? The plastic bags I buy to pickup after my dog? Trash bags? The list goes on.

Maybe it’s time to call the sponsors of this ridiculous bill and remind them the remote control they use to tune to MSNBC is made of plastic as is the bottle they’re drinking their water from while being brainwashed watching the personalities on that channel.