Apparently Sexual Harassment Is More Important At The South Jersey Port Corporation Than At A Home Female Soccer Players Were Forced To Live In

Governor Phil Murphy

Here we go again! Another double standard from a New Jersey Democrat. This time it’s Governor Phil Murphy.

I was reading a couple of pieces on Murphy’s veto of the meeting minutes of the South Jersey Port Corporation, a short piece on InsiderNJ that led me to a more detailed piece on Politico. Something in the Politico piece caught my attention.

This is the section of the Politico piece:

The governor, who has clashed with Sweeney over a number of policy issues, was primarily concerned with the decision to renew a contract with General Counsel Raymond Zane, a former state lawmaker, according to three sources familiar with the issues that led to the veto.

Sweeney ousted Zane from the Senate in 2001, but the two men later became allies.

The sources, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to characterize the behind-the-scenes squabble, said the governor’s office had made it clear to the corporation’s board members that they believed Zane was not serving the agency’s interests. In particular, the governor’s staff cited Zane’s handling of what the front office considered “credible accusations of sexual harassment in the work place,” the sources said.

While the employee who faced the accusation ultimately retired, Zane had indicated “that some comparatively minor level of reprimand would be sufficient despite the intensity of the sexual harassment,” one of the sources said, declining to discuss details of the case.

Reading that, one would think Murphy has a problem with sexual harassment, and he should.

To be clear, sexual harassment is a big deal and men who engage in such an activity deserve, at the very least, to have their asses kicked.

The problem is it appears Phil Murphy applies a bit of a double standard when it comes to sexual harassment.

You may recall, on this blog we quoted a ThinkProgress report that stated, “While some players dealt with makeshift windows, others were forced to couch surf with roommates during the season because of a lack of provided housing. The unluckiest, though, were forced to ‘live with an elderly man who repeatedly made inappropriate comments to the players and made them feel uncomfortable.’” ThinkProgress got this trinket from The Equalizer.

The thing is “…an elderly man who repeatedly made inappropriate comments to the players and made them feel uncomfortable” sounds a lot like sexual harassment to me. Sure, I’m guessing the “inappropriate comments” were sexual in nature, but as a former gambler I would take that bet. I have two sisters – I know exactly what “inappropriate comments” that make women “feel uncomfortable” means and so does every other person reading this.

What has Murphy said about having made, and for all we know is still making, women live with harassment? NOTHING! Why? Because the New Jersey press continues to let him off the hook on the issue of his soccer team.

It looks like Governor Murphy is practicing a big double standard when it comes to sexual harassment. If I’m wrong Governor, give me a call at 7:00 AM any Saturday on The Bob & Steve Show and after I get off the floor from falling out of my chair we’ll chat about it on the air. The studio call-in number is 856-696-0092 (to avoid getting pranked ask your former staffer Adam what political candidate I hired his firm to raise money for in 2010).

One More Example Of The Hypocrisy Of Menendez And His Allies

Sen. Bob Menendez

What do you call a guy who allegedly tried to help his buddy rip-off Medicare and then complains about the price of a cancer drug? Hypocrite!

Here, at The Bob & Steve Show we’ve pointed out the hypocrisy coming from Bob Menendez and his allies many times and it seems Bob and friends simply don’t care.

I meant to write about this bit of hypocrisy a while ago but it’s just too easy to take shots at Menendez and becomes boring.

So, to refresh your memory, Bob Menendez’s buddy Salomon Melgen owed Medicare $8.9 million because he was billing for use of a drug in a manner not approved by Medicare. Menendez eventually went all the way to the top going to former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in his efforts to bail Melgen out of that jam. Apparently, Menendez was aggressive in his efforts. You can read about it here.

Now we see ads against Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Hugin over the price of cancer drugs Hugin’s company manufactured and Menendez has taken to calling his opponent “greedy drug company CEO.”

The problem with these ads and the rhetoric of Menendez is that they completely ignore the fact Menendez tried to help his buddy rip-off Medicare. Besides, if Menendez truly cared about drug prices he could have done something about it while his party controlled everything in DC. He didn’t, probably because he was to busy hanging with his buddy Salomon Melgen.

Menendez and his allies drug company attacks are just a bunch of political BS. The Star-Ledger, in a column by Tom Moran, called this line of attack “wildly unfair,” and “a silly game of political spitball.” At the end of the piece Moran went so far as to call it a “cheap shot.”

So, next time you see one of these anti-Hugin ads remember team Menendez is just shoveling a bunch of BS.

At Least This State GOP Chair Has A Set

NJGOP Chairman Doug Steinhardt - Image stolen from his Facebook page

One thing I realized since we launched The Bob & Steve Show is slow news days suck, at least when it comes to the blog portion of our venture. Fortunately, Governor Phil Murphy is an easy target.

Because the news is slow, I was scanning the internet for something to write about and visited the state GOP’s website and found they issued a press release today in which NJGOP Chairman Doug Steinhardt took a shot at the guv – and it was a much better shot than the last time I mentioned him in this blog.

Where have Republicans been hiding this guy? I can’t recall the last state party chairman picking fights with the opposition. I’ve never met Steinhardt, wouldn’t know him if I tripped over him, but he has a set and I like that.

In Steinhardt’s statement he even took a shot at Murphy and “his beleaguered soccer team,” and given the NJ press letting Murphy off the hook on that issue I give Steinhardt bonus points.

This makes the second time in a month I’ve said nice things about our state party. I haven’t said that many nice things about the party since moving back to this state 5 years ago. Keep up the good work Chairman Steinhardt!

Here’s the party’s press release:

NJGOP Chairman – Murphy’s Extremist Liberal Agenda Has Democrats Acting Like Republicans

Trenton, NJ – Following last week’s release of recommendations from a study commission lead by three Republican and two Democrat Senators, NJGOP Chairman Doug Steinhardt released the following statement:

“New Jersey is teetering on the edge of a fiscal cliff. In large part, we are pushed there by Governor Murphy’s extreme, liberal agenda, and middle class families are holding on with their finger tips. For anyone who doubts the gravity of New Jersey’s affordability crisis, a group of career Democrats lead by Senate President Steve Sweeney and Majority Leader Lou Greenwald now admit that we are at a breaking point.

“Imperiled by Murphy’s socialist platform, Democrat legislators are at a cross roads. Their future, and New Jersey’s, depends largely on what they do next.  On one hand, Murphy’s buy now, pay later, government free for all portends for the state’s 9 million residents the same fate that befell his beleaguered soccer team.  On the other hand, the Republican laid path of common sense and fiscal accountability is the bedrock of this bipartisan report. On which side of history will New Jersey’s Democrats fall? They can’t choose both. It was only two months ago that Democratic leaders stood side by side and grew NJ government by some $2 billion and raised taxes by $1.7 billion more.

“Now, it’s gut check time. Statehouse Democrats need to channel their inner Republican and come forward to push through these fiscal reforms. They will be judged by what they do.”

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