Legislative Select Oversight Committee Report: So Much For A Stronger And Fairer New Jersey

Gov. Phil Murphy

Remember that time we wrote: “What we do wonder is who will Murphy blame for the lack of action he took in dealing with the Brennan situation. He can’t blame Christie for this one. Maybe, he’ll try to blame his staff, but he can’t. Remember, he did reply to Brennan’s email regarding a ‘sensitive matter’ with ‘Hang in. We’re on it.’ That response, at least to us, proves Murphy knew exactly what the ‘sensitive matter’ was that she wrote him about.”

Only in New Jersey can a single mother of four be sentenced to go to jail for emailing that it was “time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” but absolutely nothing happen to a member of the governor’s staff accused of raping another member of the governor’s staff – even after that Governor promised the woman making the rape accusation he was “on it.”

None of that sounds like New Jersey is any stronger or fairer.

In fact, it appears the only things to come out of the Legislative Select Oversight Committee Report is that (A) “the administration of Gov. Phil Murphy ‘mishandled’ an employee’s rape claim and suggested that top officials should be ‘embarrassed’ by their testimony,” (B) that it “rips Gov. Phil Murphy’s inner circle for failing Katie Brennan after she accused campaign worker turned transition staffer Al Alvarez of sexually assaulting her in April 2017” and (C) that the “committee’s report questioned the honesty of some officials.”

Mishandled? Embarrassed? They are the understatements of the year!

To add insult to injury, New Jersey Globe reported in part:

The Select Committee on Oversight won’t be making any criminal referrals following the issuance of a scathing report that said members of Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration failed state housing agency chief of staff Katie Brennan.

“The report is out there and any law enforcement agency that chooses to look at it can,” Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, a committee co-chair, said. “We’ve issued our report, period.”

“Period,” apparently Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg forgot the “full stop” part of one of Gov. Murphy’s favorite lines, “period, full stop.”

Is Weinberg serious? Any law enforcement agency that chooses to look at it can? She knows as well as we do no one from law enforcement is going to look at that report.

It’s obvious that in New Jersey #MeToo and #BelieveWomen only applies when folks like Murphy and Weinberg are attacking Republicans.

We have written repeatedly about Murphy’s hypocrisy when it comes to his treatment of women. More than 30 times, on this blog, we’ve mentioned the mistreatment of women on Murphy’s professional soccer team. We lost count how many times the mainstream press mentioned the lousy way Murphy handled the Katie Brennan situation. And, don’t forget there was the much less covered Allison Kopicki who said she was resigning from her position in the Murphy administration because she alleged she has faced retaliation from Murphy’s administration.

Basically, the recently released Legislative Select Oversight Committee Report proves only that for women is not one thing in New Jersey that is stronger and fairer under Governor Phil Murphy.

OPINION: Just Another Hypocritical Democrat Trying To Score Cheap Political Points

I love following politics, both fact and opinion, and even though I put a lot of time and effort into this blog and our weekly radio show I read InsiderNJ and the New Jersey Globe every day. I believe Max Pizzaro at InsiderNJ is one of the fairest and most balanced political reporters out there. New Jersey Globe founder David Wildstein hasn’t missed a step since getting back into publishing a political website, getting down to the super local stuff, love him or hate him he’s one of the best.

Both are different than The Bob & Steve Show, they are completely nonpartisan in their reporting while we freely admit, on the “About The Show” section of our website, to being unabashedly Republican, mostly conservative and extremely opinionated. While we admit to our right-leanings we will call out Republicans when they are wrong, just ask Vincent Squire.

One of the things I hate in politics is hypocrisy and at The Bob & Steve Show we are always quick to point it out when we see it. And, that’s what this post is about – hypocrisy.

On October 10 state Senator Joseph “Jersey Joe” Pennacchio wrote a column, “A Call to Traditional Democrats – Help Save Our Country, Before it is Too Late” and a day later, a Democratic consultant, Pat Politano wrote a response, “Hey, ‘Jersey Joe’: Wake Up; Your Party’s Over.” Both pieces can be found in the “Columnists” section of InsiderNJ.

In my opinion Pennacchio’s piece was well written. In my view I could find nothing Pennacchio wrote that was untrue. He did a good job pointing out how the Democratic party has been taken over by extremists.

I don’t know Politano, never met him, wouldn’t know him if I tripped over him, but his response to Jersey Joe’s column is a bunch of hypocritical BS.

To attack Pennacchio, a conservative who isn’t afraid to reach across the aisle for the greater good, is disingenuous. Pennacchio and Democratic state Senator Loretta Weinberg have been working together to bring more transparency to state government. And, this isn’t the first time the two have teamed up to try to make things more transparent in our state. A few years ago, Weinberg and Pennacchio agreed on the need to pass Port Authority reform legislation to protect all New Jerseyans.

To be clear, I am not picking on Politano. It’s the hypocrisy within his response I have an issue with. It’s the same hypocrisy I’ve written about from New Jersey Democrats repeatedly. He is just one more Democrat attacking Republicans over the party’s “treatment of women” while ignoring the same thing from his own party. To make matters worse, he decided to attack a Republican who isn’t afraid to work across the aisle.

This is just one more Democrat who has not said one word about the way women on Governor Phil Murphy’s soccer team have been treated. Has Politano ever said a word about the fact that Murphy’s soccer team forced women to live with an elderly man who repeatedly made inappropriate comments to the players and made them feel uncomfortable? Nope! And, let’s be clear, every person reading this knows what “inappropriate comments to the payers that made them feel uncomfortable” means, the elderly man was likely making sexually inappropriate comments. Has Politano ever said a word about Murphy likely paying women soccer players less than $15 per hour while campaigning on a $15 per hour minimum wage? Nope!

How about the fact that U.S. Senator Bob Menendez helped secure visas for young women to come to the country to be with their Sugar Daddy, Salomon Melgen? Not a word! Maybe he believes, like Hillary Clinton, that since these women were young adults that sexually inappropriate behavior couldn’t have taken place? Say what you want about Menendez’s alleged involvement with hookers, the visa thing, Menendez’s lawyers “conceded that the senator intervened on his pal’s behalf” when it came to the young women getting into the country.

How this Democratic consultant can have the nerve to attack Pennacchio and the Republican party over the party’s “treatment of women” while completely ignoring the two highest ranking Democrats in New Jersey and their treatment of women is beyond me.

Bottom line: The response to Pennacchio’s column is just another piece of Democrat hypocrisy used to score cheap political points.

The Hypocrisy Of Lt. Governor Oliver, Sen. Weinberg And First Lady Murphy Was On Display Yesterday

Yesterday, Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver, state Senator Loretta Weinberg and New Jersey’s First Lady Tammy Murphy issued a press release denouncing Congressman Leonard Lance over comments he made about Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.

Apparently, Oliver, Weinberg and Murphy have a problem with the fact that Lance said he “tends not to believe” Blasey Ford. Of course, they have a problem with what Lance said, he’s a Republican. Make no mistake, their real problem is that Lance is a Republican.

I might believe Oliver, Weinberg and Murphy had a real problem with what Lance said if any of the three had ever uttered a public word when men who happen to be Democrats mistreated women.

Have Oliver, Weinberg or Murphy ever said a word about U.S. Senator Bob Menendez helping to bring young women into the country for his pal Salomen Melgen? Don’t forget, Menendez’s lawyers “conceded that the senator intervened on his pal’s behalf” when it came to the young women getting into the country. One could argue that helping a dirty old man play sugar daddy to young women is a form of sexual abuse. It is apparent Oliver, Weinberg nor Murphy would agree with that argument based on their silence over Menendez helping Melgen play sugar daddy.

How about when we learned Governor Phil Murphy’s soccer team forced women to live with an elderly man who repeatedly made inappropriate comments to the players and made them feel uncomfortable. Did Oliver, Weinberg or Murphy speak out about the governor’s soccer team forcing women to tolerate sexual harassment? Nope!

Their silence on the documented mistreatment of women by people associated with Menendez and Gov. Murphy makes Oliver, Weinberg and Mrs. Murphy hypocrites. They definitely lack any credibility to speak out on this issue.