The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
File Photos courtesy of Boyd Loving
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, in a landmark decision, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey was found guilty on all counts in his federal corruption trial. The verdict, delivered by a New York jury on Tuesday, marks a significant turn in the long-standing political career of the New Jersey Democrat.
By
David Voreacos
June 21, 2017, 12:18 PM EDT
Lawyers will begin questioning jurors Aug. 22 in Newark
New Jersey Democrat accused of taking bribes from top donor
A federal judge on Wednesday began trying to find 16 New Jersey residents who can be fair and impartial jurors in the September corruption trial of U.S. Senator Robert Menendez and a top donor.
Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, is accused of improperly seeking to help Florida doctor Salomon Melgen in a Medicare overbilling case, a contract dispute with the Dominican Republic and with visa applications for three girlfriends. Prosecutors say Menendez accepted nearly $1 million in campaign donations and luxury travel, including a Paris vacation, from Melgen.
NJ Democrat Operative Advocates Hunting Republicans
James Devine, a well known New Jersey Democrat operative and local newspaper publisher from Union County, responded to the shooting of Congressman Steve Scalise and three others yesterday by creating the hashtag #HuntRepublicans and #HuntRepublicanCongressmenon his social media accounts. Devine declared that Democrats are “in a war” with Republicans.
https://www.moremonmouthmusings.net/2017/06/15/nj-democrat-operative-advocates-hunting-republicans/
Former Goldman Sachs executive Phil Murphy leads the state’s Democratic gubernatorial primary ahead of Tuesday’s election.
By Daniel Marans
Phil Murphy, the front-runner in New Jersey’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, faces new questions about his tenure at Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs with the election just days away.
The campaign of attorney Jim Johnson, Murphy’s closest competitor in the race, criticized Murphy for serving as president of Goldman Sachs Asia at a time when the division profited from an investment in Yue Yuen Industrial, a Taiwan-based shoemaker. Human rights groups claim to have documented widespread labor abuses by Yue Yuen, including the company docking workers’ already modest pay for mistakes and running factories where machines sometimes severed workers’ hands and fingers, according to an NJ Advance Media report.
“Murphy’s record at Goldman Sachs undercuts what he says on the campaign trail to working families, and it shows that he should not be trusted when he promises to disavow money in politics,” Johnson campaign manager Jocelyn Steinberg said in a Friday statement. “Voters in New Jersey don’t need any more political gimmicks ― they deserve an explanation from Phil Murphy about his time at Goldman Sachs before they head to the polls on June 6.”