Independents will run in Assembly election
A challenge brought against independent challenger Denis Wilbeck in the upcoming special election for the 31st Assembly District seat brought by the Hudson County Democratic Organization was thrown out by an administrative law judge last week.
Incumbent Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell filed suit challenging the validity of qualifying signatures for Wilbeck and Robert Mays.
While Mays would still have had enough signatures to get on the ballot – 100 are needed – O’Donnell challenged 80 of the 163 signatures for Wilbeck, which, had they been nullified, would have dumped Wilbeck off the ballot.
After examining about 33 signatures, the court found 22 to be valid, giving Wilbeck enough signatures to qualify him as a candidate.
“We didn’t intend to challenge, but when we looked at his (Wilbeck’s) petitions, we thought we saw enough irregularities that we had to,” O’Donnell said. “Obviously, the court felt differently.”
Human trafficking bill advances
A bill sponsored by State Sen. Sandra Bolden Cunningham (D-Jersey City) which would direct the Attorney General to publicize information about human trafficking hotlines and would mandate law enforcement training on responding to the needs of victims of human trafficking was unanimously approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.
“For the victims of human trafficking, life can be a nightmare of abuse, forced servitude and ever-constant fear and intimidation,” said Cunningham. “Many of these folks have come to the United States looking for opportunity, or have fled broken homes looking for a new beginning, and instead have found victimization and slavery. We need to give them the tools to break the cycle of servitude, and give the law enforcement community the training to meet the unique needs of these people.”
The bill, S-535, would build on existing efforts by the Statewide Human Trafficking Task Force under the Attorney General by publicizing help lines for the victims of human trafficking and promoting human-trafficking-specific training for law enforcement agencies in New Jersey. Under the bill, the Attorney General would be required to publicize and promote the Toll Free Hotline to report trafficking set up by the Statewide Human Trafficking Task Force – (877) 986-7534 – as well any existing federal trafficking hotline and any local or county federally-funded New Jersey hotline. The bill would also amend police curriculum training requirements to include specific training on responding to the needs of victims of human trafficking.
The bill now heads to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee before going to the full Senate for consideration.
Mayor Smith’s evening office hours suspended for Oct. 5
The Office of Mayor Mark A. Smith announced that his evening office hours for Tuesday, Oct. 5, have been suspended. His Tuesday evening office hours will resume on Oct. 12, at 5:30 p.m.