FREEHOLD, NJ – It was reportedly a coordinated effort between New Jersey Democrat Senator Vin Gopal and Ocean County Chairman George Gilmore to try to unseat a mutual enemy, Monmouth County Sheriff Shawn Golden.
Golden, who also serves as the Monmouth County GOP Chairman, is a mutual foe of both Gopal and Gilmore, two unlikely political allies brought together out of political necessity.
Gopal’s bill sought to disqualify constitutional officers such as sheriffs from becoming political party chairmen. However, the only person the law would have affected would have been Golden, thus dubbing Gopal’s legislation as the “Golden Rule”.
In response to backlash over the bill, seen by many as using the state’s legislature as a political payback machine, Gopal pulled the bill.
Golden himself testified at the Assembly Judiciary Committee, saying the bill targets him and was a political attack on his freedom of association and freedom of speech.
Gilmore and Golden have been feuding since Gilmore’s arrest and sentencing on federal charges. Upset that Golden sided with Gilmore’s successor, Frank B. Holman, a political feud ensued for the next four years that continues today as Golden’s operatives are now operating against Gilmore in Ocean County.
The once untouchable chairman, losing the fear and respect he once wielded statewide, is seeing challenges to his own agenda in Ocean County elections each cycle, often by candidates with affiliations with the Monmouth GOP.
Gopal and Gilmore are close allies and friends, according to Gopal. Both have been seen meeting with each other and with Governor Phil Murphy in recent months. Gilmore, the Ocean County GOP Chairman, now works for a lobbying firm owned by the brother of the state’s most powerful political figure, George Norcross causing many insiders in Ocean County to question Gilmore’s loyalty to the Republican party.
Gopal said he may reintroduce the bill at some point in the future.