Political privilege trump’s minority murders in Union County

A state senator who is being challenged in the Democratic primary election has asked the Murphy administration to divert limited resources away from dozens of unsolved murder cases and other crimes in order to persecute and harass a publisher who posted true information about the politician.

While there could be a debate about whether the news content might not be allowed under a newly enacted law or if that statute is categorically unconstitutional, it is beyond dispute that the new law has not taken effect yet. 

Senator Joe Cryan; who is paid more than $257,500 per year at taxpayer’s expense for two public sector jobs he holds simultaneously and has illegally taken campaign donations from multiple tax-free charities as well as corporate PACs, mafia associates, and dark money groups; is using his vast financial advantages to silence New Jersey’s oldest weekly newspaper. 

For many years, Cryan was employed as the top deputy in the Union County Sheriff’s Office and he was elected to lead that department after Sheriff Ralph Froehlich died. 

Froehlich hired Cryan after the politician, who had previously been a bartender, ran his father’s tavern out of business.

During the years that Cryan was undersheriff and sheriff, about 75 unsolved murders occurred in Elizabeth, just one of the 21 communities in Union County and the largest municipality in Cryan’s senate district. 

“By wasting investigative resources trying to find a way to punish a political critic who is hindering his re-election chances by telling the truth about Cryan’s character, record, and behavior, the political power broker is spitting in the eyes of those grieving mothers who long for justice for their dead sons,” said James Devine, a Democratic political strategist, and writer who has been sharply critical of Cryan.

“Cryan’s convenience, albeit an illegal and un-American political advantage over a Black Assemblyman who is running against him, is a greater priority than justice for the establishment Democrats in Union County,” said Devine. “He is willing to destroy the local Elizabeth newspaper, shred the Constitution and piss on the gravestones of all those dead kids –most of whom are black– all to avoid letting voters know he wants to outlaw abortion and has the support of Trump-loving police unions.”