Gov. Names Defeated Atlantic City Area Sheriff To Head NJ CRDA

We reported first about this likely nomination back on February 23, 2024.

It’s now official, as New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has formally nominated former Atlantic County Sheriff Eric Scheffler to be the next Executive Director of the New Jersey Casino Redevelopment Authority agency.

Politics has been very good to The Scheffler Family, as previously, Eric’s brother Steve Scheffler was named a New Jersey Superior Court Judge by Murphy.

New Jersey Senator Vince Polistina has not stood in the way of either Scheffler nomination.

I wrote about it this way about 6 weeks ago:

They say that politics makes strange bedfellow's ... or, the "devil" you know, is better than the "devil" you don't know.

There's no real ”devil” here ... but, getting what you want in the rough and tumble business of politics is never easy.

Joe O'Donoghue defeated former Atlantic County Sheriff Eric Scheffler in the recent past General Election.

O'Donoghue ran a great campaign and Scheffler was on one of the weakest Atlantic County, New Jersey Democrat tickets in history.

Scheffler was swept out of office as a relatively young man, with no obvious next job opportunity in sight.

That will soon likely change, as Scheffler will now  become the next executive director of the New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Authority.

With Governor Murphy’s blessing and Polistina’s, Eric Scheffler will now sail through the only approval process that is required and that is a vote of the CRDA Board.

The CRDA Board will obviously approve Eric Scheffler for the position.

You have to be mindful that with a Democratic Governor, along with a Democrat majority in both houses of the New Jersey state legislature … a Republican Senator (Polistina) can only achieve so much with this type of coveted, purely political appointment.

It's one of the highest paying jobs in New Jersey state government, and in the business of politics, it's called a plum appointment.

My phone initially blew-up with phone calls from people, who are asking the same question ...

How could Scheffler possibly get something like this … he’s not qualified?

The answer is simple. It's politics.

Would you rather have a life-long, Atlantic City area local get the position, or, some stranger from another part of the state?

I would take Scheffler over the other undesirable scenario.

I didn't vote for Scheffler to remain as Sheriff, however, under these circumstances, he reluctantly has my unofficial vote for this.

The annual salary for this position has been $ 175,000 per-year, plus fringe benefits. That’s nice work, if you can find it.

Atlantic County Democrats who have lost elections have done very well for decades in terms of receiving plum, high paying state jobs.

We take this opportunity to welcome Eric Scheffler to this special club.

SOURCES: Multiple Trenton, Atlantic City & Casino industry contacts.