At the upcoming Monday East Orange City Council meeting, Osagie-Erese has called for residents and other cannabis advocates to challenge what they say could be a backdoor deal hiding in plain sight.
“We have been championing a safe and equitable New Jersey cannabis industry with an intentional focus to build and support our hometown,” Osagie-Erese said in a released statement.
Multiple applicants in East Orange, including Osagie-Erese, have brought up concerns city leaders are being influenced by one of the state’s most dominant power brokers, State Democratic Committee Chairman LeRoy Jones Jr., through his lobbying firm 1868 Public Affairs, which is representing an applicant in the city’s selection process.
Jones, an East Orange resident, is also chairman of the Essex County Democratic Committee and the East Orange Democratic Municipal Committee Chairman. As chair of those multiple committees, Jones was instrumental in garnering local, county and state support for Murphy’s re-election.
The municipality has enough spots to accommodate most of the cannabis companies vying for a space in East Orange. But the way in which the businesses have been zoned, some applicants may inevitably be pushed out due to proposed stores being too close to one another.