TRENTON – Senator Joseph Vitale (D-19) says he is prepared to vote in favor of Senate President Steve Sweeney’s casino bill.
“I am going to vote for it,” Vitale told PolitickerNJ.
Votes from Vitale and other state senators like him have the senate version in a position to pass by a comfortable margin. Because of that margin, Sweeney has been mounting pressure for his version to also be put up for a vote in the assembly today. The Senate President’s bill has been up against a similar bill in the assembly with Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto unable reconcile some of the finer details of the proposed legislation
“It is my understanding that there are enough folks in the Assembly for Senator Sweeney’s bill to pass,” Vitale said. “I don’t know about the exact numbers but I think that enough people in the assembly will support the senate version.”
Today is the last day the senate and the assembly can vote on the casino bills in order for a question to make it on to the ballot in 2016. If Prieto does not post Sweeney’s version today, the casino question will be delayed.
Sources at the Statehouse say that Middlesex’s Assembly Democratic delegation is poised to follow suit with state senators like Vitale and support Sweeney’s version of the bill.
According to Assemblyman Lou Greenwald (D-6), it is likely that Sweeney’s version will be put up for a vote by Prieto.
