Bernard Kenny

Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny

Update: The request to the state police to assign a trooper to Sen. Kenny was made by Kathleen Crotty in her capacity as Executive Director of the Senate Democratic Office, not from the Joint Management Commission, as was originally reported. Crotty is acting chair of the JMC.

If police know what happened to state Sen. Bernard Kenny, they’re not saying. But enough scenarios exist to warrant providing him with protection from a state trooper.

The authorization to assign a trooper to Kenny was given by Captain James O’Neil, who heads up the State Government Security Bureau. It was requested by Kathleen Crotty, Executive Director of the Senate Democratic Office and Acting Chair of the Capitol Joint Management Commission.

Kenny was found by police disoriented and bleeding on a curb with what turned out to be extensive injuries. Although Kenny at first said that he tripped while jogging, police are focusing on the case as a hit-and-run.

Something smells fishy at the State House Joint Management Commission, which apparently authorized a State Trooper to drive Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny back and forth from Trenton until his term expires next month.

The JMC seems to believe that Kenny is in need of police protection after he was seriously injured outside his Hoboken home last July. Kenny initially told police he tripped and fell on a pothole while out for an early morning jog. Later, he changed his story, suggesting that he was the victim of a hit-and-run driver. Around Hudson County, there is no shortage of rumors about who may have hit Kenny, and why.

There are not many sure things in New Jersey politics, but here’s one: you haven’t heard that last of Bernard Kenny.  The Senate Majority Leader, who decided to retire rather than fight Brian Stack in a Democratic primary (or challenge Jerramiah Healy to keep his Hudson County Democratic Chairmanship), continues to be the topic of considerable mystery these days as Democrats from Hudson County – and beyond – wonder what really happened on the morning of July 18.  That mind of speculation won’t go away, even after Kenny leaves office in a few weeks.

Hoboken police arrested former Mayor Steve Cappiello, 84, Wednesday night on drunk driving charges. Congratulations are extended to the Hoboken Police Department for cracking the case so quickly; they have been busy trying to figure out what happened to Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny on July 18.

Kudos to the Jersey Journal for its report confirming the tragic circumstances surrounding NJ Senate Majority Leader Bernie Kenny’s (D-33) recent accident.

Still, many unanswered questions remain for the Journal and other news outlets:

When conflicting accounts first began to emerge, why didn’t anyone ask what Kenny was wearing the morning of the accident? Was he outfitted in running attire or clothed in business casual? Surely emergency response personnel on the scene or hospital attendees must have taken noticed?

Don't expect the State Senate to meet very often this fall, since the Democratic majority could have a problem mustering enough votes to pass a bill without Republican support.  Of the 22 Democratic Senators -- a bill needs 21 votes to pass -- Wayne Bryant and Sharpe James, both under federal criminal indictment, could miss some votes, and it will be months before Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny, seriously injured in a mysterious July 18 accident, will be able to return to Trenton.  All three are retiring this year.

"What matters to me is that I'm alive - that I'll have time with my kids and that I'll still be able to do things in my life.": State Sen. Bernard Kenny, to the Jersey JournalSenate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny says he was hit by a car, according to the Jersey Journal Political Insider column, which had the first interview with the Hudson County Democrat since his body "was discovered crumpled and bloody" on a Hoboken street during the early hours of July 18. Kenny called the Jersey Journal reporter, and the column is a must-read. Kenny says he was not jogging, but rather running late for a meeting. He says he stepped between two cars, fell, and got hit when another vehicle turned, not seeing him on the ground.

Read the Jersey Journal column:

Rob Tornoe

Nobody’s sure what happened to State Sen. Bernard Kenny yesterday morning.

Doctors at Jersey City Medical Center have told police that the state Senator’s injuries are not consistent with tripping in a pothole, according to the Jersey Journal. Hudson County Posecutor Edward DeFazio told the newspaper that Kenny’s injuries more closely resemble those suffered from being hit by a car.