Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford) contested the existence of a tentative deal to confirm acting State Police Superintendent Col. Patrick J. Callahan Sunday.
“It’s not true,” he told the New Jersey Globe Saturday morning, later adding he was “not saying something can’t happen some day some place.”
On Friday, the New Jersey Globe reported the senate president and Gov. Phil Murphy had reached a tentative deal to confirm Callahan, who has held his post in an acting capacity since October 2017.
Sweeney previously told the New Jersey Globe Callahan’s nomination was held over a Newsweek report that alleged he interceded in a sexual assault case in Sussex County. An independent probe conducted by former federal prosecutor Matthew Beck and released last month found Callahan did not act improperly or with corrupt influence.
The longtime State Police official had been in his post for years by the time that story hit. Sweeney previously told the Globe other concerns from state troopers were responsible for those delays. It’s not clear if those concerns are related to the scuffle over the handling of the sexual assault case at Sussex Station.