Shane Mitchell, a former chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, has been named New Jersey Political Director of the politically powerful Hotel and Gaming Trades Council.
Mitchell joined the union in 2021 after Weinberg left the Senate. He’d worked for Weinberg, one of the most consequential lawmakers in state history, for six years. Mitchell became a political operative after a short career in music and radio; he was an on-air personality for WPRB 103.3 for over three years. He was involved in a congressional campaign in New Jersey’s 5th district in 2014 and in races in Perth Amboy and the 39th legislative district in 2015.
The Hotel and Gaming Trades is a major force in New York City politics and has over 6,000 members in New Jersey; they have about 40,000 members in New York.
The union president, Richard Maroko, lives in Montclair and opened a state office there. Then-Gov. Phil Murphy attended the opening. Maroko was a political ally of Murphy, who appointed him to the board of New Jersey Transit. He assumed the top union spot in 2020 following the resignation of Peter Ward.
In 2019, Maroko and his union spent more than $1 million to pass a referendum to regulate the short-term rental industry in Jersey City as part of an expensive fight with Airbnb and other short-term rental companies. Voters approved the ordinance, which had the backing of Mayor Steven Fulop, with a landslide 70%.
The union backed Steve Fulop in the Democratic gubernatorial primary and endorsed now-Gov. Mikie Sherrill last fall.
