Stronger And Fairer? Definitely Not If You Want To Run Against Him.

Gov. Phil Murphy

Remember all that talk of a stronger and fairer New Jersey from Phil Murphy?

I think we all know New Jersey hasn’t gotten any stronger under Murphy’s lack of leadership.

Remember that time we pointed out on the show it is “uncomfortably coincidental” that up to $2 million was cut from our veterans while Governor Phil Murphy can find $2 million for a defense fund for illegal immigrants?

I’m fairly certain New Jersey’s veterans don’t think that taking money from them and giving it to someone else was very fair.

The list of Murphy not being fair is long, 8,000 nursing home deaths come to mind.

Maybe, when it comes to Murphy, my idea of fairness doesn’t matter. Even if that’s true, attempting to get someone running against you tossed off the ballot is definitely not fair.

According to the New Jersey Globe, that’s exactly what Murphy’s Democrats are doing. The New Jersey Democratic State Committee has filed a challenge to the validity of Edward “NJ Weedman” Forchion’s his nominating petitions.

Regular readers of this blog know I despise petition challenges. Back in August 2019 I wrote, in part, “I believe working to remove a candidate who meets the requirements to run for an office from the ballot is a gutless move that proves the person challenging signatures on a nominating petition has very little faith in their chosen candidate to win on ideas.”

I’m not naïve. I get it. Petition challenges are a fact of life in political campaigns.

The difference here is Murphy, the guy who claims to be creating a fairer New Jersey, isn’t being very fair in allowing his people to have competition removed from the ballot.

Granted, it is possible the “NJ Weedman” probably should have spent a little less time getting high and a little more time collecting signatures, but still, how is New Jersey fairer by working to knock him off the ballot.

I guarantee if Gregg Mele, the Libertarian candidate, had done like Forchion and filed with only 836 petition signatures the Democrats would not be challenging his petitions.

Let’s call this what it is: Team Murphy is concerned about Jack Ciattarelli’s campaign. Murphy’s cohorts are happy to get anyone who may take votes from Murphy off the ballot.

Trust me, Murphy’s team looked at the Green Party candidate, Madelyn Hoffman’s, signatures. I guarantee it. Fortunately, for her, she filed with too many signatures to even come close to getting removed from the ballot.

Forchion on the ballot would be a little bit of a problem for Murphy. Pot smokers, especially young pot smokers, would have a place to show their displeasure with Murphy over the lack of availability of legal weed in New Jersey. Those voters aren’t going to be Ciattarelli voters, they would run to the NJ Weedman.

Team Murphy knows Forchion on the ballot hurts him, exactly how much nobody can be sure, maybe as much as the 5.76% Chris Dagget got in 2009.

Whatever amount of Murphy’s vote Forchion would take we may never know because the Democrats are working to get the NJ Weedman tossed form the ballot. And, Murphy is okay with the guy being tossed from the ballot and there’s nothing fair about that.

Obviously, Murphy’s fairer New Jersey doesn’t apply to anyone running against him!

Note: Before I got around to posting this, New Jersey Globe reported Forchion will seek write-in votes.

Episode 153

f you missed the 153rd episode of the Bob & Steve Show live on Crusin’ 92.1 FM you can listen to it or download it here. We were happy to have state Senator Michael Testa in the studio. Our call-in guest was the Republican nominee for Governor Jack Ciattarelli. For those who prefer to listen live and live outside our broadcast area you can listen on TuneIn or at wvlt.com Saturday mornings from 8:00-10:00.

As always, you can listen to any of our past shows on the Radio Shows page.

Looks Like Phil Murphy Is Going To Be Looking For Safe Spaces During This Campaign

Phil Murphy

Well, that didn’t take long. Less than 24 hours into the general election battle between former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli and Governor Phil Murphy, NJ.com ran a headline that blared: “Yes, I am New Jersey, Gov. Murphy says to Republican challenger Ciattarelli.”

Ciattarelli has already sent Massachusetts Murphy running for a safe space. Murphy, when asked about not being New Jersey made the claim, “It’s ridiculous” and channeled his inner Bobby Kennedy to Politico’s Matt Friedman (who might not live in Jersey but is way more New Jersey than Murphy will ever be). From the Politico piece:

“I’ll paraphrase Bobby Kennedy when he was running for Senate [in New York]: He said that if elections were judged based on how long a person has lived somewhere, we should elect the oldest living person in the state. I mean, come on. Let’s focus on the stuff people care about,” Murphy said in a phone interview with POLITICO.

As to Murphy saying “It’s ridiculous” is response to being called out for not being New Jersey. It’s not ridiculous. No New Jerseyan I know wants to be like California, but Murphy does. From the NJ.com article:

“He’s not New Jersey,” Ciattarelli added.

He also alluded to how Murphy told NJ Advance Media on the eve of taking office in 2018 that he wanted to remold New Jersey in the image of left-leaning California.

“This out-of-touch governor has the audacity and the arrogance to say he wants to make New Jersey the California of the East Coast,” Ciattarelli said. “Are you kidding me? Who says that? We’re New Jersey, and if that’s what Phil Murphy wants, then he should move to California.”

Alluded to? There’s no alluding! Murphy actually said it in a January 13, 2018 NJ.com article:

Which state should New Jersey aspire to be like and then try to surpass?

California. I had a conversation with Jerry Brown about two months ago. And I said — I think we were talking about offshore wind — "Governor, we aspire to be the California of the East Coast." And either a colleague or a supporter of mine said, "Murph, you need more attitude. You should say, 'If we succeed, California is the New Jersey of the West Coast.'" (laughs)

No New Jerseyan, not one born in Jersey nor one who came here from elsewhere, would ever answer that question with the name of another state because any actual New Jerseyan has too much of an attitude to ever consider somewhere else might be better.

This is New Jersey! We have the best pizza in the world. Ciattarelli was right to ask, “…have you seen this guy eat pizza?”

Murphy even whined about that question arguing, “I’ll eat a pizza with anybody.”

I call BS on that answer, I guarantee Murphy will never eat a pizza with me!

My question is, if Murphy is upset over being called out for not being New Jersey, how is he going to handle important questions like, forcing young female athletes to live with an elderly man who repeatedly made inappropriate comments to the players and made them feel uncomfortable?

How is Murphy going to handle the fact that while campaigning on $15 per hour he was paying professional athletes less than $15 per hour?

Or how about that time Mr. stronger and fairer tried to make a sport scientist work for free? Or the fact Murphy’s soccer team “paid part-time salaries for what amounts to full-time work.?”

Questions about Murphy’s treatment of women on his soccer team were never answered because the NJ press let him off the hook.

And, if Murphy being reminded of his record of mistreatment of female athletes isn’t enough to send him running for another safe space, what’s he going to do about another time a woman in his orbit was mistreated?

I, and many others, still want answers for why Murphy allowed Katie Brennan went through what she went through. I don’t think settling for a total of $1 million — with $600,000 going to a charity of Brennan’s choice and $400,000 to her attorneys with neither side admitting any wrongdoing is satisfactory.

Murphy leaving Brennan hanging was wrongdoing in my book!

And, then Murphy is going to have to find another safe space to run to because we still don’t know who hired Al Alvarez!

Conclusion: Phil Murphy is a mess with a lot of unanswered questions that we are going to continue to ask over the next 5 months.

And, no Governor, you are not New Jersey!