NJ Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy. Jon Corzine with a far-better smile? Star-Ledger montage

If Phil Murphy helped Goldman Sachs investors get rich off the backs of exploited Asian workers, why is he running for governor of New Jersey? Shouldn’t he be swimming in the Trump swamp with fellow Goldman sharks?


By Frank Brill 


Democratic gubernatorial rival Jim Johnson raises the question of how much Murphy knew (or chose to ignore) when he was investing Goldman money with a Taiwanese shoe manufacturer that treated its workers likes slaves.


Nice try, Jim, but too late. Murphy’s personal fortune has enabled him to drown the competition, first by winning over (yeah, that’s a euphemism) party bosses who pray for rich guys to come along to pick up election tabs, and second by flooding the airwaves with TV ads like the one depicting poor young Phil being exploited by a boss who shorts the hard-working lad’s paycheck. How’s that for irony?


Hell, even the generally progressive Star-Ledger has climbed aboard the traditional-party bus with an endorsement and Cosmo-like photo display (above) that lets Murphy glide past inconvenient comparisons to another Goldman Sachs millionaire-turned-office-purchaser–Jon Corzine.


The question that nobody seems to be asking is what is this guy really after? Corzine and Christie both had the White House as their goal from day one. A stint as Jersey’s governor was strictly to build name recognition and an issues portfolio. Didn’t exactly work out as planned, did it?


The truth is that running a state government these days is not the ticket to anything but heartache.The fixed and growing costs of public employee contracts run smack into the problem of horrific property taxes, a shrinking middle class, reflexive political opposition to tax increases, ever-rising social program costs and now, far-less expected help from Washington.


The old path to the White House is filled today with pot holes. Better to be a slick, truth-averse, game show host promising swift miracles. Of course you can’t deliver. You know that, but you always can blame someone else… the Mexicans, followers of Islam, Hillary, Obama or your spokesman, Spicey.


Not too late to change course, Phil.  And, coming soon, plenty of job openings in Washington.


Frank Brill is the editor of EnviroPolitics.