By Holly Schepisi
_
Yesterday, Governor Murphy gave an interview with The Hill in which he applauded state democratic leaders’ decision to shelve a controversial redistricting plan saying, ‘If someone’s got some proposals that open up democracy, make it more transparent, less political, count me in. I’m all for it.’”
This comes on the heels of Murphy’s political action committee New Direction New Jersey’s announcement over the holidays that it will backtrack on a pledge made last spring to be transparent, and will instead hide its donors and keep its funding secret because they claim ‘to be under attack by special interests groups.’
In attacking the redistricting proposal, Murphy said that the criticism of the bill ‘tapped into something’ that he would call ‘an outrage agenda in our state.’ And that ‘it’s classic inside-the-bubble Trenton politics and everybody else is on the outside holding the bag.’
In an outstanding lack of self-awareness, nothing screams inside-the-bubble Trenton politics like a secret dark money political action committee that refuses to release a list of donors as it runs constant ads on television promoting the governor’s agenda.
New Direction New Jersey’s decision to hide its donors and keep its funding dark because they are under attack by special interest groups is like the pot calling the kettle black.
The irony of the governor’s calls for constant transparency is the thread of secrecy running through everything this governor is related to; whether he directly controls it or not.
His campaign is under investigation, his administration is under investigation and now his friends are protecting millionaires and big-money organizations that support him from showing that they are special interests too. Actions and inactions speak louder than words, and dirty politics can only continue to exist through lack of transparency.
_
Holly Schepisi is an attorney, mother, and Republican Assemblywoman representing New Jersey’s 39th Legislative District.
–
