By Jack Ciattarelli
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The following statement is issued by Jack Ciattarelli, former State Assemblyman and 2017 Republican Gubernatorial Candidate.
Is our Governor that shameless, politically incompetent or both?
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When running for Governor, Phil Murphy promised a new standard for transparency. After being elected, however, he authorized startup of a ‘dark money’ political organization (i.e., New Direction New Jersey) that has run paid television and various other media advertisements supporting his agenda. The Governor, by the way, has previously admitted to personally soliciting donations to this organization.
Until now, donors to this ‘dark money’ political organization were unknown. No longer. The New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), the union representing middle class teachers, donated no less than $2.5 million.
Since the Governor is supposed to negotiate with public sector unions on behalf of New Jersey taxpayers, his relationship with NJEA is an egregious conflict of interest that seriously compromises him as the leader of our state. He has taken phoniness and hypocrisy to whole other level.
The Governor needs to stop embarrassing New Jersey. He can start by demanding that the advisors running the ‘dark money’ political organization immediately return the NJEA money and disclose all other donors (as they previously promised).
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Jack Ciattarelli is a former Assemblyman and Republican candidate for governor in 2021.
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